United States President Donald Trump on Thursday called those involved in the protests against the death of an African American man in police custody “thugs”. George Floyd died after a white Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck as he lay on the ground during an arrest on Monday.
Videos captured by the bystanders at the scene showed Floyd shouting “I cannot breathe” and “don’t kill me”. Floyd, a 46-year-old restaurant worker, was seen gasping for breath after the police officer detained him for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill in a purchase.
Demonstrators across the country continued their protests for the third night on Thursday. Outside Minneapolis police precinct station, protestors clashed repeatedly with the police in riot gear, AP reported. They also set the police station on fire. A police spokesperson said the staff had evacuated the station “in the interest of the safety of our personnel” shortly after 10 pm. The third precinct covers the area of south Minneapolis where Floyd was arrested. A car and at least two other buildings in the vicinity were also set ablaze during the demonstrations.
Late Thursday, Trump castigated the “total lack of leadership” in Minneapolis. “Either the very weak radical left Mayor, Jacob Frey, get his act together and bring the city under control, or I will send in the National Guard and get the job done right,” he tweeted. “These thugs are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz earlier in the day activated the National Guard at the Minneapolis mayor’s request. The Guard tweeted minutes after the station burned that it had activated more than 500 soldiers across the metro area. “Our mission is to protect life, preserve property and the right to peacefully demonstrate,” it added. “A key objective is to ensure fire departments are able to respond to calls.”
However, it is not clear when and where the Guard was being deployed. The angry protestors also reportedly carried mannequins from a looted Target store and threw them onto a burning car. In Los Angeles and Denver, hundreds of demonstrators blocked traffic in both cities. Elsewhere in Minneapolis, thousands marched through the streets calling for justice after Floyd’s death.
Four city police officers involved in the incident, including the one pressing his knee into Floyd’s neck, were fired from their jobs on Tuesday. Meanwhile, officials overseeing investigations from the US Justice Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and prosecutors appealed for calm at a press conference. “Give us the time to do this right, and we will bring you justice,” County Attorney Mike Freeman told reporters. He also accepted the police officers conduct in the video was “horrible”, adding that his job his, however, to prove that he violated a criminal statute.
It’s hard to keep your eyes closed when you get slapped in the face. While appearing on “The Breakfast Club,” presidential candidate Joe Biden told co-host Lenard McKelvey, known professionally as “Charlamagne tha God,” that if black voters can’t decide whether to vote for Biden or Trump, then they “ain’t black.”
Initially I was a bit shocked, but I soon realized that we actually created this Monster. When I say WE, I mean the millions of my fellow Black Democratic Obama/Biden voters. The fact of the matter is that we never held VP Joe Biden accountable for his history of oppressive policies toward Black America. So to be honest, I can understand why he feels so confident about his clout in the Black community. Biden was in fact the VP for the first African American man in the White House and no one ever called him out for mass incarcerating millions of black men, or promoting segregating policies his entire political career.
No matter what political party you are in, we should all sympathize for the hundreds of thousands of black families that have been negatively effected by Joe Biden’s policies. This may be a political game to Democrats, but it’s not a game to the thousands of fathers sitting in the prisons that I teach in across America.
We should all remember that Joe Biden finds confidence from his many influential Black colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus. An even harsher reality is that Black Democratic-led communities remain some of the worst in America while the majority of them enrich themselves and their campaigns by raising money promoting welfare programs, anti-Christian policies and race-baiting whenever they can identify issues that trigger the emotions of their black constituencies.
Let’s not forget these same Democrats continue to vote against school choice simply because they can’t raise money from it, even though most fundamentally agree with the concept. The Black Democratic elite have become slaves to the teachers unions while some poor black kids continue to read and write at levels you only find in Third World countries. In eight years, Biden and Obama did nothing substantial to address these injustices.
To make matters worst, Black America has to now deal with the fact that Joe Biden literally negotiated more money from the Ukrainians and Chinese for his family’s interest, than he did for the Historically Black Colleges and Universities in America thorough his eight years as vice president.
I called Donald J. Trump the first black president for a reason, and you can rest assured that I will not call Joe Biden the second. Hopefully, his latest comments will finally awakened Black America.
Jack Brewer possesses a unique combination of expertise in the fields of global economic development, sports, and finance through his roles as a successful entrepreneur, executive producer, news contributor, and humanitarian. Currently serving as the CEO and Portfolio Manager of The Brewer Group, Inc. as well as the Founder and Executive Director of The Jack Brewer Foundation (JBF Worldwide), active Shriner and Ambassador and National Spokesperson for the National Association of Police Athletic/Activities Leagues, Inc. Other key roles include regular contributor to CNBC, Fox Business, and The American City Business Journals, Ambassador for Peace and Sport for the International Federation for Peace and Sustainable Development at the United Nations, Senior Advisor to former H.E. President Joyce Banda of the Republic of Malawi, and three-time National Football League (NFL) Team Captain for the Minnesota Vikings, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. Read Jack Brewer’s Reports —More Here.
It is about mind slavery. Once you make a person hate themselves and who they are, (referring to their ‘cultural history’) you don’t need to kill or put them in prison because you’ve made them their own worst enemy.
The oppression of the mind is the most powerful tool you can use to break a person.
In the late 19th Century, Europeans flooded into Africa with the sole intention of ‘bringing light into the dark continent’. Be that as it may have been, it did not mean that Africa then was a backward landmass for we had advanced socio-political and socio-economic systems that had been in place and sustained society since time immemorial. Concerning the Europeans’ arrival and escapades in Africa, John Henrik Clarke, an African-American historian, professor, and a pioneer in the creation of Pan-African and Africana studies, said: “They laughed at your clothes; and made you change your clothes, they laughed at your names; and made you change your name; but more importantly they laughed at your God; and made you change your God.” From an African point of view, Africa never was, is, or will be a laughing stock despite all the challenges and the shortcomings we face.
The continent has to reject the notion that being modern and civilized means imitating the west. It is the 21st Century and while most African nations have adopted the language, political ideology, socio-economic structures, education and everything that makes up a nation, even down to popular culture, from the west, we still have a total dependency on our own traditional political philosophies and ideas and their shifts and movements.
However, it is sad to note that this is largely evident in rural communities and in the poorer countries of the continent and not in metropolises and richer countries.
Africa Has Above-Standard Intellectual Theories
That Africa has taken to western norms and cultures, makes John Henrik Clarke’s statement about the West laughing at us ever so true today.
Whatever the West normalises eventually trickles down to Africa and is adopted as a norm. essentially, this means that, slowly, Africa continues to be slowly emptied of its essence, and becoming a relic, no different in substance from a statue or a museum.
As Africans, we should strongly desist from persuading the rest of the world to believe that anything from our continent is inferior.
For instance, celebrations of Africa on the international scene mostly involve dancing, music, traditional fashion, and other cultural artifacts.
Africans hardly ever showcase African-originated economic ideas, social ideologies, or intellectual theories.
It is not that these do not exist, but the world has successfully convinced everyone that everything African is substandard.
Echoes of 19th Century Colonists
It is the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and we are told that its either you adapt or you die. African leaders are telling us that the way of the west is ‘modern and civilised’.
They echo the 19th Century colonialists who dismissed African civilisations as backward, barbaric and uncivilised. Sadly, this is becoming Africa’s reality.
Westerners, aided by our very own, tell us that our institutions are corrupt, that our societies are patriarchal, and that the African traditional religions are heathen.
