Bangladeshi Imam Dies From Coronavirus in Gambia

A Bangladeshi Muslim imam died in Gambia after preaching in several other nations, becoming the first coronavirus fatality of the tiny West African nation, the health ministry said.

The preacher, aged 70, was Covid-19's second case recorded by The Gambia.

He arrived on March 13 from neighboring Senegal, the health ministry said in a statement dated Sunday and obtained Monday.

The Bangladeshi visitor was granted accommodation in the Bundung mosque residence in a banjul suburb of the city, the statement said.

"He was said to have traveled from 6 other countries where he was carrying out similar preaching," it said.

Suffering from diabetes and went to a health center in Banjul where he died on Friday while being moved to a hospital by ambulance.

Officials are looking for individuals he had contact with and notifying the other countries he has visited.

The Gambia decided on Saturday to close its air and land borders. The country is a deep enclave inside Senegal, with an Atlantic seaboard.

The closures affect in particular the border with Casamance, an agricultural area in southern Senegal that has been cut off from the rest of the world, leading to a detour of several hundred kilometers (miles) across Gambia.

The Gambian authorities are now searching for about 15 people escaping from a hotel where they were quarantined as a precautionary step after arriving from Britain, the Ministry of Health has confirmed.