A 21-year-old Cameroonian student in China has become the first African known to be diagnosed with the deadly coronavirus, local media reported.
In a statement, Yangtze University said the student was being treated in hospital in southern Jingzhou City after contracting the illness while on a visit to Wuhan City, the epicentre of the outbreak.
He had returned to Jingzhou, where he lived, on January 19, before a lockdown was imposed in Wuhan to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 360 people.
The university said in a statement it has provided psychological comfort to the student and has reported the situation to his parents and the embassy.
Thousands of African students study in China. They have made desperate appeals to their governments to evacuate them or to give them more support while they are trapped in Wuhan.
Last week, Cameroonians in Wuhan wrote a letter to President Paul Biya, saying their embassy in Beijing had been largely uncooperative and they were short of basic necessities.
Some medical students from Zambia are living on hospital sites close to where patients that have contracted the coronavirus are being treated.
They fear that living in such close proximity to the illness places them at huge risk.
There are more than 1,000 African students locked down across the city. While there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Africa, experts claim that the continent remains vulnerable.