To echo John Henrik Clarke’s remarks, they are, indeed, laughing at us.
However, this is of little concern to Africa’s elites.
For them, what matters is to find what the political currency is in the US or Europe, and to uncritically follow it.
Whereas people in the west are de-emphasising patriotism and nationalism, Africans need these to build sustainable nations.
Ultimately, we need to look into traditional African systems and extract coherent policies that can help form workable and uniquely African social and systems.
This is the only viable path to preventing the continent from fully becoming western Africa – and the only way to ending the continent’s long-term political decay.
Let Africa not be like them. As we celebrate Africa Month in May, let Mother Africa rise up to become the powerhouse that it is destined to be with all its sons and daughter.
Let Africa be the one to have the last laugh for they have been laughing at us for centuries but we shall serve them no longer.
This commentary is the second of a series setting the background on Africa’s foreign debt. In graduate school at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University where the emphasis was on political economy and regional studies, I used to argue with my distinguished professors that Africa’s abject poverty was a function of untold oppression, suffering, theft and robbery by European colonialism, outright racism and the colonialists’ divisive schemes and institutions that persist to this day.
The policy, structural and institutional hurdles of the transatlantic slave trade that enriched Europeans, North American Whites and Latin American Hispanics and that kept Blacks trapped in a cycle of perpetual poverty remain intact. The ugly face of institutional racism in the United States is now wide open; and has been aggravated by COVID-19. One would have thought rightly that, by this time in the 21st century, African-Americans, Black immigrants, Indians and other Asians and Hispanics who contribute to the richness of American society would no longer face racism and or marginalization.
Africa is home to one of the world’s largest youthful populations. Given a conducive policy and political environment, I am convinced that this human capital has enormous potential to transform Africa’s economy; and to make abject history a story of Africa’s past. Among the requisite transformative ingredients is to shed the outdated development paradigm of development that caters to political elites and to global capital. Africans need to embrace a development model that caters to community, humanity, human worth, equity and sustainability. Africa cannot afford to adhere to the opposite development model.
I remember attending high school in Pennsylvania, college in Indiana and graduate school in Washington D.C, all in the midst of liberal of scholarships from the generous people of the United States, that there were two powerful civil rights movements and ideologies on two sides of the Atlantic: the one led by Dr. Martin Luther King in the USA and the other in Africa championed by Pan-Africanists such as Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, Patrice Lumumba, Amilcar Cabral and others. Cabral understood best the corrosive and oppressive nature of colonialism, imperialism and racism. He said this: “The colonists usually say that it was they who brought us into history: today we show that this is not so.” I never for once accepted the value-added of the colonialist narrative of “a civilizing mission and role” in Africa or anywhere else. I understood its exploitative nature though.
Major colonial powers that divided Africa among themselves like a piece of merchandise, notably, Belgium, France, Great Britain, Holland, Portugal, Spain and the late comer to the conquest, Fascist Italy and earlier Turkey under the Ottoman empire as well as imperial Japan and Nazi Germany have all participated in massive brutalities, killings, dehumanization and subjugations of hundreds of millions of peoples; and in the exploitation of minerals and other natural resources, in the marginalization of indigenous peoples and their communities most notably in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and other places. These conquerors and colonizers created artificial boundaries in many countries in Africa. They planted the seeds of ethnic and religious divisions that remain hurdles to this day. They inflicted psychological scars that still need healing. They robbed artifacts and took them to their homelands. They deliberately and systematically degraded local and indigenous creativity, innovation and institutions.
In the case of the massive slave trade, there has not been repentance for dehumanization, degradation and for crimes against humanity. Despite huge efforts among African-Americans, the demand for reparation has not come to fruition.
I shall always remember Walter Rodney’s classic book, “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” in which he says “Many guilty consciences have been created by the slave trade. Europeans know that they carried on the slave trade, and Africans are aware that the trade would have been impossible if certain Africans did not cooperate with slave ships. To ease their guilty consciences, Europeans try to throw the major responsibility for the slave trade on to the Africans. One major author on the slave trade (appropriately titled Sins of Our Fathers) explained how many white people urged him to state that the trade was the responsibility of African chiefs, and that Europeans merely turned up to buy captives- as though withoutEuropean demand there would have been captives sitting on the beach by the millions! Issues… can be correctly approached only after understanding that Europe became the center of a world-wide system and that it was European capitalism which set slavery and the Atlantic slave trade in motion.” This mindset of blaming the oppressed is preserved and prompted.
The slave trade paved the way for the outright annexations of lands and the exploitation of Africa’s minerals such as gem stones, diamonds, gold, copper, high value industrial commodities that contributed immensely to European, North American other Western country rapid manufacturing and industrialization. Trade relations between Africa and Europe reflected Europe’s dominance and Africa’s dependence, governance that needs overhauling.
“From the beginning, Europe assumed the power to make decisions within the internationaltrading system. An excellent illustration of that is the fact that the so-called international law which governed the conduct of nations on the high seas was nothing else but European law. Africans did not participate in its making, and in many instances, African people were simply the victims, for the law recognized them only as transportable merchandise. …. Above all, European decision-making power was exercised in selecting what Africa should export – in accordance with European needs.” This too needs overhaling.
Things have changed dramatically since then. This is because African nations have alternatives to trade their commodities and to import what they need, for example, from non-traditional sources such as China and India. Despite this alternative that allows African nations to make hard choices, sustainable growth and development in Africa is still weak and uncertainty looms large, especially when unexpected and cataclysmic events such as COVID-19 occur.
If we flip the situation though, COVID-19 offers African nations to ask the hard and inevitable question of whether or it is not time for African nations to translate Pan-Africanism into a concrete set of new narratives and projects that would bring substantial socioeconomic resiliency for Africans as a whole. The Organization of African Unity (the OAU) has already evolved into the next phase of Pan-Africanism, namely, into the African Union (AU) that Nkrumah, Nyerere and Haile Selassie had hoped for. Today, this Pan-African organization acts as the sole representative and collective voice for Africans. If scaled-up, I suggest that the AU will have greater weight, leverage and potential impact in global governance than individual nations. In order to win and to compete, Africa needs to abandon national fragmentation.
As a collective body, the AU can, for example:
Demand that Africa’s huge debt burden should are cancelled;
Refuse to accept colonial agreements on trades and tariffs; and claim market access;
Demand that colonial Agreements, for example, the one on the inequitable, unjust andunfair Nile River Agreement of 1959 that Egypt and its backers support should be determined only by Stakeholders, including African riparian nations;
Negotiate for fair trade for Africa’s immense resources including minerals;
Demand that developed nations stop polluting Africa’s rich soil and refrain degrading the environment as a precondition for investing in Africa;
Demand that external powers stop proxy wars and pitting one ethnic or religious group against another, displacing indigenous groups from their lands when and if they invest in any African nation; and sanction them if they do not abide by guidelines that the AU can and should issue;
Demand that European, Middle Eastern, North American nations and China stop dehumanizing and mistreating African students and or migrant workers; and sanction discriminatory treatment of all Africans;
Urge wealthy nations to keep Africa in mind in the development and fair and effective distribution of a vaccine or vaccines to combat COVID-19; and them to invite representatives from the AU so that Africa is not left out from access when such a vaccine is discovered and approved for use; and,
Demand that nations that are identified as hiding places of the billions of dollars stolen from and taken out of Africa through illicit transactions cooperate with African nations so that stolen monies are returned to the rightful nation.
