Coronavirus: Africa faces the pandemic on Tuesday, June 2

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Africa counted this Tuesday, June 2, 153,325 confirmed cases of coronavirus. The Covid-19 has already claimed the lives of 4,356 people on the continent, according to the African Center for Disease Prevention and Control. The countries most affected by the epidemic are South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria.

Publicity

• Students from Mali and Congo-Brazzaville head back to school

Students in the exam class in Mali return to school on Tuesday. The others must reach September 1 before resuming classroom lessons. But the start of the school year was disrupted by a call for boycott launched by a collective of teachers' unions. “  We decided to boycott the start of the school year for the diploma classes from Tuesday to Friday (for the week, note). There are two reasons for this: the continuing coronavirus pandemic and the non-compliance with article 39 of law 007 on the status of teachers. This article concerns the salary increases that are not perceived,  "said Adama Fomba, spokesperson for the collective.

In Congo-Brazzaville , students in exam classes also resume lessons on Tuesday, after just over two months of forced vacation due to the coronavirus. Before the start of the school year, the Ministry of Education organized a screening campaign for teachers working in Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire, the two localities which concentrate the vast majority of Covid-19 cases in the country. In Congo, 618 cases of coronavirus and 20 deaths have been recorded since the start of the global pandemic.

In Senegal and Uganda, on the other hand, the opening of schools is postponed.
Back-pedaling by the Senegalese government: the return to school for the exam classes will not take place this Tuesday as planned. The announcement was made public last night at the last minute by a statement from the Ministry of Education. The resumption of lessons, which was to concern CM2, 3rd and 12th grade, was postponed indefinitely , after the discovery of ten cases of patients among the teaching staff of Ziguinchor in the region of Casamance, in the south of the country.

In Uganda, students in the final year were due to resume lessons this Thursday as well, but President Yoweri Museveni has decided to postpone the reopening of schools for a month. The head of state announced the launch of a major television distribution campaign, so that children can follow classes remotely. "  Two televisions per village must be distributed, or 140,000 televisions throughout the territory,  " he said. 

• Burkina Faso lifts curfew

In Burkina Faso, the curfew in force since mid-March between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m. will be lifted this Wednesday, according to a presidential decree issued yesterday evening. This weekend, night workers, including managers of nightclubs or movie theaters, demonstrated in the country's second city, Bobo-Dioulasso. Police dispersed the protesters with tear gas, according to local media. According to the latest reports, 53 deaths and 883 cases of coronavirus have been recorded in Burkina Faso.

• Equatorial Guinea requests departure of WHO representative

The authorities of Equatorial Guinea demand the departure of the representative of the World Health Organization in the country. Prime Minister Francisco Pascual Obama Asue accused her last Friday of "  falsifying the data of people contaminated  " by the Covid-19. "  We have no problem with WHO, we have a problem with the WHO representative in Malabo,  " he said. Equatorial Guinea stopped publishing daily statistics on the evolution of the pandemic at the end of April, updating the figures irregularly. The data advanced by the WHO sometimes exceeded those published by the government, even if they are today identical again.

• New phase of deconfinement in Nigeria

The majority of Nigerian territory enters this Tuesday in the second phase of deconfinement. Hotels can reopen, as can places of worship. But the latter remain subject to certain restrictions: the faithful must respect social distancing, and only standard religious gatherings are accepted. Banks and financial institutions can reopen at full capacity, and the curfew is shortened between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. Schools, bars and parks remain closed for the time being, and domestic flights cannot resume until June 21.

The state of Kano, in the north of the country, placed in total containment at the beginning of May, for its part begins the first phase of deconfinement. Only government offices, markets and banks can now reopen with limited hours.

• New easing of restrictions in Benin

New flexibility measures come into force on Tuesday in Benin. Bars and places of worship, which have been closed since March as part of the response to the Covid-19 epidemic, are allowed to reopen. However, barrier measures, wearing a mask in public places, respecting social distancing, washing hands, must always be respected. Public transport, also stopped since March, can run again by imposing all these rules on their passengers.

• Tanzania Health Minister Says Pandemic Down

Ummy Mwalimu, the Minister of Health in Tanzania, said at a rally on Monday that the coronavirus epidemic was in decline in the country. According to her, only four cases are still active in the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam. However, she asked the population to continue to respect barrier gestures. The Tanzanian government no longer publishes statistics on the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths recorded since the end of April. The latest assessment reports 509 positive tests and 21 deaths.

• Tunisia to reopen borders at the end of the month

In a statement, the Tunisian authorities announced the reopening of the sea, land and air borders for June 27. Travel between the different cities, banned since the start of containment, may resume on Thursday. In Tunisia, tourism has stopped since the start of containment in March. The sector, which represents 14% of the country's GDP, already suffers from a shortfall of two billion euros due to the coronavirus. 400,000 jobs would be threatened.

The press release also indicates new measures concerning Tunisians repatriated from abroad. Currently placed in quarantine upon arrival at State expense, they will now have to spend seven days in isolation in a hotel at their own expense.

• Concerns in Mozambique over discrimination against coronavirus patients

Health authorities in Mozambique are raising the alarm against discrimination against patients with Covid-19. In the port city of Beira in particular, in the center of the country, reports mention threats of lynchings against the sick. Doctors are concerned that people with symptoms corresponding to those related to coronavirus will no longer show up at hospitals for testing.

• New stage of deconfinement in Namibia

Namibia passes this Tuesday in phase 3 of the deconfinement. Schools and restaurants can reopen, and gatherings of less than 50 people for weddings, funerals or other events are again allowed. However, nightclubs and casinos remain closed. All truck drivers arriving in the country continue to be tested and quarantined for two weeks.

The relief does not affect the port city of Walvis Bay, which remains isolated from the rest of the country until June 8. Three cases of Covid-19 were recorded there at the end of last week, bringing the national assessment to 25 confirmed cases and no deaths. The city's airport was closed Sunday evening for a week.

• At CAF, two possible scenarios for the resumption of matches

The African Football Confederation (CAF) has worked on different recovery scenarios, with regard to the Champions League and the Confederation Cup, two competitions interrupted by the global health crisis.
As a reminder, the championships stopped a few games before the end of the season. For the Champions League, the two Casablanca clubs, WAC and Raja, were to oppose the two giants of Cairo, Al Ahly and Zamalek, for the semi-finals. Horoya de Conakry is waiting to learn more about his match against other Egyptians, those of Pyramids, in the Confederation Cup. The other half will see the Moroccan clubs of Berkane and Agadir do battle. Competitions could resume at the end of July for the first leg, early August for the return leg, and late August for the finals. Another scenario would force supporters to be more patient: the semi-finals would take place in early September and the finals would be held at the end of that same month.

Our selection on the coronavirus

• Listen to our Coronavirus Info column 

• Our  explanations  :
→  What we know about the mode of contagion
→  Disparities and inequalities facing the coronavirus
→  Triple therapy, Discovery… update on research
→  Remdesivir, antibodies and immunity
→  The race for the vaccine is in full swing
→  How to make a mask and use it well

• Our series  :
→ “  The response, country by country  ”
→ “  Nurses  ' words ”

• After Covid-19, towards a new world?

• 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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