Coronavirus: Africa and the pandemic Sunday April 12

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According to the Center for Disease Prevention and Control of the African Union, the African continent counted this Sunday 13,814 confirmed cases of Covid-19, for 747 deaths. The countries most affected remain South Africa, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Cameroon.

Publicity

• The DRC repatriates its first nationals, the response takes stock of the high mortality

Two first groups arrived in Kinshasa on Friday: one by boat (less than twenty people who were in Brazzaville), and the other by plane, from Addis Ababa, chartered by Belgium. All were subjected to health checks. Following arrangements with several other countries, all Congolese stranded abroad should be repatriated in the coming days, including those from Dubai or Turkey.

► Read here: Coronavirus: the DRC repatriates its nationals around the world

At the same time, the response team explained to our correspondent Patient Ligodi why the death rate was so high in the country (20 dead out of 234 cases): too many patients only go to health facilities in phase advanced, in a context where the system is already very fragile. There is also a lack of capacity to test, especially since all the samples must for the moment be sent to Kinshasa.

DRC: Covid-19 response team takes stock

Ligodi patient

• Africans in China denounce discrimination, AU worries about their situation

Pushed back from hotels, kicked out of their homes, many Africans living in Canton, in the south of the country, say they have been victims of discrimination and abusive arrests in recent days as part of the fight against coronavirus, reports our correspondent in Beijing , Stéphane Lagarde , and their anger is great.

► Read here: Coronavirus: in China, the anger of Africans victims of discrimination

Incidents which have provoked strong reactions from African diplomats. The African Union has also expressed its " extreme concern " and the chairman of the AU commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, says he invited the Chinese ambassador to express his concern and call for measures. For its part, the United States denounced the " xenophobia of the Chinese authorities towards the Africans ".

• What impact does Covid-19 have on conflict zones?

As countries try to organize to cope, what is going on in conflict zones? How is the global health crisis expressed in countries at war and what can be the consequences? State of play in crisis zones with Arnaud Jouve from the RFI editorial staff.

► Read here: Covid-19: what impact on conflict zones?

• The African football cups postponed

The semi-finals of the Champions League and the Confederation Cup, scheduled for early May, have been postponed indefinitely by CAF, already forced to postpone the playoffs to CAN 2021 and the CHAN which was to take place this month April in Cameroon.

► Read here: Coronavirus: the African football cups in progress postponed

• Congo-Brazzaville : the census despite the confinement

Congolese Prime Minister Clément Mouamba has just signed a decree ordering the resumption of the “General Census of Population and Housing”, while the country is in containment and has been living under a curfew since March 31 because of the Covid- 19. Objective: prepare the presidential election scheduled for early 2021. The government promises that barrier gestures will be respected. The first opposition party, UPADS, judges the initiative “suicidal”. The coronavirus killed 5 people in 70 cases in the Congo.

► Read here: Congo-Brazzaville: resumption of the census despite the confinement

• First death of Covid-19 in Burundi

One of the five cases officially identified by the Burundian Ministry of Health, a man who had locally caught the disease, died this Sunday morning in a private referral hospital in Bujumbura, where he had been sent to emergency due to problems respiratory.

• Wearing a mandatory mask in Niamey

Wearing a mask " bibs or any other gadget that can protect the nose the mouth (turban, hijab, scarf ...) " is " compulsory " in Niamey, announced the municipal authorities while the government extended the isolation of the city ​​of the rest of the country as well as the curfew (7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.) and the state of emergency. Borders are closed, as are schools and places of worship.

• Madagascar: an ecumenical cult disseminated online, the prelates call for respecting confinement

The churches of the Big Island were empty on Sunday, but Easter masses were broadcast live on television. Several cities in the country are in partial containment because of the coronavirus pandemic. This morning at 11 a.m. local time, the heads of the four Christian churches (Protestant, Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican) celebrated an ecumenical worship together in the Catholic Cathedral of Andohalo, in Antananarivo, the capital. A first for Easter to demonstrate unity and solidarity in the midst of a pandemic. Among other things, they encouraged and thanked their followers for respecting the confinement. (" Even locked up at home, Jesus can come to us, " they told the Christians). They also called on the authorities to " take a close look at the cases of the poorest Madagascans who are suffering greatly during this pandemic." "

• No Paquinou for the Baoulés of Ivory Coast

This tradition sees each year the members of this community return to their village in Easter period to celebrate the reunion with their family, and revive the traditions. But this year, the traditional authorities asked the Baoulés to respect the sanitary rules, and the festivities are canceled. It must be said that Abidjan is confined and that it is forbidden, without exceptions, to leave the economic capital of the country. The number of confirmed cases in Côte d'Ivoire has risen to 533 (4 dead).

• Y'en a marre clips to make Senegalese aware of barrier gestures

Young people shaking hands, a group sharing cups for tea, crowds standing in line outside a shop: these scenes are still daily in Senegal despite the recommendations of the authorities. To combat the spread of Covid-19, the citizen collective Y'en a marre is filming a series of ten video capsules, staging the situations to be avoided. Our correspondent , Manon Laplace followed a filming this Saturday at Fann Hock.

Y'en a marre clips to make Senegalese aware of barrier gestures

Manon Laplace

Also in Senegal, President Macky Sall launched yesterday the delivery of emergency food aid from the Port of Dakar to the regions of the country. It should be distributed from Monday.

• Gambian dressmakers switch to masks

In Gambia, dressmakers organize themselves to make masks. A product that is becoming rare and whose price has increased. For the moment, The Gambia is relatively spared from the Covid-19 with only 9 people infected and one death. But in response to demand, the dressmakers have taken the lead: they offer affordable and original masks, as our correspondent, Romain Chanson has noted.

► Listen here: Gambia: facing the coronavirus, the dressmakers make alternative masks

• AU appoints special envoys to mobilize international economic aid

The African Union has announced that the acting President of the AU, Cyril Ramaphosa, appointed this Sunday four special envoys, tasked with mobilizing the international community for economic aid to Africa, facing the consequences of the coronavirus.

They are the former Minister of Finance of Nigeria Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the former Rwandan President of the AfDB Donald Kaberuka, the Franco-Ivorian banker Tidjane Thiam and the former South African Minister of Commerce Trevor Manuel . According to the AU press release, they will be in charge of " requesting concrete and rapid support, as promised by the G20, the European Union and other international financial institutions ".

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

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

See also our contents on containment .

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• Coronavirus
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