These suggestions might sound wishful. It will not be if and when the AU determines to be bold and innovative enough and spearheads transformation that will lead to the formalization of an African Economic Union (AEU) similar to that of the European Union (AU). The AU must recognize by now that scale does matter for Africa’s survival and prosperity.
You may rightfully ask “Why worry about Africa at all?”
Africa is no longer the “Dark Continent” depicted in Tarzan like movies. It is an emerging and dynamic continent with more than 1 billion people. By all accounts, it is a developmental frontier. It has potential to contribute to the global common good in multiple ways.
This emerging African development is now adversely impacted by the pandemic. Africa has to deal with the same and common enemy, the pandemic that afflicts the rest of the globe. As I urged in this commentary, each African nation cannot do it alone. The global economy faces a depression type recession. This affects the entire Africa.
Africa, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, does not possess the monetary and financial resources and the health infrastructural to deal with COVID-19.
Below are four economic variables that affect all African countries:
Commodity prices such as petroleum and gas, copper and cocoa, coffee and others have declined significantly.
Income from tourism that accounts for 5-10 percent of GDP in Cape Verde, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa and Tunisia respectively, employing in excess of 1 million Africans has virtually stopped.
Remittances constitute 5 percent of Africa’s GDP. According to a 2018 study by Brookings, Africa received a staggering $85 billion from remittances, compared to $50 billion in Official Development Assistance (ODA).
Remittances support families. Remittances generate foreign exchange and enhance development. Remittances help governments offset foreign exchange shortfalls, etc.
Early statistics from remittances transfer companies from the U.K. to Eastern Africa shows a decline of 80 percent in remittance transfers. Gulf countries have begun to expel migrant workers, thereby compounding the remittance short fall. Experts tend to believe that remitters from rich countries enjoy a safety net that may mitigate losses. This too is debatable. In the U.S. job losses from the pandemic affect more than thirty-six million people with no end in sight.
Foreign private investors have started pulling hundreds of billions of dollars from developing nations, including Africa.
Estimates of job losses for developing nations emanating from pull back that is driven by the pandemic are in excess of 150 million, the brunt borne by youth.
The debt burden and debt repayment services picture loom large; and is a huge drag on Africa’s economies.
This huge drag requires bold and life changing interventions. Africa as a whole, and especially Sub-Saharan Africa faces two interrelated problems at the same time.
Africa faced a financial and economic crisis that persisted before COVID-19 and that remained unresolved; and
It now faces a public health crisis that threatens the lives of millions of Africans.
First thing first though. The possible loss of 4 million lives in SSA from COVID-19 that is estimated by the UK’s famous Imperial College modelers is gruesome. It must be prevented at all cost. Even if all efforts are carried out by governments and the world community, the minimum number of African lives that could be lost as a result of the pandemic is forecast at 800,000. Infections among Ethiopians are estimated at 1.4 million. There is no projection in terms of deaths from COVID-19.
On April 17, 2020, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) reported that “Anywhere between 300,000 and 3.3 million African people could lose their lives as a direct result of COVID-19. Rates projected by Trinity College and by the ECA depend entirely on the timing, efficiency and effectiveness of intervention measures taken to stop the spread the pandemic. The slower the response, the higher the death rate.
Let me summarize this commentary with caution but with a positive note. Africa must concentrate on prevention. In this regard:
It is commendable that Ethiopia is doing all it can to prevent massive deaths and the spreads of the virus using its limited resources in order to mitigate the damage through early monitoring and constant testing.
I also appreciate the fact that the Ethiopian Diaspora is heavily involved by mobilizing and provisioning preventive tools, knowledge and financial resources. It needs to do much more.
In some countries, ordinary citizens do not seem to understand the magnitude of COVID-19. For example, in Malawi, it is reported that “thousands of informal workers took to the streets to protest the regimes newly announced 21-day lockdown measures… which prevent the workers from earning income, that will in turn cause these workers and their families to go hungry.” Ethiopians should be cautious too.
I am encouraged that the Government of Ethiopia is providing air transport to thousands of Ethiopian migrant workers from Lebanon; all African nations need to do the same. The long-term solution is to create an empowering environment in Ethiopia and contain migration out.
It is important to note that, ‘without enhanced social safety nets, the livelihoods and lives of informal workers and their families across” SSA are under constant threat. Social distancing measures that are easier in high income countries in the West, China, Japan and other rich nations are more difficult to enforce in SSA countries.
The government of Uganda has been more successful in enforcing and extending lockdown measures and in banning public transportation until May 5, 2020. Ugandan borders and airports remain closed to all except cargo and emergency flights. Uganda has applied lessons from its Ebola experiences; and has also instituted food delivery mechanisms to its citizens. I worry a great deal about food-security and self-sufficiency in Ethiopia and other African nations owing to the Pandemic and to the devastating effects of wide-spread locust swarms in Eastern Africa; we need to finance food banks.
Two countries, Botswana and Cameroon have announced large-scale prisoner releases in the forms of pardons and/or sentence reductions. The country of Guinea announced that the wearing of masks in public would now be mandatory, with violators facing a fine of 30,000 Guinean francs (about $3).
Kenya announced a similar measure, threatening a fine of 20,000 Kenyan shillings (about $200) and/or a jail term of six months for offenders.
Positive measures similar to Ethiopia include Kenyan and South African and Zimbabwean government decisions to carryout widespread, mass testing efforts.
The African Union’s Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) announced a plan to distribute one million (1) testing kits across the continent. Africa CDC director Dr. John Nkengasong announced that “Over the next three months or six months, we probably need like 15 million tests, however, a journey of 1,000 miles starts with the first mile.”
African governments are doing their level best to mitigate the devastation projected by Trinity College modelers.
Part III of this series will focus on the effects of the Pandemic on the economies of African nations. I shall also propose a set of recommendations for creditors to consider.
The coronavirus pandemic has been confirmed in over 180 countries globally since it was first discovered in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December 2019.
The World Health Organisation, WHO, has since declared it a pandemic due to its spread. All African countries except Lesotho have since recorded cases as governments roll out measures to combat the spread.
In this article, we will share the latest developments as authorities implement measures to contain the spread of the virus, especially on the African continent.
First case of coronavirus in the Comoros – President confirms
Comoros announced its index case of the novel coronavirus this Thursday, April 30, 2020. The President of the Republic Azali Assoumani explained that the patient is a 50-year-old Franco-Comorian who has since been admitted to a hospital.
Borders are closed in Comoros while a curfew between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. is in effect. During this Ramadan period, the mosques are also closed but there is no full lockdown.
Azali Assoumani explained that contact tracing is being carried out. With this development, it leaves Lesotho as the sole African country without a confirmed case.
April 24: Trump speaks with Ramaphosa and Kenyatta
President of the United States Donald Trump has spoken to two African leaders pledging his country’s support for their respective response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump spoke with South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa and Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta expressing America’s support to the two countries and pledging additional support.
The South African president is also current chairperson of the African Union, AU; he is leading Africa’s most impacted country and the continent’s effort to get international support to fight the pandemic.
South Africa’s coronavirus statistics as at April 24 at 7:00 GMT were as follows: 3,953 confirmed cases, 1,473 recoveries and 75 deaths. Kenya on the other hand had 320 cases, 89 recoveries and 14 deaths.
Africa dangerously behind in global race for virus gear
As Africa braces for a surge in coronavirus cases, its countries are dangerously behind in the global race for scarce medical equipment. Ten nations have no ventilators at all.
