Africa, the poorest continent on the planet, is gradually adopting containment, a measure intended to combat the spread of Covid-19 but which paralyzes the economy.

"Partial or total confinement risks having disastrous effects for the African continent", worries the Cameroonian writer Calixthe Beyala, on her Facebook page. "The most deprived populations will be the first victims, they will starve to death or at least their organism weakened by malnutrition will make them fragile in the face of the virus," she added, calling for finding "emergency strategies that better meet the needs of our people. "

In West Africa, two heads of state, the Senegalese Macky Sall and the Ivorian Alassane Ouattara announced Monday evening similar measures: establishment of the state of emergency and night curfew. The coronavirus "is gaining ground" in several Senegalese regions (79 officially registered cases), according to Macky Sall.

In Ivory Coast (25 cases, no deaths according to the last assessment published on Sunday), a progressive confinement is being put in place, "by geographical areas". Travel between Abidjan, the economic capital where the majority of cases are concentrated, and the interior of the country, will be subject to authorization. "In this fight against the spread of Covid-19, our main enemy will be indiscipline and non-compliance with prevention instructions," said President Alassane Ouattara, calling for "sacred union".

Soldiers deployed to Johannesburg

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa went further by imposing a strict three-week confinement on Monday in his country, the most affected by the coronavirus epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. "National confinement will be in place for twenty-one days (...). It will be imposed from midnight on Thursday," Cyril Ramaphosa announced seriously during a televised speech. This measure aims to prevent a "human catastrophe of enormous proportions", he explained.

A total of 402 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed so far in South Africa, a number "multiplied by six in just eight days," said the head of state. "Without decisive action, the number of people infected will quickly drop from a few hundred to tens of thousands and, within a few weeks, hundreds of thousands. It is an essential decision to save millions of South Africans from infection, "he said.

To enforce this total containment, President Ramaphosa decided to resort to the army. As of Monday afternoon, soldiers were deployed to the economic capital Johannesburg.

Fifty dead in Africa

Africa has so far been relatively unscathed by the pandemic compared to the rest of the world: at least 1,628 cases, including around fifty deaths, have been reported on the continent, compared to more than 360,000 cases of infection and 16,000 deaths in total on the planet, according to an assessment established by AFP from official sources. But the very poor health services in African countries raises fears that the pandemic may be devastating.

Already effective in Tunisia, Rwanda and Mauritius, containment was also imposed Monday in Lubumbashi (southeast), the economic capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and in the two main cities of Madagascar, the capital Antananarivo and Toamasina (East).

Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa with 200 million inhabitants, which officially registered only 36 cases of coronavirus including one death, asked on Monday the residents of its capital, Abuja, and of its most populous city. , Lagos, to stay home. A measure which seems however very difficult to implement in two mega-cities where many inhabitants need to go to work to survive. In the northeast, local authorities have banned visits to camps sheltering tens of thousands of people displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency.

Partial containment in Gabon

In Central Africa, President of Gabon Ali Bongo Ondimba announced partial confinement from 7:30 p.m. to 6 a.m., which began on Sunday.

In neighboring Cameroon (56 cases officially declared), "we hope not to achieve containment of the whole country", said Sunday evening the Minister of Health, Dr Malachie Manaouda. Internet users claim it however.

Rwanda (17 reported cases) prohibited on Saturday evening "non-essential movements".

In the Horn, Ethiopia announced Monday the closure of its land borders.

Since Friday, the 1.3 million inhabitants of Mauritius, about 1,800 km off the east coast of Africa, must also remain confined for 14 days.

In Madagascar, this measure is very complicated to apply in the capital. "I know that coronavirus can kill. But if I stay at home for fifteen days without working, I die too," said a salesman, Jean Naina Rakotomamonjy.

With AFP

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