Coronavirus: Africa faces the pandemic Sunday May 3

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Africa counted this Sunday, May 3, 43,343 confirmed cases of coronavirus. The Covid-19 has already claimed the lives of 1,761 people on the continent, according to the African Union Center for Disease Prevention and Control. South Africa and Egypt are the two countries affected. Followed by Morocco, Algeria, Nigeria and Ghana.

Publicity

• A health crisis threatening press freedom

This Sunday, May 3 marks World Press Day, and the situation has not improved with the pandemic. In the Maghreb countries, for example, the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) deplores a climate of intimidation against journalists.

“  With the Covid-19, the authorities are increasing the obstacles to the work of journalists. In Tunisia, several of them have lost their jobs, the media claiming that the economic crisis is hitting the country,  ”explains Souhaieb Khayati, RSF manager for the Maghreb countries. “  In Algeria, it is a boon for the regime, It is in the process of settling its accounts behind closed doors with journalism and the free and independent media […] So, the Covid-19 allows the strong regimes of the region to 'do away with contestation, even with a normal exercise in journalism  ', continues Souhaieb Khayati.

► Read also: In Africa, press freedom tested by the coronavirus epidemic

To mark this day, the Human Rights Watch organization for its part draws attention to the climate of intimidation in Somalia. HRW denounces the closure of a media outlet and the arrest of five journalists who covered the Covid-19 crisis. "  There is a problem with press freedom in Somalia, attacks on journalists are increasing day by day. This is a fact,  "recently complained to RFI, Omar Faruk Osman, secretary general of the National Union of Somali Journalists (Nusoj).

► Read also: Trial of VOA journalist opens in Somalia

• The Minister of Health of Guinea-Bissau tested positive

While Guinea-Bissau officially registers 260 cases of Covid-19 and one death to date, a fifth minister has just been infected with the coronavirus according to the local press. It is the Minister of Health in person Antiono Deuna. Already on Wednesday, Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam announced that he had been infected and, according to the Minister of Health, three other members of the government are also infected, including the Minister of the Interior Botche Cande.

• The prolonged state of emergency in Senegal

In Senegal, 67 new infections announced this Sunday, an official assessment now amounting to 1,182 positive cases and 9 deaths. Four serious cases are still being observed in Fann and Principal hospitals. And in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus, President Macky Sall decided on Saturday to extend the state of emergency until June 2. A measure originally decreed on March 23 and already extended once.

• The anger of healthcare workers in Yaoundé

In Cameroon, nursing staff from the Yaoundé public health emergency operations center demonstrated this Saturday, May 2, notably blocking access to this establishment. Doctors, nurses and paramedics claim transparency on the amount of the premium relating to the coverage of Covid-19. They denounce the lack of regularity in its payment, and the opacity around its amount.

• Central African health structures challenged

With 53 people tested positive in four days, 72 cases in total - the Central African Republic is facing a surge in the coronavirus epidemic. At the Bangui University Hospital Center, undergoing rehabilitation, "  space has been made available to hospitalize the cases of Covid-19  ", explains Minister of Health Pierre Somsé visiting the site, before continuing: "  Account given the increase in the number of cases, this segment has been created, and there will be others to follow. You have to go fast, because very quickly you can be faced with serious cases.  A small reception center of around fifteen beds had already been set up, but with this new place, around thirty others were prepared to start. A hundred should be available soon.

► Also read: Central African Republic: a reception center under construction to welcome Covid-19 patients

• President of Tanzania incriminates “ imported from abroad  ” screening kits 

This Sunday, President John Magufuli directly implicated the coronavirus test kits used in Tanzania. Speaking from his residence in Chato, in the northwest, the head of state said that samples from goat and papaya were tested positive. John Magufuli explains that these samples had previously been sent by his services, labeled as human, and that this, according to him, proves the existence of false positive results among the population. He wants an investigation into these kits, "  imported from abroad ," he said without further details. "  I have already said that we should not consider every aid as intended to be good for this nation,  " concluded the Tanzanian president.

• Football championships stopped in Guinea

While the African Football Confederation (CAF) has given the various Federations until Tuesday to announce whether they intend to restart their championship or not, the decision is already taken in Guinea.

The Guinean Professional Football League, organizer of Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, chose Friday to end the season definitively. She sent a letter to the Guinean Football Federation, which happens to be the guardian and will have to confirm this decision.

Others, however, still hope to be able to complete their competition. The Tunisians are thinking in particular of a championship which could resume in mid-June, with an option which would consist in regrouping and playing all the matches in the capital, Tunis.

Our selection on the coronavirus

• Listen to our daily chronicle  Coronavirus info

• The practical questions  :
→  What is known about the mode of contagion
→  disparities and inequalities in coronaviruses: what to remember
→  What outcomes for clinical trials?
→  A vaccine, the only solution to stem the pandemic?
→  How to make a mask and use it well

• Our series  : "  The response, country by country  "

• Each evening, find the State of the world and Africa facing the pandemic

• See also the files of RFI Savoirs on the Covid-19:
→  Birth of a pandemic
→  Everyday life put to the test
→  The history of epidemics
→  Science facing the Covid-19
→  The geopolitical consequences

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