Coronavirus: Africa and the pandemic Saturday April 11

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The bar of 700 deaths due to Covid-19 on the continent was reached this Saturday, out of 13,145 cases listed in the last point of the Center for Disease Prevention and Control of the African Union. The countries most affected remain South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Cameroon.

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Sudan: one year after the fall of Bashir, the atmosphere is not at the party

One year to the day after the fall of the former leader, the Sudanese face multiple challenges: a political transition with uncertain balances continues, the conclusion of peace talks with groups from several regions (Darfur, Kordofan, Nile Blue) has been pushed back again, the economic crisis is hitting, shortages and inflation are everywhere. Omar El-Bechir, he is imprisoned, targeted by multiple legal proceedings. The country has changed, political freedoms are almost guaranteed. But the prospects for the future are very slim , reports our reporter Léonard Vincent , back from Khartoum.

To avoid adding to this a health crisis (Sudan officially has 19 cases and 2 deaths), the authorities have put in place a night curfew and preventive actions, supported by citizens and members of “committees of resistance ”who invest in the fight against the disease.

The science and technology department of the University of Khartoum also continues to operate: around twenty chemistry students are busy making bottles of hydroalcoholic gel in order to distribute them free of charge to workers in the district. “ The revolution has really changed me. I feel much more Sudanese, I feel that I belong to this country. I feel solidarity between people, between men, women, young people. I feel this collective momentum. We all act out of love for the country, " testified on RFI on Saturday, Reem , who took part in anti-Omar El-Bashir demonstrations

Why is mortality at Covid-19 so high in Algeria?

With 256 deaths in some 1,761 confirmed cases of Covid-19, Algeria has a particularly high patient mortality rate.

Algerian doctors contacted by RFI prefer to testify on condition of anonymity. They are censored and fear reprisals from the authorities. They denounce the reality of the official figures and assure that the number of patients is much higher. They also mention the virtual absence of screening tests. Between 100 and 200 tests have been performed per day since March 20 across the country, they say.

An Algerian practitioner working in France testifies of her last visit to a university hospital in a large Algerian city: " the intensive care unit makes you want to cry ". This hospital, which serves a population of 700,000 people, has only 11 intensive care beds .

Easter weekend in virtual mode

Coronavirus forces, most countries have been forced to close places of worship. In this Easter weekend, it is therefore necessary to invent new ways of coming together while respecting the rules of social distancing, in Africa as elsewhere.

Example, in Cameroon: " The celebrations are maintained, but without the people ," explains Monsignor Samuel Kleda, Archbishop of Douala. We pray for the people. I celebrated as planned in the liturgy for Good Friday. "

In Kinshasa, access to mass scheduled for this Saturday at 6 p.m. at Notre-Dame du Congo cathedral was limited to about twenty local leaders of the Catholic church, but had to be relayed on the denominational media.

In Cotonou, the Good Friday Mass was broadcast in streaming, as will be that of Sunday at 10 a.m. The clergy massively use WhatsApp to communicate and we can request masses by SMS and on the site, against payment by money transfer. In this context, surprising manifestations of faith sometimes occur, slips a prelate to our correspondent Jean-Luc Aplogan .

Benin: an inventive clergy for Easter

Jean-Luc Aplogan

Benin where, moreover, the government has just extended the partial confinement of the 12 southern cities deemed to be at risk until April 27.

WHO warns of falsified medicines, including chloroquine

The organization is concerned about "the growing number of falsified medical products that claim to prevent, detect, treat or cure Covid-19 ".

Currently tested and even already used by some doctors, as in Senegal, chloroquine is the subject of counterfeits , warns the WHO. Nine falsified products have been reported in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Niger. The boxes and bottles look more real than life.

Hospitals, dispensaries, health centers, wholesalers, distributors and pharmacies help to update the alerts on fake medicines, by their analyzes and reports. The list and photos are on the WHO website.

In Madagascar, the difficult application of the compulsory mask

A measure announced last Sunday by President Andry Rajoelina, doubled by a prefectoral decree published Friday by the prefecture of the capital Antananarivo, placed in partial containment. Wearing a mask is compulsory under penalty of sanctions, but few inhabitants manage to comply with this measure , as our correspondent, Laetitia Bezain found .

Pharmacies do not have them, and many make fabric masks that do not meet standards and whose effectiveness is questionable.

Last week, the presidency announced the order of five million cloth masks as a priority destination for those working in high-risk occupations, such as law enforcement, merchants or even community workers.

Ivory Coast: rush on masks, tracing the sick and support plan for agriculture

The rush on masks is also in Côte d'Ivoire: " Usually we sell chips but at the moment, we sell masks ", said an Abidjan crossroads saleswoman to AFP, while the economic capital is theoretically cut off from the rest of the country. The mask is supposedly compulsory and free, according to the decision of the National Security Council on Thursday evening. Problem, their rarity pushes the purchase: from 250 to 1,500 FCFA depending on the districts and places, reports Agence France Presse, while many tailors have gone from making clothes to making fabric masks.

At the same time, in order to follow in real time the movements of contact cases and confirmed cases of people infected with Covid-19, the Ivorian authorities resort to "tracking". A system deemed "effective" which nevertheless raises legal questions , recalls our correspondent, François Hume-Ferkatadji .

The government, for its part, through the Minister of Agriculture Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani, assured this morning on RFI " that there will be no food crisis ". The agricultural sector will be supported by an investment of 300 billion FCFA, included in the global support plan of 1 700 billion announced by the government.

Ivory Coast: Minister of Agriculture reassures over fear of food crisis

Pierre Pinto

Senegal: number of cases decreasing, situation under control in Touba

In Senegal, the number of positive coronavirus cases is on the decline. This Saturday, April 11, the Ministry of Health reported 13 new cases and 15 patients cured. 123 people are still on treatment, compared to 143 a week ago.

The situation is under control in Touba, the first “cluster” of the epidemic, where a Senegalese national who returned from Italy had contaminated several dozen people. All contact cases were monitored and supervised, and there would be no new ones according to Doctor Abdoulaye Bousso, director of the Center for Health Emergency Operations, joined by our correspondent Manon Laplace . Two patients are still hospitalized, but all the contact cases have left the follow-up, so there are no more secondary contaminations in the holy city of Mourides.

In addition, the Ministry of Health is recruiting doctors, pharmacists, social workers, nurses and midwives as part of the fight against Covid-19.

Mauritius: sardines, a new caviar

Finally, among the writers who tell in the media, with more or less happiness, their confinement, the Mauritian Shenaz Patel, describes in Telerama the situation on its isolated island, a pleonasm wanted for a land deserted by tourists usually present in droves . The author of “Silence des Chagos” assures that “ the price of a can of sardines in palm oil makes it a real local caviar ”.

Our selection on SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus

• Listen to Coronavirus Info , daily chronicle on the pandemic

• Explanation: The origins of the Covid-19

• Analysis: What strategies in the face of the Covid-19 epidemic?

• Practical questions:
→ What is the lifespan of the virus ?
→ How do you treat Covid-19 patients ?
→ Update on ongoing clinical trials
→ How the Institut Pasteur hopes to find a vaccine
→ How to make a mask and use it well

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

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