Coronavirus: Africans leaving Paris between carelessness and responsibility

Travelers at Roissy Charles de Gaulle Airport. March 12, 2020 (Illustration). Bertrand GUAY / AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

With nineteen countries currently affected, Africa remains relatively unaffected by the coronavirus pandemic. Preserved, of course, but not excluded, and the risk of spread is taken very seriously by the medical and political authorities of African countries, which in turn take more radical measures of prevention and response. For their part, travelers from Europe and bound for the continent always show a certain form of carelessness.

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She only stayed in Paris for a few days, the time to buy goods. This Senegalese shopkeeper envisages returning to Dakar with immense serenity. We know about the coronavirus, but it's not bad. It does not come to Senegal, or we have treated the cases. When I go back to Senegal, I will not put myself in isolation. We come as we want, there is no problem ”.

" The virus does not catch that skin "

This Congolese woman runs to join her flight to Kinshasa. She still has time to remember that the first cases of coronavirus in Africa were imported by white people.

Coronavirus is not for us. The corona is not going to cross over to our house, it will stay where it was placed. The virus doesn't catch that skin . ” If Africa is to this day less concerned than the rest of the world, and by far, the coronavirus has nevertheless reached people of black skin.

Congolese from France, leaving for Brazzaville, this young man is not worried, but he wants to be responsible. " I know I have to keep myself check. I took the precaution to wash my hands well to protect myself well. I leave with peace of mind. I'm more afraid that people fear that I am contagious when I get there. Then, if I have to stay two weeks, at home, I will do it . "

One after the other, the African countries are in turn putting in place more drastic mechanisms for isolating and limiting gatherings.

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  • Coronavirus
  • Senegal
  • France
  • Ground floor

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