COVID-19 pandemic in Gabon


The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Gabon in March 2020.

Background

On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.
The case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003, but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll. Model-based simulations for Gabon show that the 95% confidence interval for the time-varying reproduction number has been fluctuating around 1.0 since early May 2020.

Timeline

March 2020

The country's first case was announced on 12 March, a 27-year-old Gabonese man who returned to Gabon from France, four days prior to confirmation of the coronavirus.
On 17 March, two additional cases were confirmed in the country, including a woman who works at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She visited Marseille and Paris before returning to the country. The other patient is a 29-year-old border police officer working at the Léon-Mba International Airport. She checked the passport of the first confirmed case in Gabon, who arrived from France on March 8.
On 20 March, the first death was confirmed.
On 24 March, diagnosed cases increased to six with the Ministry of Health announcing two new cases: a 45-year-old Togolese national and resident of Gabon who recently returned from Senegal on 11 March, and a 42-year-old Gabonese national who returned from France on 19 March.
During the month there were 7 confirmed cases, one death and six active cases at the end of the month.

April 2020

There were 269 new cases in April, raising the total number of cases to 276. The death toll tripled to 3. There were 67 recoveries, leaving 206 active cases at the end of the month.

May 2020

In May there were 2379 new cases, raising the total number of cases to 2655. The death toll rose to 17. The number of recovered patients increased to 722, leaving 1916 active cases at the end of the month.

June 2020

In June there were 2739 new cases, bringing the total number of cases to 5394. The death toll rose to 42. The number of recovered patients increased to 2420, leaving 2932 active cases at the end of the month.

July 2020

In July, Gabon suspended visas for all European travelers after being excluded from an EU list of countries whose citizens can make non-essential trips to the region.