Outbid by richer countries, and not receiving medical gear from top aid donor the United States, African officials scramble for solutions as virus cases climb past 25,000. Even in the best scenario, the United Nations says 74 million test kits and 30,000 ventilators will be needed by the continent’s 1.3 billion people this year. Very few are in hand.
“We are competing with the developed world,” said John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “The very future of the continent will depend on how this matter is handled.”
Politicians instinctively try to protect their own people and “we know that sometimes the worst in human behavior comes out,” said Simon Missiri, Africa director with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, urging an equitable approach to help developing nations.
The crisis has jolted African nations into creating a pooled purchasing platform under the African Union to improve negotiating power. Within days of its formation, the AU landed more than 100,000 test kits from a German source. The World Health Organization is pitching in, approaching manufacturers for supplies.
AP
April 23: Africa’s 43% jump in virus cases in 1 week worries experts
Africa registered a 43% jump in reported COVID-19 cases in the last week, highlighting a warning from the World Health Organization that the continent of 1.3 billion could become the next epicenter of the global outbreak.
Africa also has a “very, very limited” and “very, very strained” testing capacity, John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in his weekly briefing on Thursday.
The surge in infections on the continent is almost certainly under-reported and even higher in reality, say medical experts.
WHO’s recent report painted a grim picture for Africa, one of the last continents to be hit by the pandemic. WHO warned the virus could kill more than 300,000 people and push 30 million into desperate poverty.
Africa still has time to avert such a disaster, Nkengasong said, but testing people and tracing virus cases is critical.
“It all depends on what we are discussing here, which is, are you testing? Are you finding the cases? Are you isolating and tracking the contacts?” Nkengasong said, adding that the WHO report “is not a prediction that means it must happen.” By Nkengasong’s own criteria, Africa is struggling on the testing front.
In the two months since the continent began mobilizing to fight the outbreak, less than 500,000 tests have been conducted on the population of more than 1 billion. That’s just 325 people tested per 1 million people, Nkengasong said. By comparison, that’s far lower than Italy, one of the world’s worst-hit countries, he said.
“If you don’t test, you don’t find. And if you don’t test, you are blinded. If you don’t test, you are not ahead of the curve,” Nkengasong said.
African governments reported a total of nearly 26,000 cases as of Thursday, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up from just over 16,000 a week ago. Around 1,200 people have died. Although those figures are still relatively small in the global picture, the sharp increase in cases is a cause for concern, said Nkengasong. The previous week saw an increase of 29%.
The Africa Centers for Disease Control has a target of conducting 1 million more tests in Africa over the next four weeks and 10 million tests in the next four months. The overall effort is badly hampered, Nkengasong said, by a major obstacle: The existing fragility of the health services in many African countries.
“I’d like to make sure I make this very clear,” he said. “It is an uphill battle to build health systems while you need them. … That is what we are actually doing now. We are playing catch-up and that is a very, very tough thing to do.”
It’s not exclusively bad news for Africa. South Africa has the highest number of reported cases with around 3,300 but Africa’s most developed economy is being praised for an aggressive testing program. South Africa, aided by an existing infrastructure, has carried out more than 130,000 tests, according to its health minister.
And “they are starting to see a bending of their curve.” said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s regional director for Africa. But South Africa’s early and tentative signs of success — helped, maybe, by a strict lockdown — are being set off by “concerning increases” in virus cases in some countries in West Africa and East Africa, Moeti said.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with 200 million people and a high population density, is a stark example of the testing and health system shortcomings prevalent across the continent.
The country has reported 873 cases of COVID-19 and 28 deaths but had conducted just 7,153 tests as of Wednesday, according to the Nigeria Center for Disease Control. Around 5,000 of those tests only came in the last week.
“The truth is, we have to work with what we have. We definitely didn’t start at the baseline where South Africa started,” said Chikwe Ihekweazu, director general of the Nigerian center.
“Many lessons will be learned here and around the world. But the middle of a crisis is not the time you can suddenly build up an infrastructural base that you need 20 or 30 years to build.”
AP
April 21: Mauritania beats virus, Tanzania MP infected
Authorities in Mauritania say the country does not have any active case of coronavirus as at today after all six patients tested negative out of the seven confirmed cases. The other patient succumbed to the disease.
Mauritania is one of the few African countries that have so far recorded single digit infection along with the likes of Burundi, Sao Tome and Principe, South Sudan with five, four and four cases respectively as of April 21.
Mauritania said it continued to carry out tests since March 13 when the index case was recorded. The country is currently enforcing a nigh-time curfew as part of containment efforts.
In Tanzania, a lawmaker has tested positive for the virus leading to calls for a suspension of parliamentary sitting. The unnamed MP is believed to have contracted the virus during a trip to the commercial capital Dar es Salaam.
“There shall be no two set of laws – for MPs and for the people. All MPs should be isolated, tested and contact-traced. Right from the beginning we advised that the parliament sessions should not be held. It’s dangerous.” said Zitto Kabwe, an opposition MP
The speaker of parliament has backed the president’s position that life must go on despite the need to exercise precautions amid the pandemic. Even though schools have been closed, there is no lockdown or curfew as is the case in most countries in the region.
President Magufuli has also rejected border closures stressing that most neighbouring countries depended on the Tanzania corridor for mush needed supplies. Tanzania’s case count stands at 254 with 11 recoveries and 10 deaths as of April 21.
April 20: Zimbabwe quarantines UK returnees, Madagascar announces COVID-19 treatment
The Zimbabwean government on Monday confirmed that 65 citizens had returned from the United Kingdom and were currently being quarantined.
But there was a protest by the returnees over where government had moved to quarantine them. Nick Mangwana, Secretary for Information bemoaned why the returnees had agreed to return but were refusing a state quarantine facility.
“They are refusing this accommodation demanding hotels. Govt can’t afford. Why come from a covid19 hotspot during a lockdown & demand posh facilities at stretched public cost?” His views have elicited mixed reaction on Twitter.
We received 65 Zimbabweans from the UK. Available place of quarantine is Belvedere Teachers College. They are refusing this accommodation demanding hotels. Govt can’t afford. Why come from a covid19 hotspot during a lockdown & demand posh facilities at stretched public cost?
Madagascar has announced the launch of a traditional remedy for the COVID-19 disease. President Andry Rajoelina said the medication called CVO or Covid-Organics > was an improved traditional remedy composed of Artemisia & Malagasy medicinal plants.
He said it was produced following scientific studies by IMRA (Malagasy Institute for Applied Research). The currently has 121 cases of COVID-19 with 39 recoveries and no death.
#Madagascar lancera demain le CVO ou Covid-Organics> remède traditionnel amélioré composé d’Artemisia & de plantes médicinales Malagasy suite aux études scientifiques de l’IMRA (Institut Malagasy de Recherche Appliquée). 1ers tests cliniques encourageants, 1ère étape franchie ! pic.twitter.com/MRJTZKvujr
Africa to be hit by Trump WHO fund cut, Tanzania prays
More than 1 million coronavirus tests will be rolled out starting next week in Africa to address the “big gap” in assessing the true number of cases on the continent.
This is according to the head of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday, while one projection estimates more than 10 million severe cases of the virus in the next six months.
“Maybe 15 million tests” will be required in Africa over the next three months, John Nkengasong said.
The new initiative to dramatically accelerate testing comes as the continent of 1.3 billion people braces for its turn in the pandemic that has rolled from China to Europe and the U.S. and now beyond. Experts have said Africa is weeks behind Europe and the U.S. but the rise in cases has looked alarmingly similar.
