Line list data: Seeding COVID-19 across sub-Saharan Africa: an analysis of reported importation events across 40 countries

The first case of COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was reported by Nigeria on February 27, 2020. While case counts in the entire region remain considerably less than those being reported by individual countries in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, variation in preparedness and response capacity as well as in data availability has raised concerns about undetected transmission events in the SSA region. To capture epidemiological details related to early transmission events into and within countries, a linelist was developed from publicly available data on institutional websites, situation reports, press releases, and social media accounts. All cases are reflected in the data sheet, even if no specific publicly available information on the indicators of interest is available.