ANKARA

Some 137 Canadian citizens on Monday were evacuated from Nigeria amid the coronavirus pandemic, local Nigerian media reported.

The Canadian nationals were evacuated Monday morning out of Murtala Muhammed International Airport – near Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city – boarding an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767 flight, local website Nigerian Tribune reported.

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, five COVID-19 patients have died in the country so far, while 33 people have recovered and been discharged from hospital.

Since appearing in Wuhan, China, last December, the novel coronavirus has spread to at least 183 countries and regions, according to figures compiled by the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

Nearly 1.3 million cases have been reported worldwide so far, with the global death toll over 70,000, and over 270,000 recoveries.