The Africa CDC chief expressed concern for the U.S. decision to cut funding for the WHO, saying it “absolutely will affect (African Union) member states’ ability to receive support” from the U.N. agency. The U.S. is the top donor to the WHO, but President Donald Trump has complained about alleged mismanagement, to widespread objections.
The WHO’s regional chief for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said that for the current biennium, or two years, the region has received almost $50 million from the U.S.
Of the U.S. decision, she said the impact will be significant in fighting diseases beyond the coronavirus including malaria and HIV and “we are very much hoping it will be rethought.” Overall, the WHO’s 47-country sub-Saharan Africa region will need about $300 million over the next six months to support what the countries are doing to combat the virus, she said.
Any reduction in support for African nations will be painful as the continent has some of the world’s weakest health systems.
Tanzania prays
President John Magufuli has asked citizens to dedicate the weekend for prayer against the coronavirus outbreak.
Tanzania is one of few Africans countries that has refused to close its borders despite the virus. Also, there is currently no lockdown in the East African country and religious gatherings have not been banned.
“My fellow Tanzanians, due to coronavirus, I am asking that we use three days, from 17th – 19th April, 2020 (Friday, Saturday and Sunday), to pray to Almighty God that he deliver us from this pandemic. Let us pray each of us in their own faith, He will hear us,” he posted on Twitter.
Neighbouring Rwanda is in full lockdown as is Uganda whiles Kenya is using a dawn to dusk curfew to control spread.
All academic activities have been suspended. The country also announced the suspension of the Unity Day celebrations earlier this week. It was the second national event to be cancelled after the Uhuru torch race early this month was suspended.
As of April 17, Tanzania’s COVID-19 tallies stood at 94 confirmed cases with four deaths and 11 recoveries.
April 15: Uganda speaker unveils virus killing spray, Malawi lockdown
Ugandan Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has unveiled what she calls her ‘coronavirus treatment’ which local media outlets report that she now calls a spray. The Observer newspaper reported that Kadaga blamed Ugandans for overreacting.
She is quoted as saying: “I didn’t call it a vaccine but a spray, which kills the virus.” The speaker came under fire a month ago for suggesting that some U.S. scientists who had visited her were close to a COVID-19 vaccine in collaboration with some Ugandans.
“There is a ray of hope, a professor who manufactured a treatment for coronavirus in the US was here last week and has donated the patent to Uganda. Within a fortnight, the treatment will be right here…there is hope and the treatment will start here in Uganda,” she said in mid-March.
The East African country currently has 55 confirmed case of the disease with eight recoveries and no death as of April 15. The tally is relatively lower in a region where Kenya has 216 cases and Rwanda with 134 cases. Djibouti tops in the East / Horn Africa region with 363 cases toppling Mauritius now second with 324.
Key stats #COVID19Africa as of April 15 at 08:30 GMT – Confirmed cases = 16,288 – Number of deaths = 873 – Recoveries = 3,238 – Infected countries = 52 – Virus-free countries = 2 (Lesotho, Comoros)#coronavirushttps://t.co/pjckWHFXkX
— Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban #StayHome (@AlfaAfrican) April 15, 2020
Malawi announces 21-day lockdown
Malawians are the latest on the continent to have a feel of a national lockdown after Health Minister Jappie Mhango eclared a 21-day lockdown as part of efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus.
The lockdown comes into effect at midnight on 18 April and runs till midnight on 9 May. The southern African country as of April 15 had recorded 19 coronavirus cases including two deaths with no recovery.
As is usually the case, law enforcement officers and essential service providers are the only people allowed to move during the period. All other persons seeking to move must seek permission to do so.
District commissioners and local chief executive officers will identify providers of essential goods and services and issue them with special permits. While all central markets will be closed, local markets will be allowed to open between 05:00 and 18:00 local time, a BBC reporter said.
In an address to the nation on Tuesday evening, President Peter Arthur Mutharika stressed that the lockdown could be extended if need be. He said the borders will have beefed up security during the period and security will be high across the country.
“Fighting coronavirus is a challenging war for everyone, everywhere. It is also a very expensive war. As a nation, we require about MK150 billion for the implementation of the National COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plan. We need to unite.
“Let me once again appeal to all political leaders that we need to join our hands in fighting this coronavirus pandemic. None must take advantage of the suffering of people and politicize coronavirus. This is not a time for politics. This is a time for saving lives.
“Coronavirus is a real threat. As your President, I will do everything possible for us to save lives. Let us unite to save lives. This lockdown may be extended beyond 9th May as circumstances warrant. The Minister has done so using powers vested in him under the Public Health Act. I would like to urge you to fully comply with the measures because they are for the good of our country,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court today started hearing a challenge by Mutharika into annulled presidential elections of May 2019. His reelection bid was successfully challenged by the opposition with a new date set for a rerun in July this year.
April 14: US in Africa’s corner against Chinese racism
The United States has condemned reports of racist attacks on African nationals in the Chinese city of Guangzhou calling the videos and stories “appalling.”
America had over the weekend condemned the actions which it said targeted African Americans as well. In a tweet on Monday; a top Department of State official for Africa, Tibor Nagy, said Beijing needed to do more to stop the attacks.
“Videos and stories from #Guangzhou are appalling. Abuse and xenophobia has no place in our fight against this global pandemic. Chinese authorities must do more to stop these attacks against Africans living and working in China,” he posted on Twitter.
Earlier on Monday, the Chinese foreign ministry issued a statement admitting diplomatic protests from African governments but stressing that “All foreigners are treated equally. We reject differential treatment, and we have zero tolerance for discrimination.” They reiterated relations between Beijing and Africa and said a probe will be opened to ascertain the real facts and to remedy same.
The statement by the ministry’s spokesperson read in part: “During our fight against the coronavirus, the Chinese government has been attaching great importance to the life and health of foreign nationals in China. All foreigners are treated equally. We reject differential treatment, and we have zero tolerance for discrimination.
“Since the outbreak, the authorities in Guangdong attach high importance to the treatment of foreign patients, including African nationals.
“Specific plans and proper arrangements are made to protect their life and health to the best of our ability, thanks to which we were able to save the lives of some African patients in severe or critical conditions.
The concluding parts read: “The foreign ministry will stay in close communication with the Guangdong authorities and continue responding to the African side’s reasonable concerns and legitimate appeals.
“The virus knows no borders. The pandemic, a challenge to all mankind, can only be defeated through concerted international efforts. With mutual understanding, mutual support and cooperation, we are ready to continue working with African friends to achieve the final victory.”
April 13: Africa round-up from the weekend
Coronavirus developments continue to unravel across the continent as governments continue efforts at arresting spread of the pandemic through national and continental efforts.
The weekend coughed up some major developments across Africa aside the rising number of cases, deaths and recoveries. South Africa remains the most impacted country even though the spike in cases have dropped and a bumper recovery was also recorded.
Across the ocean, mistreatment of Africans in China also gave rise to a raft of protests from different governments with the African Union ultimately inviting the Chinese envoy to Addis Ababa to demand concrete action on the part of Beijing.
In Nigeria, the Foreign Minister and Speaker of the lower house of parliament had cause to summon the Chinese ambassador to register their displeasure. Ghana’s Foreign Minister also did same whiles Congo Republic, Kenya and Sierra Leone issued strongly worded statements.
