COVID-19: Guinea-Bissau Records First Death

The West African country of Guinea-Bissau has announced its first coronavirus death and an extension of its state of emergency.

Guinea-Bissau has a record of 53 confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Speaking to AFP, the spokesperson for the interministerial commission for the fight against Covid-19, Tumani Balde, said, “We have registered our first death."

He added no further information on the matter.

The confirmed coronavirus cases of Guinea-Bissau is considerably lower than that of its neighbour Senegal that has a total of 671 cases and 8 deaths.

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The country's president, Umaro Sissoco Embalo, while announcing the extension of the state of emergency - that was first announced on the 28th of March - said, “we shouldn’t delude ourselves because we are far from being able to say that we are in total control of the situation," adding an extra two weeks.

Residents have been directed to stay at home except for when they need to get essential food or medical items, but that directive has been diffiicult to adhere to as the residents battle with hunger in a country where most of its citizens live in penury.