By NQOBANI NDLOVU

NEIGHBOURING Botswana yesterday said it had recorded its first suspected case of coronavirus, at a time Zimbabwe has placed 129 visitors from China on check for the fast-spreading killer bug which has claimed 213 lives in the Asian country since last week.

The World Health Organisation has also declared the killer virus a global health emergency.

“Botswana registered its first ever suspected case of coronavirus on the 30th of January 2020. The suspected case was registered at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport upon arrival of a passenger using Ethiopian Airways from China,” said the Botswana government in a statement.

“The suspected case is still under isolation at Block 8 clinic and investigations are on-going.”

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Coronavirus, also known as 2019-nCoV, was first discovered in Wuhan, central China on December 31, 2019 and has so far spread to 18 countries.

Zimbabwe is screening passengers arriving from China and other countries, and revealed that 129 of these travellers were “being monitored daily by health workers to determine the development of any suggestive symptoms”.