Coronavirus: Africa and the pandemic on Saturday April 18

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Africa officially counted this Saturday, April 18, 19,895 confirmed cases of coronavirus. The threshold of 1,000 deaths linked to Covid-19 has also been crossed, according to the African Union Center for Disease Prevention and Control. Egypt is the country with the most patients with 2,844 cases, followed by South Africa, Morocco and Algeria. 

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• The threshold of 1,000 deaths crossed on the continent

As Africa approaches the 20,000 mark of Covid-19 cases, the African Union Center for Disease Prevention and Control said on Saturday that 1,017 coronavirus-related deaths have already been recorded. Algeria is the country with the highest mortality rate with 364 deaths. Next come Egypt (205), Morocco (135) and South Africa (50).

• Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari's chief of staff dies

Abba Kyari, the chief of staff and chief adviser to the Nigerian head of state, died on Friday after contracting the new coronavirus. It was the presidency that announced it in a press release published overnight. Abba Kyari is thus the highest person in Nigeria to have succumbed to the virus which officially infected 493 people, and left 17 dead.

His exact age has never been publicly revealed, but he was thought to be over 70 and a mysterious figure, a figure in the first circle of Muhammadu Buhari. Abba Kyari controlled access to the head of state. He supervised all strategic meetings of the presidency and granted the presidential hearings to the ministers. He had been tested positive for coronavirus at the end of March, after a stay in Germany, causing panic at the top of the state and forcing in the process several senior Nigerian officials who had been in contact with him to quarantine. On March 29, Abba Kyari announced that he had been transferred to Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria for treatment and hoped "to  be back at the office very soon  ". 

• In Guinea, death of the head of the electoral commission and wearing of the compulsory mask

Amadou Salif Kébé, president of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI) died of coronavirus Friday April 17 in Conakry. In a statement, the Guinean presidency praised the "  expertise  " provided by Mr. Kébé during electoral periods, "  in an often contradictory context  ". Recently, Amadou Salif Kébé and the Céni had been at the center of a controversy linked to the organization in late March of a constitutional referendum. An election boycotted by the opposition, which denounced a maneuver by President Alpha Condé, elected in 2010 then re-elected in 2015, aiming to run for a third term in late 2020.

It is also this Saturday that the compulsory wearing of a mask comes into force, one of the preventive measures announced by the President of the Republic to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus. In the capital, police checks are carried out at the main crossroads and offenders risk a fine of 30,000 Guinean francs (around 3 euros). To date, Guinea has recorded 477 confirmed cases including 59 cured and 3 deaths.

• Equatorial Guinean nurse jailed for criticizing hospital

After being summoned by the Minister of Health, an Equatorial Guinean nurse, Nuria Obono Ndong Andem, was placed in preventive detention on Thursday 16 April in Malabo for the offense of "breach of secrets". Justice accuses her of being at the origin of a message questioning the establishment in which she works. His audio message, shared on WhatsApp to a friend, was widely relayed on social networks. She affirmed there that "  the hospital of Sampaka, whose national television praises the capacity to treat the patients of the coronavirus, does not have oxygen for the patients of Covid-19  ". In response, the national television channel, TVGE, broadcast a denial from the health authorities and broadcast images of oxygen cylinders.

The opposition party Convergence for Social Democracy, CPDS, demands in a statement its immediate release explaining that "  a caregiver is more important at the moment than the anger of a minister  ". "  Freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Constitution,  " argues Citizens for Innovation, an opposition party dissolved by the authorities in February 2018. A pro-democracy and human rights movement, SOMOS +, meanwhile started a campaign demanding the freedom of the nurse called "I am Nuria Obono Ndong".  

• Very criticized, the Prime Minister of Lesotho deploys the army

Implicated in the assassination of his wife in 2017 and after announcing that he would resign by the end of July, the Prime Minister of Lesotho Thomas Thabane this Saturday ordered the deployment of the army in the streets of the small kingdom . In a surprise speech on national radio and television, the head of government announced the intervention of the military in order to "  restore peace and order  ". These measures "  were taken to avoid putting the nation in danger and to ensure its protection, as well as to try to stem the epidemic of Covid-19  ", also justified Thomas Thabane.

Armed soldiers, equipped with helmets and bulletproof vests were therefore patrolling this Saturday morning in the streets of the capital Maseru, on foot or in armored vehicles. The police chief and his two assistants were arrested by the military, according to an anonymous official source. Lesotho had already been placed under complete confinement until April 21, no case of coronavirus has been officially announced to date. The Leader of the Opposition strongly criticized Thomas Thabane's decision: "  This is an abuse of the security forces  ," said Mathibeli Mokhothu, president of the Democratic Congress (DC). The latter accused the Prime Minister of "  threatening the independence of the judiciary  " and "  endangering peace in Lesotho  ". 

• In South Africa, tense situation in the townships

In South Africa, the continent's leading industrial power, 20% of households normally have insufficient access to food, according to the National Statistics Office. And the situation suddenly deteriorated with the anti-coronavirus containment in force for three weeks, extended by President Cyril Ramaphosa until the end of April. As a result, many people in townships and slums having lost their jobs overnight, access to food becomes even more problematic and exacerbates tensions.

The authorities have set up a food distribution for the most vulnerable, but many South Africans are slow to receive these vital packages, as in the Cape region. Clashes with the police and looting broke out in these poor neighborhoods. In a video posted on social networks, Joanie Fredericks, an association activist, calls out to the Head of State and talks about a "  war  " situation. “  People have vandalized businesses. They attacked people. The only reason is that they are hungry,  ”she says. 

• A lack of urgent funding for the continent

While Africa is expected to experience its worst recession in 25 years this year and the health response mobilizes a lot of resources, there is still a lack of funding. This is what emerged from a meeting devoted Friday to the mobilization for the continent by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "  Together, official creditors have raised up to $ 57 billion for Africa in 2020,  " the two institutions said in a joint statement. “  Support from private creditors could amount to around $ 13 billion. It's an important start, but the continent needs about $ 114 billion in 2020 in its fight against Covid-19, which leaves a funding gap of about $ 44 billion  , "they add.

Of the 57 billion already mobilized, more than 36 billion come from the IMF and the World Bank in almost equal share. This money is allocated to provide health services "  on the front line, supporting the poor and vulnerable  ". It is also about "  keeping economies afloat in the face of the worst global economic slowdown since the 1930s,  " they said.

Our selection on SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus

• Listen to Coronavirus Info , daily chronicle on the pandemic

• Explanation:  The origins of the Covid-19

• Analyzes:
→ What strategies to face the epidemic ?
→ What impact on conflict zones?

• Practical questions:
→ What we know about the mode of contagion
→ How do we treat the sick ?
→ What results for the ongoing clinical trials?
→ How the Institut Pasteur hopes to find a vaccine
→ How to make a mask and use it well

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

See also the files of RFI Savoirs  on the Covid-19:
• Birth of a pandemic
• Everyday life to the test
•  The history of epidemics

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