Coronavirus: Africa faces the pandemic on Sunday, April 19

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Africa officially counted this Sunday, April 19, 21,096 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 1,055 deaths according to the Center for Disease Prevention and Control of the African Union. South Africa is now the most affected country with 3,034 reported cases, compared to 3,032 for Egypt. Next come Morocco (2,685) and Algeria (2,534).

Publicity

►The second round of legislative elections maintained in Mali

After the first round of the legislative elections, held on March 20 and during which 22 deputies have already been elected, the Malian authorities maintained this second round this Sunday . 125 seats thus remain to be filled and President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta had made the commitment that " all the required health and safety measures will be rigorously applied " for this election.

Synergie - a platform of organizations that have deployed observers - claims that health kits have been placed in " 96.2% of the polling centers and stations " it has visited across the country, without specifying the number. It also indicates that " the electoral staff wore masks in 87.2% of the offices visited ". In the morning, however, in a center in Badalabougou, a district of Bamako, a polling station president told our correspondent: " We should have postponed these elections  ". Mask over his nose, he expressed concern about the spread of Covid-19 because it had not received from the authorities the alcohol-based gels expected for his office. To date, Mali has officially registered 216 cases and 13 deaths, the majority being in the capital.

►Death of the Secretary General of the Government of Guinea

The minister secretary general of the Guinean government Sékou Kourouma, a founding member of the presidential party and close to Alpha Condé, died Saturday of the consequences of the coronavirus. Announcement made this Sunday by press releases from the government and the presidency which specify that the Covid-19 thus killed " several senior state officials ".

Indeed, before Sékou Kourouma, at least two other officials died: the government quotes here the president of the Electoral Commission Salif Kébé and the commissioner Victor Traoré, a former director of Interpol in Guinea. This Saturday, April 18, wearing a mask has also become mandatory in the country, which officially lists 518 cases and 5 deaths according to the National Agency for Health Security, the official organ for managing the epidemic.

►Wearing a mask is now compulsory in Kinshasa

At the end of a meeting on Saturday April 18 between Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga and the governor of Kinshasa Gentiny Ngobila, the Prime Minister's services announced in a statement that " the wearing of masks, even of artisanal manufacture, is now compulsory on all the extent of the capital . " While Kinshasa concentrates a large majority of the 327 cases of Covid and all of the 25 deaths officially declared in the DRC, the measure should enter into force at the beginning of the week and the police will be responsible for ensuring its compliance,

A decision made when the Municipality of Gombe - the economic and administrative heart of the capital considered the epicenter of the epidemic - will gradually emerge from Tuesday from the confinement imposed since April 4. This “  will be done gradually, first by reopening supermarkets and grocery stores to allow residents of this town to get supplies, as well as bank counters. Access to Gombe will always be regulated and access badges required ”, detail the services of the Prime Minister. The governor clarified that the containment will not be extended to two other neighboring municipalities which register several cases.

►The mask also compulsory in Rwanda

After having once again extended, until April 30, the confinement imposed from March 21, the Rwandan authorities announce that from Monday April 20, the wearing of the mask is compulsory in public. The authorities even invite the Rwandans to take it home. For the time being, there are no details as to the implementation of the measure, except that the government has published a list of companies authorized to produce the masks.

► One death during an arrest in Congo-Brazzaville

On the night of Saturday to Sunday, a 42-year-old man died in Djambala in the Plateaux, in central Congo-Brazzaville. A death occurred at the time of the curfew imposed by the authorities because of the coronavirus. The family of the deceased claim that he died following a  police "  caning " after his arrest. For their part, the police and the municipality of Djambala indicate that the man jumped from the patrol vehicle driving him to the police station, and that he died instantly.

►The Gabonese President announces the creation of a personal fund

Faced with the health crisis - Gabon officially totaling 109 cases of Covid-19 to date and one death - President Ali Bongo announced Friday the creation of a personal fund in the amount of 2.1 billion CFA francs. The head of state expressed himself in a video relayed on social networks, explaining that this fund would be used to " allow the most vulnerable Gabonese to access medical care, without them having to worry about the financial aspect ”.

