More African countries confirm first virus cases as Jack Ma pledges aid

More African nations confirmed their first cases of the coronavirus and shut borders amid fears of the disease's impact on fragile health systems, as Chinese billionaire and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma pledged to donate over 1 million testing kits to the continent.

Thirty African countries - more than half the continent - are now treating nearly 400 patients with coronavirus, after Tanzania, Liberia, Benin and Somalia said they registered their first cases.

Africa had until recently been spared the rapid spread of COVID-19, which has infected at least 180,000 people worldwide and caused over 7,000 deaths. But health experts are concerned the