Nigerian President, Muhammadu Buhari,
is wearing a face mask for the first time since Nigeria reported its first case of COVID-19 infection in February.
West African leaders, including Buhari, arrived in Bamako, the Malian capital on Thursday, to find solution to the worsening political crisis in the Francophone country.
Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, had announced on Wednesday that Buhari would join his counterparts from the West African regional bloc on a peacekeeping mission to Mali.
Mali’s COVID-19 case is reported to be 2,494, with 1,869 recoveries and 123 deaths so far.

Nigeria experienced its index case of coronavirus in February via a 44-year-old Italian who flew in from Italy.
Since then, Nigeria’s COVID-19 caseload has steadily risen to its current 38,344.
In addition to other preventive measures, wearing face masks is considered an important way to stave off infection or to infect others.
The World Health Organiszation and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had includes face masks in their recommendations for slowing the spread of the virus.
The CDC recommends cloth face masks for the public and not the surgical and N95 masks needed by health care providers
However, until now, Buhari had continued to appear in meetings without wearing face masks. Same when he received visitors.