I decided to create a personal fund of 2.1 billion CFA francs.
Its role: to allow the most vulnerable # Gabonese to access medical care, without having to worry about the financial aspect.
In this time of # Covid19, it is my duty to do so. pic.twitter.com/gy9nEvX3x4

Concretely, " this fund will finance, for 6 months, all the moderator tickets for economically weak Gabonese registered with the CNAMGS (NDLR: National Health Insurance and Social Security Fund) ", said Ali Bongo, referring to his " duty of solidarity ”. On the Infos Gabon site , Séverin Anguillet, the director general of the CNAMGS states that this measure will be effective " during the next week ". The latter also specifies that it is “ 350 million CFA francs that the President of the Republic will personally take out of his pocket ”.

►Lesotho's army returns to barracks

In Lesotho, the armored and armed soldiers who patrolled the streets of the capital Maseru, under confinement, had returned to their barracks this Sunday. The day before, Saturday, the deployment of the army had however been ordered by Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, implicated in the assassination of his wife in 2017 and who promised to resign by the end of July. The head of government had explained the recourse to the military by the need to " restore peace and order ", and that of " trying to stem the epidemic of Covid-19 ".

A situation in which the international community has expressed its concern. A South African ministerial delegation visited the capital of Lesotho this Sunday to take the pulse of the situation. " They have arrived, " said Thomas Thabane's secretary, Thabo Thakalekoala. In a statement signed with his American, British and European Union counterparts, the Pretoria ambassador to Maseru recalled " the importance of maintaining stability and the rule of law ". The text also urges local authorities " to favor a unitary approach which favors the protection of citizens and the maintenance of essential services ". Due to the coronavirus pandemic, diplomats add, " destabilizing actions would be catastrophic ". For his part, Maseru Holomo Molibeli's chief police commander denied having been arrested, contrary to reports by a government source, but announced that he had been dismissed.

►Expansion of containment in Zimbabwe

The President of Zimbabwe announced Sunday the extension for two weeks, up to and including May 3, of national confinement. " It is a very difficult decision that my government has only reluctantly adopted ," added Emmerson Mnangagwa, but " the country has not yet met the conditions set by the World Health Organization to lift the confinement ”.

According to the latest report from the authorities, 25 cases of Covid-19 contamination, including three fatal, have been officially registered in the country. A health crisis that comes while Zimbabwe is still plunged into a deep economic crisis, half of the 15 million inhabitants being threatened by famine according to the UN. Faced with this situation, the Head of State thus clarified that the mining companies had been authorized to resume part of their activities. " It will relieve our industrial sector and small businesses, " he hoped.

► In Nigeria, concern about overcrowding in IDP camps

In Nigeria, the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is concerned about overcrowding in half of the IDP camps in Borno State in the north of the country. OCHA therefore calls on all stakeholders to intensify efforts to combat this phenomenon, particularly in this period of coronavirus pandemic.

Overcrowding in the IDP camps also makes the risk of fire very high. Two camps in Borno State were the scene this week. In Ngala, the fire left at least 14 dead, 15 injured and more than 8,000 victims. Also in a Monguno camp, the fire burned down a hundred shelters to ashes. OCHA coordinator in Nigeria, Edward Kallon, believes in the current circumstances that decongesting IDP camps should be a priority.

► 180 migrants in quarantine on a ferry opposite Palermo

Some 180 migrants rescued in the Mediterranean Sea have been placed in quarantine on a ferry moored opposite the port of Palermo, the main city of the Italian island of Sicily, the Italian coastguards announced on Sunday. On Sunday, 34 people rescued by the Spanish NGO Aita Mari were indeed transferred to the Rubattino ferry , where they joined 146 migrants installed on Friday after being saved by the Alan Kurdi, a boat of the German humanitarian organization Sea Eye.

While around twenty Red Cross volunteers are on board the ferry, the 180 migrants from the Rubattino must be tested before 40 days of quarantine. According to the Italian media, they must then be distributed in various countries of the European Union. Second country most affected in the world by the epidemic of new coronavirus, Italy announced the closure of its ports to migrants. Like Libya and Malta, the Italian authorities have declared their own ports unsafe for the disembarkation of people rescued at sea, whose care is currently complicated by the health crisis.

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