Coronavirus: Africa and the pandemic Monday April 6

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Africa counted this Thursday, April 6, 9,457 confirmed cases of coronavirus. The Covid-19 has already claimed the lives of 442 people on the continent, according to the African Union Center for Disease Prevention and Control. 51 countries are now officially reporting cases, the three most affected countries are South Africa, Algeria and Egypt.

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• 20 million jobs destroyed

According to a study released Monday by the African Union (AU), " Almost 20 million jobs, both in the formal and informal sectors, are threatened with destruction on the continent if the situation persists ."

Two scenarios are presented in the document, the first, realistic, based on an overall decline of 0.8% in economic growth. The second, more pessimistic, estimates a decrease in growth of 1.1%. African governments could lose up to 30% of their tax revenue, estimated at $ 500 billion in 2019.

The countries most at risk, according to the AU, are those that derive their income from the oil and tourism sectors.

To help African countries overcome the crisis, the study suggests that the African Union Commission " should conduct negotiations for an ambitious plan to cancel Africa's total external debt " estimated at 236 billions of dollars.

• Ghana pays the water bills

" The government will take care of all the water bills of all Ghanaians in the next three months, that is to say in April, May and June, " President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced on Sunday. an intervention on national television. He claims to have mobilized water and electricity companies to avoid cuts and load shedding during this period.

To date, 214 cases of Covid-19 have been diagnosed in the country and three people have died.

• Destruction of a screening center in Côte d'Ivoire

Protesters destroyed Sunday April 5 in the evening a marquee erected to screen patients of Covid-19 in the district "Red Roofs" of the vast Abidjan commune of Yopougon. These demonstrators thought that it was a care center for the sick and did not want it in their vicinity but the authorities affirm that it is a diagnostic screening center only. Protests resumed on Monday morning.

► Read here: Coronavirus: protesters destroy a screening center in Abidjan

• Second donation from Jack Ma

The Chinese billionaire, founder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba, announced on Monday morning on Twitter that a second shipment of equipment to help Africa fight the coronavirus is being dispatched. Respirators, gowns, masks, gloves, thermometers and sampling kits are sent to Ethiopia which will then be responsible for distributing them across all the countries of the continent.

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 @AbiyAhmedAli @flyethiopian @AfricaCDC @WFP for your partnership. Stay safe Africa!

• First death in Benin

After Liberia and Ethiopia this weekend, Benin in turn announces the first death of the Covid-19. It is a 43-year-old woman returning from a Central African country affected by the disease. The Minister of Health, Benjamin Hounkpatin, deplored at a press conference the slowness of the diagnosis.

It is regrettable that the patient stayed for several days in the clinic before the suspicion of Covid-19 was raised. It therefore appears that it could not be properly taken care of.

Benjamin Hounkpatin, Minister of Health

Jean-Luc Aplogan

• Traffic restrictions in Kenya and ministers without salaries

President Uhuru Kenyatta addressed the nation on Monday to announce an entry and exit ban into areas affected by the coronavirus, Nairobi and the counties of Kilifi, Kwale and Mombasa. These measures are taken for three weeks. Kenya currently has 142 cases of coronavirus.

Furthermore, in a press release this Sunday, the government announces that ministers and senior officials will not receive salaries in April. This money will be used for social programs to help the poorest withstand the impact of the coronavirus economic crisis, without specifying how many people are affected and how much money it can represent.

► Read also: The Covid-19 pandemic threatens wildlife in Kenya

• Local distribution in Ethiopia

The Ethiopian Minister of Health announced Monday morning the identification of the first “domestic” case of Covid-19 virus in the country: a resident of the province of Oromia, who has not traveled recently and who has not been in contact with a patient already identified as such.

This brings the number of Covid-19 positive cases in Ethiopia to 44.

የኢትዮጵያ የኮሮና ቫይረስ ሁኔታ መግለጫ

Status update on # COVID19Ethiopia pic.twitter.com/GTSJNOD7RT

According to the African Union Center for Disease Prevention and Control, 39 countries on the continent are now reporting domestic transmission and 12 are only importing cases.

• Jamming in the DRC

In Kinshasa, the Gombe commune is experiencing its first hours of confinement on Monday and the implementation of restrictions has been difficult.

► Read here: Ground floor: scrambling for the start of confinement at the Gombe

• Zimbabwe: police accused of violence against journalist

A press freedom NGO, the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA), accused Zimbabwe police on Monday of hitting a freelance journalist who was filming his units dispersing residents of a township of Harare as part of anti-coronavirus containment.

Arrested by the police, " he was hit by two agents and forced to erase his images before being released, " according to the Zimbabwean branch of MISA.

Police also arrested a Voice of America reporter who was taking photos of one of his roadblocks, the organization said. He was charged and released on bail by the courts.

• Tunisia: "the dancer of Corona"

" Stay at home and I will dance for you every night " is the message posted by the dancer Nermine Sfar, on her Facebook page at the start of the confinement in Tunisia. Since then, every evening, tens of thousands of Tunisians attend the show of the one who is now nicknamed "the dancer of the Corona". In terms of ratings, his messages far exceed all those of politicians and his account went from 130,000 to half a million subscribers in a few days. His oriental dances caused a strong controversy in Tunisia and even death threats from a person claiming to be from the Okba Ben Nafe brigade. This movement is classified as terrorist in Tunisia. In a video, she claims that the person was arrested. Nermine Sfar was a candidate in the last presidential elections in Tunisia.

• First case in South Sudan

It is the 51st out of 54 African states to detect a case of Covid-19. " South Sudan confirms the existence of a coronavirus case ," said First Vice-President Riek Machar, during a press conference in Juba on Sunday. The 29-year-old woman arrived in South Sudan from the Netherlands via Ethiopia on February 28, he said.

This Monday, the NGO IRC (International rescue committee) calls in a statement for a quick fundraiser to help the country in the fight against the spread of the virus. “ The people of South Sudan have already endured six years of terrible war, famine and a collapse of the country's economy. The Unity government has just been formed and must now fight this pandemic. The country has not had enough time to rebuild and the health system will not be able to support a rapid increase in cases, ”said Caroline Sekyewa, IRC director in the country.

Our selection on SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus

• Listen to Infos coronavirus , our daily chronicle on the pandemic

• Analysis - What strategies to deal with the Covid-19 epidemic?

• Practical questions:
→ What is the lifespan of the virus?
→ Who are the vulnerable people ?
→ Quarantine, what are we talking about ?
→ How do you treat Covid-19 patients?
→ How the Institut Pasteur hopes to find a vaccine

• Doctors' answers to your questions about the Covid-19

Find all our articles, reports, chronicles and programs on the coronavirus by clicking here .

See also our contents on containment .

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