The COVID-19 pandemic in Mauritania is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached Mauritania in March 2020.
On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019.[2][3]
The case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower than SARS of 2003,[4][5] but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll.[6][4] Model-based simulations for Mauritania indicate that the 95% confidence interval for the time-varying reproduction numberR t has been lower than 1.0 since December 2020.[7]
On 13 March, the first case was confirmed, with the case being placed in isolation.[9]
The case is an expatriate from a yet to be disclosed country, in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott.[10]
On 18 March, the Mauritanian Minister of Health announced the discovery of a second positive coronavirus case on a foreign female employee, working at a house of a couple of expatriates, the woman arrived 10 days prior the discovery.[11]
A third coronavirus case was declared on 26 March for a 74-year-old man, a Mauritanian citizen who had arrived in Mauritania on 15 March from France via Air France.[12]
The country recorded its first death on 30 March 2020.[13] By the end of March there had been six confirmed cases, one death and two recoveries, leaving three active cases.[14]
April 2020[]
On 18 April, the last remaining active case recovered. On that date, there had been 7 confirmed cases in the country, 6 of whom had recovered, and one of whom had died, making Mauritania temporarily one of few affected countries in the world to become free of COVID-19.[15]
On 29 April, a Senegalese citizen tested positive. The case is a 68-year woman living in the state of Nouakchott.[16]
There were two new cases in April, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 8. The death toll remained unchanged. Between 18 and 29 April there were no active cases; at the end of April the woman having tested positive on 29 April was the only active case.[17]
May 2020[]
On 6 May, with only one active case, restrictions were partially eased.[18] By the end of May, the number confirmed active cases had increased to 480 while the death toll had increased to 23. The total number of confirmed cases grew to 530 in May, 27 of whom recovered.[19]
June 2020[]
There were 3707 new cases in June, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 4237. The death toll rose to 128. There were 2612 active cases at the end of June.[20]
July 2020[]
During July there were 2073 new cases, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 6310. The death toll rose to 157. The number of recovered patients since the start of the outbreak reached 4962, leaving 1191 active cases at the end of the month — less than half the number of active cases a month before.[21]
August 2020[]
There were 738 new cases in August, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 7048. The death toll rose to 159. At the end of August there were 425 active cases.[22]
September 2020[]
There were 440 new cases in September, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 7488. The death toll rose to 161. The number of recovered patients increased to 7111, leaving 216 active cases at the end of the month.[23]
October 2020[]
There were 215 new cases in October, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 7703. The death toll rose to 163. The number of recovered patients increased to 7433, leaving 107 active cases at the end of the month.[24]
November 2020[]
There were 898 new cases in November, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 8601. The death toll rose to 177. The number of recovered patients increased to 7732, leaving 692 active cases at the end of the month.[25]
December 2020[]
There were 5763 new cases in December, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 14364. The death toll nearly doubled to 349. The number of recovered patients increased to 11678, leaving 2637 active cases at the end of the month.[26]
January 2021[]
There were 2271 new cases in January, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 16635. The death toll rose to 422. The number of recovered patients increased to 15676, leaving 537 active cases at the end of the month.[27]
February 2021[]
There were 572 new cases in February, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 17207. The death toll rose to 441. The number of recovered patients increased to 16563, leaving 203 active cases at the end of the month.[28]
March 2021[]
Vaccinations started on 26 March, initially using 50,000 doses of BBIBP-CorV and 5,000 doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United Arab Emirates.[29]
There were 640 new cases in March, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 17847. The death toll rose to 449. The number of recovered patients increased to 17093, leaving 305 active cases at the end of the month.[30]
April 2021[]
There were 555 new cases in April, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 18402. The death toll rose to 455. The number of recovered patients increased to 17687, leaving 260 active cases at the end of the month.[31]
May 2021[]
There were 1145 new cases in May, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 19547. The death toll rose to 463. The number of recovered patients increased to 18513, leaving 571 active cases at the end of the month.[32]
June 2021[]
There were 1261 new cases in June, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 20808. The death toll rose to 489. The number of recovered patients increased to 20016, leaving 529 active cases at the end of the month.[33]
July 2021[]
There were 5165 new cases in July, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 25973. The death toll rose to 567. The number of recovered patients increased to 22406, leaving 3000 active cases at the end of the month.[34]
August 2021[]
There were 7607 new cases in August, raising the total number of confirmed cases to 33580. The death toll rose to 715. The number of recovered patients increased to 30525, leaving 2340 active cases at the end of the month.
^Future scenarios of the healthcare burden of COVID-19 in low- or middle-income countries, MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London.
^"COVID-19 situation report for WHO Africa Region"(PDF). NIHR Global Health Research Unit Tackling Infections to Benefit Africa at the University of Edinburgh. 1 July 2021. p. 37. Retrieved 7 July 2021.