Still with the African Union, Chairperson and South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, appointed on Sunday a four-member team to help coordinate Africa’s international efforts at combating the pandemic.
The newly appointed envoys are tasked with mobilising international support for Africa’s efforts to address the economic challenges African countries will face as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Special Envoys will be tasked with soliciting rapid and concrete support as pledged by the G20, the European Union and other international financial institutions, a statement read.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala is an internationally respected economist and development expert and served two terms as Minister of Finance of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. She has also served as Managing Director of the World Bank.
Dr Kaberuka is an economist and former President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB). He is the former Finance Minister of Rwanda and in 2016 was appointed as a Special Envoy of the African Union on sustainable financing for the AU and funding for Peace in Africa.
Manuel was the longest-serving Minister of Finance in the Republic of South Africa and formerly headed the country’s National Planning Commission. In 2018 he was appointed as an Investment Envoy by President Ramaphosa to engage domestic and international investors as part of the country’s national investment drive.
Thiam is a banker and businessman. He is the former Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse and also served as Chief Financial Officer and CEO of Prudential. He also has a background in management consulting and worked for McKinsey and Company.
Two prominent deaths were also recorded across the continent in relation to COVID-19. Ghana confirmed on Saturday the death of a renowned physician, Professor Jacob Plange-Rhule.
The incident occurred in the early hours of Friday (April 10) in the capital Accra specifically at the University of Ghana Medical Centre, where he had been on a brief admission. An official close to the report said he had underlying health complications before contracting the virus.
In Somalia, the death was confirmed on Sunday of a regional official. The death of Khalif Mumin was the second in the Horn of Africa nation. He died at a hospital in the capital Mogadishu, the Maritini Hospital is Somalia’s only coronavirus treatment center.
April 11: Africa protests Chinese mistreatment with Nigeria in the lead
Reports of mistreatment meted out to Africans in the Chinese city of Guangzhou has drawn the ire of a number of people on social media. Nigerian government summoned the Chinese ambassador to express their protest.
After the meeting between the Foreign Minister and the ambassador, the Speaker of the lower house of parliament also piled more pressure when he chided the ambassador in a separate meeting on Thursday.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson insisted that relations between the country and Africa remained robust despite the latest round of friction.
“FM Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said: ‘China and African countries are united more than ever, demonstrating brotherhood in times of adversity. We treat all foreign nationals equally in China. We reject differential treatment, and we have zero tolerance for discrimination’,” the embassy tweeted.
On Saturday, the African Union Commission Chairperson also tweeted that his office had summoned the Chinese envoy to the AU over the recent reports.
“My Office invited the Chinese Ambassador to the AU, Mr Liu Yuxi, to express our extreme concern at allegations of maltreatment of Africans in Guangzhou plus called for immediate remedial measures in line with our excellent relations. The African group in Beijing is also engaging with the govt,” AUC chair Moussa Faki Mahamat posted on Twitter.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa have passed the 2000 mark. Figures released on April 10 put the figure at 2003 from 73,028 cases. The death toll has also hit 24 from 18 with 95 recoveries as of April 9.
The country is Africa’s most impacted and the big figures are credited to the rate of testing. Comparatively, most other African countries can only boast of below 10,000 tests as compared to South Africa’s 73,000 plus tests.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced an extension to the 21-day lockdown announced last month. The two-week extension he says will be critical in containment efforts. The president and his cabinet agreed a salary slash to support the government’s solidarity fund.
As at today number of confirmed #COVID19 cases are 2003, the number of tests conducted are 73 028 and the number of deaths is now 24
The government has gazetted hefty penalties for Kenyans, including a fine of Sh20,000 or a six months’ imprisonment or both if found breaking directives issued in line with the Public Health Act, a top portal Standard Digital has reported.
A Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 41 signed by Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe indicated that failure to wear a mask while using public or private transport and failure to maintain social distance are among the offences that will attract the penalties.
“Users of public or private transport and public transport operators shall wear a proper mask that must cover the person’s mouth and nose and also maintain a physical distance of not less than one metre.”
According to the new rules, organisations, business entities, traders whether in a market or enclosed premises are required to provide at their business location or entrance to their premises, a handwashing station with soap and water or an alcohol-based sanitiser which is approved for use by the Kenya Bureau of Standards.
Kenya report courtesy Standard Digital portal
April 10: South Africa cases hit 2000, Africa needs more testing
African officials objected Thursday to the global jostling to obtain medical equipment to combat the coronavirus, warning that if COVID-19 is left to spread on the continent the world will remain at risk.
“We cannot be neglected in this effort,” the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, told reporters. “The world will be terribly unsafe, and it will be completely naive, if countries think they can control COVID-19 in their countries but not in Africa.”
South Africa acknowledged the challenges as it extended its lockdown by two weeks, with President Cyril Ramaphosa saying, “This is a matter of survival, and we dare not fail.”
Equipment in Africa is scarce. The World Health Organization says fewer than 5,000 intensive care unit beds are available across 43 of the continent’s 54 countries: “This is about 5 beds per 1 million people in the reported countries compared to 4,000 beds per 1 million people in Europe.” Functional ventilators in public health services across 41 countries number less than 2,000, a severe shortage for patients in respiratory distress.
While Africa’s 1.3 billion people had a head start in preparing for the pandemic as the virus spread in China, Europe and the United States, Nkengasong warned that “the very future of the continent will depend on how this matter is handled” as cases, now over 11,000, quickly rise.
“The worst is still to come,” he said, and pointed to the global Spanish flu pandemic of a century ago when cases came in waves.
Africa is also competing with the developing world for testing kits that will help give a clear number of cases, as well as protective equipment that front-line health workers desperately require. Already, anxious workers have gone on strike or gone to court in places like Zimbabwe over the lack of gear.
“We may not actually know how big is the size of the problem” without scaling up testing, Nkengasong said.
While 48 of Africa’s 54 countries now have testing capability, that often is limited to countries’ capitals or other major cities, WHO officials told reporters in a separate briefing.
There is an “urgent need” to expand testing, the WHO Africa chief, Matshidiso Moeti, said, noting that clusters of community transmission have emerged in at least 16 countries. That means the virus has begun spreading beyond the initial cases imported from abroad.
“Some countries might face a huge peak very soon” in cases, said the WHO’s emergency program manager, Michel Yao.
Even if testing kits and other equipment are found, another challenge is delivering them amid the thicket of travel restrictions. Cargo space is rare because many airlines have stopped flights to African destinations, Yao said.
Close to 20 African countries have closed their borders, and several are now under lockdown to try to prevent the virus’ spread. Now millions of people are bracing for lockdown extensions after regional leader South Africa’s announcement Thursday night.
If the country’s lockdown ends too soon or too abruptly, “we risk a massive and uncontrollable resurgence of the disease,” Ramaphosa said.
In the two weeks before the lockdown began two weeks ago, the average daily increase in South Africa’s new cases was around 42%, but since the start of the lockdown the average daily increase has been around 4%, he said.
South Africa has the most confirmed cases in Africa with more than 1,900. “We are only at the beginning of a monumental struggle,” Ramaphosa says. “We cannot relax and we cannot be complacent.”
The economic toll, however, has been harsh. The World Bank in a new report said sub-Saharan Africa is expected to fall into recession for the first time in a quarter-century. Growth should fall this year from 2.4% to minus 2.1%, with countries that depend heavily on oil exports and mining hit especially hard.
