Aid Worker Dies of Covid-19 in Nigeria’s War-Torn Northeast

International medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said one of its aid workers died after contracting the new coronavirus in Nigeria’s war-torn northeast. The health worker died on April 18, the charity said in a statement Twitter. Edward Kallon, the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Nigeria, who also confirmed the fatality in a separate statement, said the deceased had no history of travel outside the northeastern state of Borno. The UN and the aid agency said they’re working with local authorities to trace people who made contacts with the deceased.

The northeastern region is the birthplace of Boko Haram Islamist militants that have carried out a 10-year-old campaign of violence to impose Islamic rule in Africa’s most populous country of 200 million people. More than 30,000 people have died in the conflict, according to the government. The UN has said almost 8 million people in the region need urgent humanitarian aid.

Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria, has so far confirmed 627 cases of coronavirus infections and 21 deaths.