Africa has had some of the world’s fastest-growing economies. The World Bank said African nations will require a “debt service standstill” and other financial assistance as millions of people, many who survive day-to-day, can’t go out to work.
“I am aware that some of you have been saying, ’We would rather die from COVID-19 than from hunger,” Zambia’s President Edgar Lungu told the nation Thursday. “But I advise you to choose life. Please choose life.”
And, joining a growing number of African nations, he encouraged all Zambians to wear face masks at all times.
In Uganda, 75-year-old President Yoweri Museveni tried to boost morale after outdoor exercise was banned, releasing a homemade video of him running laps barefoot in his office and doing 30 push-ups — proof, he said, that one can stay fit indoors.
April 9: Cases expected to spike in Africa, China bans Africans
Some African countries could experience a spike in coronavirus cases in the coming weeks, a top official of the World Health Organization, WHO, Africa region has noted.
According to Michel Yao, the WHO Africa programme manager for emergency response, countries should thus boost their testing and medical response capacities.
“During the last four days we can see that the numbers have already doubled,” he told a media teleconference on Thursday.
“If the trend continues, and also learning from what happened in China and in Europe, some countries may face a huge peak very soon,” he said, he however did not specify which countries could be on the radar.
Compared to continental tallies, Africa’s coronavirus figures as of April 9 are relatively lower even though the WHO has stressed that it could be as a result of undetected or underreported cases. Africa is inching towards the 12,000 confirmed cases mark with 578 deaths and 1,428 recoveries according to the John Hopkins university tracking system (valid as at 16:00 GMT).
The WHO’s Africa head, Matshidiso Moeti, reiterated that there is an “urgent need” to expand testing capacity beyond capital cities in Africa, as the virus spreads through countries.
“Without help and action now, poor countries and vulnerable communities could suffer massive devastation,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told diplomats in Geneva. “The infection numbers in Africa are relatively small now, but they are growing fast,” he said.
Meanwhile over in the Chinese business city of Guangzhou, have been left stranded for a second night after they were ejected by owners of hotels and apartment blocks.
The BBC reporter in Hong Kong, Danny Vincent reported the mass evictions on Tuesday confirming that two days on, the situation had yet to be resolved.
Online rumours that the coronavirus was spreading among the thousands of Africans in the city led to door-to-door testing, evictions and accusations of forced quarantine. “We have no house, no food, no hotel,” one student from Nigeria told the BBC.
“There are up to 100 people still on the streets. People want to go back to our countries. I don’t know what the problem is with China. Everywhere that Africans live they are pushing us away.”
Guangzhou is home to one of China’s largest African communities and has become a hub for African traders buying and selling goods to the continent.
In an open letter penned by the All African Association of Guangzhou, community leaders called on the authorities to end the “the inhuman treatment, hatred, and outright discrimination of Africans that is currently going on in Guangzhou”.
“About 10 African community leaders in Guangzhou are technically under house arrest using the term quarantine. These actions are difficult to comprehend when you consider the fact that these are people whose official test results came back negative just one or two days ago.”
With additional files from BBC Africa LIVE page
April 9: France announced aid to Africa, Seychelles lockdown kicks in
The French government has announced a financial package to support Africa in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, state-run Radio France International, RFI reported late Wednesday.
The announcement was made by the French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian who disclosed that Paris will grant aid of “nearly 1.2 billion” euros to combat the spread of COVID-19 in Africa.
Meanwhiles, the island nation of Seychelles started a 21-day lockdown from midnight on Wednesday. The move which forms part of COVID-19 containment has shut down non-essential services and restrict the movement.
Government instituted the measure a 26-year-old citizen who works at the airport as a grounds staff tested positive for coronavirus on Monday. The country has 11 confirmed cases with no death with two recoveries so far.
President Danny Faure who made the announcement said the airport will remain closed until the end of April while new maritime surveillance will be applied in the island nation.
The first Seychellois patient who tested positive for Covid-19 on 14 March, and a Dutch woman who tested positive the following day, have both recovered from the disease, the president said.
April 8: SA Minister suspended over lockdown lunch, Somalia testing boost
South African Minister suspended over lockdown lunch
A South African minister has been suspended by the president for breaking lockdown rules after she attended lunch at a former minister’s residence.
A statement from the president read: “President Cyril Ramaphosa has placed Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Ms Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams on special leave for two months – one month of which will be unpaid.
“As to allegations that the Minister violated the lockdown regulations, the law should take its course. This follows the revelation on social media that the Minister had recently visited the home of a friend who hosted a lunch, contrary to the lockdown regulations.
“The President summoned the Minister yesterday, Tuesday 07 April 2020. The President expressed his disapproval of the Minister’s actions, which undermine the requirement that all citizens stay at home and save South Africa from the spread of the coronavirus.”
In Somalia, the health ministry yesterday (April 7) that the country is now able to test for coronavirus in the capital, Mogadishu. Previously samples were taken to the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, for testing.
The ministry’s National Public Health Research Laboratory (NPHRL) has now been equipped to carry out the tests. Somalia has eight cases, one of the lowest in the Horn of Africa region. Government also announced that the academic calender has been suspended for the year due to the virus.
In next door Ethiopia, PM Abiy declared a state of emergency after a cabinet meeting today. The declaration is to be tabled before lawmakers for ratification.
Already, the northern Tigray Region had declared a state of emergency at a time they had recorded no cases. The region is also the first to get testing capacity outside of the national facilities in Addis Ababa.
April 7: Malawi records death, Infected mothers deliver in Cameroon, Uganda
Malawi’s coronavirus tally has reached eight with the Ministry of Health confirming the first casualty in the southern African nation.
The patient was a 51-year-old Malawian woman of Indian origin who had recently returned to the country from the UK. The ministry said she had an underlying heath condition.
Of the three new cases announced today, two of the patients are in the city of Blantyre and the other in Chikwawa town. Malawi was one of the African countries that recorded a case very late. So far only Comoros and Lesotho have yet to be infected.
Infected women deliver in Cameroon, Uganda
The BBC reports that a patient undergoing treatment for coronavirus in the Cameroon’s capital, Yaoundé, gave birth to a baby girl over the weekend, quoting a doctor at the hospital’s isolation ward.
The mother, 19-year-old Marie, gave birth normally but has since been separated from her newborn baby. The patient was connected to an oxygen supply when her contractions started, the report added.
“We just arranged the room and she delivered on her bed while on oxygen,” Dr Yaneu Ngaha Bondja Junie, a gynaecologist at the hospital, told the BBC.
The baby was born prematurely weighing 2.1kg (4.6lb) and is in the neonatal unit. It is not clear if the baby is infected as her tests are still being processed, but she is being fed with breast milk from her mother.
It is the second known birth of a child by a COVID-19 patient. Over the weekend, portals in Uganda confirmed the birth through Caesarean section of a healthy baby.
The Daily Monitor report gave the following details. The 22-year-old Ugandan mother gave birth to a healthy baby girl at Entebbe Grade B Hospital. She was reportedly infected by her husband who returned from Dubai recently.
“The patient gave birth very well this afternoon through a Caesarean Section and the mother and baby are in good health,” Dr Moses Muwonge, the director of the hospital is quoted to have said.
April 6 – 7: Ghana case spike, Sao Tome index case, cases pass 10,000
Cases in Ghana reached 287 as at Tuesday April 7, the health surveillance outfit reported in an update posted on its website. “Following measures for enhanced contact tracing and testing, Ghana has detected an increased number of confirmed COVID-19 cases.
“As at 6th April 2020, 23:30 hr, a total of 287 cases of COVID-19 with five (5) deaths have been recorded. The regional distribution of the cases are as follows: Greater Accra Region has most cases (258) followed by the Ashanti Region (18), Northern Region (10), Upper West Region (1), Eastern Region (1) and Upper East Region (1),” the update stated.
Ghana is West Africa’s third most impacted country by the development. The country is ranked behind Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast with 364 and 323 cases respectively.
Meanwhile, the continental tally has passed the 10,000 mark with close to 500 deaths and 1,000 deaths. South Africa is the continent’s most impacted with over 1,600 cases. Only two African countries are without cases – Lesotho and Comoros.
Meanwhile Sao Tome on Monday became the 52nd African country to record first cases of COVID-19. The Prime Minister confirmed that four persons had tested positive.
April 6: Sao Tome index case, Rwanda cabinet donates salary
Sao Tome and Principe became the 52nd African country to record cases of the COVID-19. The island nation confirmed its first four cases on Monday, April 6.
Prime Minister Jorge Bom Jesus disclosed that the confirmation came after test results returned from Gabon. The development leaves Lesotho and Comoros as Africa’s virus free countries as of April 6.
The continent’s confirmed COVID-19 cases is heading towards 10,000, with over 400 deaths. Another 900+ patients have recovered.
Rwandan ministers and top officials have joined the growing trend of public officials donating their salaries to the fight against COVID-19. Cabinet ministers and others have agreed ti donate their April salaries to aid the countries fight against the pandemic
A statement from the prime minister’s office confirmed that other officials who agreed to forgo their salaries are leaders of national institutions and top government officials. The country has 105 confirmed cases with four recoveries. It is East Africa’s third most impacted behind Mauritius and Kenya.
A strictly enforced lockdown remains in place having been extended last week by the cabinet. The government has since last week been distributing food to citizens who had been relying on receiving pay every day.
Lawmakers in Nigeria weeks back agreed to forgo their salaries as contributions towards the COVID-19 fight. Kenya’s president and top government officials also took salary cuts for the same reason.
Over in Malawi, President Peter Mutharika also announced taking a 10% salary cut along with his ministers. “The coronavirus attack has a huge negative impact on the economy and businesses everywhere.
“There are many business people and industry players who are uncertain about the situation as it is unfolding. I know that everyone is worried,” he said.
“Therefore, government will take measures to protect jobs and incomes, protect businesses and ensure continuity of the supply chain and the survival of the economy.”
Amongst other measures, the president directed the Reserve Bank of Malawi to allow banks to offer a three-month moratorium on interest payments on loans to small- and medium-sized businesses.
He also ordered the country’s Competition and Fair Trading Commission to put in place strict monitoring of price controls and punish anyone found increasing prices at the expense of Malawians.
April 5: South Sudan index case
South Sudan has announced its first case of COVID-19, making it the 51st of Africa’s 54 countries to report the disease.
A U.N. worker who arrived in the country from Netherlands on Feb. 28 is ill with the disease, confirmed First Vice President Riek Machar and the U.N. mission in South Sudan. The patient, a 29-year-old woman, first showed signs of the disease on April 2 and is recovering, said officials.
South Sudan, with 11 million people, currently has four ventilators and wants to increase that number, said Machar, who emphasized that people should stay three to six feet apart from others. “The only vaccine is social distancing,” said Machar.
The patient is under quarantine at U.N. premises and health workers are tracing the people who had been in contact with her, said David Shearer, head of the U.N. operations in South Sudan. He said he hoped the measures would contain the case.
To prevent the spread of the virus in South Sudan, President Salva Kiir last week imposed a curfew from 8:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. for six weeks and closed borders, airports, schools, churches and mosques.
AP report
Meanwhile, Chinese e-commerce mogul Jack Ma has announced a new round of donation to Africa. Ma and his foundation is partnering with Ethiopian PM Abiy Ahmed on this round too.
“Our second donation to 54 countries in Africa is on the way. That includes 500 ventilators, 200K suits & face shields, 2K thermometers, 1M swabs & extraction kits and 500K gloves,” Ma posted on Twitter on Monday.
Other partners include include Ethiopian Airlines which has been doing the continent-wide deliveries and the African Union’s Africa Center for Disease Control (Africa CDC) which is also headquartered in Addis Ababa.
Our second donation to 54 countries in Africa is on the way. That includes 500 ventilators, 200K suits & face shields, 2K thermometers, 1M swabs & extraction kits and 500K gloves. Thank you AbiyAhmedAliflyethiopianAfricaCDCWFP for your partnership. Stay safe Africa!
Meanwhile as of Monday April 6, Africa’s reported cases was nearing the 10,000 mark according to data from Africa CDC and the John Hopkins University.
Major stats as at April 6
Confirmed cases = 9,393 Number of deaths = 445 Recoveries = 906 Infected countries = 51 Virus-free countries = 3 (Sao Tome and Principe, Lesotho, Comoros)
Reports surfaced on Friday that Zimbabwe police had issued a ban on sale of beer under lockdown rules to help contain the coronavirus pandemic. The move attracted lots of social media criticism.
But late Fiday, state-run Heral newspaper reported that police had reversed the earlier statement banning alcohol sales saying supermarkets and registered bottle stores can now continue selling beer on condition it is consumed off the premises.
In a statement, national police national spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi warned drinkers against gathering outside their homes.
Cameroon’s tally ‘boomed’ on Friday when Health Minister Manaouda Malachie confirmed that 203 new cases had been recorded taking the national tally to 503 as of March 3.
Meanwhile, African leaders have been holding virtual meetings to put together a continental response to the pandemic which has seen its statistics – cases, deaths, recoveries – growing in the last two weeks.
Rwandan president Paul Kagame called it a “productive conference call chaired by AU Chair President Cyril Ramaphosa,” according to him, the discussions centered on the need to speak with a common voice and seek Africa’s best interest.
“We discussed the need for Africa to stand together,speak with one voice and work through our institutions to mobilize resources and harmonize the support from international partners. Thank you to initiatives by African institutions such as African Development Bank and Africa Exim Bank for their support
“The meeting stressed the urgency & need to materialize all commitments swiftly and flexibly. Through coordinated action, we can succeed in mitigating the health and economic impact of COVID-19 on our population.
“The loss of and damage to life and economy globally and particularly in Africa is colossal….and so must be the amounts of energy and financial package(s) to bring things back to normal and beyond,” Kagame wrote on Twitter.
Some African leaders who participated included Senegal’s Macky Sall, Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta, Zimbabwe’s Emmerson Mnangagwa, DRC’s Felix Tshisekedi, Mali’s Ibrahim Boubakar Keita, Egypt’s Abdel Fatteh Al-Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The African Union Commission chief Moussa Faki Mahamat and WHO boss, Tedros Ghebereyesus were also part of the meeting. “We were joined later by President Emmanuel Macron, a good partner for Africa,” Kagame added.
The Namibian president on Friday disclosed that he had held talks with his Chinese counterpart as part of efforts to strengthen Africa’s response to COVID-19. “I also expressed gratitude to President XI for China’s support and care of over 500 Namibian students in Wuhan and China during this pandemic,” Hage Geingob added.
Meanwhile South Africa’s Health Minister says the country is formally going to seek assistance from Cuba and China on managing the pandemic. Nigeria also confirms that it is awaiting a medical team from China to support its response to the virus.
