Coronavirus: Africa and the pandemic on Tuesday April 28

Text by: RFI Follow

Africa had this Tuesday April 28 33 566 confirmed cases of coronavirus. The Covid-19 has already claimed the lives of 1,469 people on the continent, according to the African Union Center for Disease Prevention and Control. The three most affected countries remain South Africa, Egypt and Morocco. 

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• WAEMU suspends its convergence pact

During a summit organized on Monday, the eight countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo) members of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) decided to suspend their convergence pact, which allows for multilateral control of the economies, in order to deal with the coronavirus epidemic. The pact included the limitation of debt, inflation or arrears in particular.

According to a press release from the Ivorian presidency, which holds the UEMOA presidency, "  urgent measures and response plans  " are estimated at eight billion euros "  for all member countries, in order to limit the impact of this health crisis on populations, employment and the productive sector  ”. 
Since Monday, heads of state can also issue "Covid-19 social vouchers" to facilitate immediate spending related to the epidemic. Ivory Coast is the first country to have issued these Treasury bills on Monday, for a value of 180 billion FCFA (around 275 million euros). Senegal followed today, with a bond issue worth 100 billion FCFA (around 153 million euros).

• UN calls for respect for rule of law despite emergency measures

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet calls on all countries to respect the rules of the rule of law despite the state of health emergency and the exceptional measures introduced to limit the spread of the coronavirus . "  If the rule of law is not respected, the health emergency may become a human rights disaster, the harmful effects of which will outweigh the pandemic itself for a long time  ," she said. in a press release.

Michelle Bachelet said she had received disturbing reports from several regions of the world that she had used excessive force to enforce curfews and containment. "  It is obviously unacceptable and illegal to shoot a person who has broken a curfew in desperate search for food, to place him in detention or to subject him to violence,  " she underlines. The United Nations High Commissioner calls on states to release those detained for failing to respect confinement.

“Emergency powers should not be a weapon governments can wield to quash dissent or control the population” - @mbachelet calls on Governments to ensure #HumanRights are not violated under the guise of exceptional or emergency measures for # COVID19.

ℹ️ https://t.co/2NUHpBGXoU pic.twitter.com/qwH5UokJSg

In addition, Michelle Bachelet also called for the lifting of economic sanctions against Sudan, in order to help the country protect itself from the virus. "  The breaking point could be the Covid-19. The health system is not equipped to withstand an epidemic. The only way to avoid a humanitarian disaster is for donors to help Sudan,  ”she says. Khartoum is still on the American blacklist of states financing terrorism, thus blocking any foreign investment or international aid.

• DRC government revises its 2020 budget

Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba yesterday met Jeanine Mabunda and Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, respectively President of the National Assembly and President of the Senate. All three compared the health situation to macroeconomic indicators, on the basis of which a budget of around $ 11 billion had been drawn up. But according to the Prime Minister, there is now a mismatch between crumbling revenues and public spending. It will therefore be necessary to reassess the budget planned for this year .

• Algeria, Botswana extend containment measures

The confinement is extended until May 14 in Algeria. The government "  aware of the additional efforts that each must make, reiterates its calls to citizens to remain aware of the health, economic and social issues and challenges of Covid-19 and to continue to observe conscientiously and rigorously, the measures of hygiene, social distancing and protection, which remain the only current responses to contain this epidemic,  ”read a press release from Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerad.

The Botswana president Mokgweetsi Masisi has also announced the extension of containment measures for a further week. According to the head of state, this decision was taken on the advice of medical experts, after an increase in local communications. The restrictions will therefore be in effect until May 7. Following this date, a “  progressive reduction  ” of the measures will be introduced.

• Senegalese prisons, "a time bomb"

No case of coronavirus has yet been detected in Senegalese prisons, but the national observer of places of deprivation of liberties, Josette Lopez Ndiaye, warns of a "time  bomb  ". For her, the pardon of 2,036 detained by President Macky Sall is a good thing, but we must go further. “  All the remand centers, the penitentiary establishments are overcrowded. It was noted that there were occupancy rates above 120%, even 150%. It is enough that the little virus enters a detention center for it to be a bomb for society,  ”she laments, at the microphone of our correspondent Charlotte Idrac . The observer makes recommendations to the government, in particular the organization of free telephone calls, so that prisoners remain in contact with their families despite the ban on visits, and the installation of soaps and handwashers in penal establishments . 

• Prisons worry in Guinea and Sierra Leone too

In Conakry central prison, a patient tested positive for Covid-19, confirmed Dr Bouna Yattassaye, deputy director general of the National Health Security Agency (ANSS), the body responsible for the response against the epidemic in the country. The ANSS did not specify whether it was an employee or a detainee. On April 24, three cases of death deemed suspicious by the Ministry of Justice led to a ban on visits to the central prison, a prison which houses 1,500 detainees, three times its capacity.

Also in Sierra Leone , a man detained on April 17 tested positive in a prison in the capital Freetown. Authorities said they closed the section of the prison he passed through before being taken to a hospital in order to disinfect it. The detainees who worked with him were moved and placed under medical surveillance. 

• In Mali, the growls of doctors over the lack of equipment

Already yesterday, demonstrators organized a sit-in to "support the hospital agents" in front of the Fousseyni Daou hospital in Kayes, one of the first Malian cities to have been affected by the epidemic. "  The seven patients affected today by Covid-19 in Kayes are all medical staff who became infected the same week, when the first cases arrived,  " said Gueladio Traore, of the hospital workers' union. 

• Uganda starts week-long screening campaign

Uganda plans to test 20,000 people in one week. The results of this screening campaign are expected by May 4, one day before the confinement end date currently set. According to the Minister of Health , these tests should allow the authorities to define whether the restrictions should be continued or not, and how to ensure a gradual reduction of the measures. The campaign will primarily concern the populations considered to be the most exposed: market vendors, health personnel, and religious leaders in particular.

• Food aid is more than necessary in townships in South Africa

If President Cyril Ramaphosa has promised to increase social assistance and the distribution of food, associations like Rays of Hope are trying to take over. People in difficulty call the association, and volunteers come to their homes to deliver a package of food. “  It's really complicated, because now I have no salary, and I have a baby, but I didn't have time to register for social benefits. We're starving, really. Usually when I am not working, other people can help me, but there, as it is confinement, nobody has anything left,  "explains Maseshaba, one of the beneficiaries in the township of Alexandra, north of Johannesburg. According to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (HRSH), almost a quarter of the South African population no longer has enough money to feed themselves, a percentage that rises to 55% in the slums.

► Read also: In the townships of Johannesburg, essential food aid

• Zimbabwe warns hospitals treating unauthorized coronavirus patients

In Zimbabwe, private hospitals that treat patients with Covid-19 without being assessed and registered by the government must end these practices, warned Agnès Mahomva, secretary of state for health. “  These establishments operate illegally, are a danger for patients with coronavirus and for all the communities around. They must stop immediately, until they have completed all the registration processes  , ”she said.

• Paul Kagame wants "better collaboration at country level"

Paul Kagame held an online press conference on Monday. No precise announcement on a possible deconfinement, but the president assures however that a council of ministers will meet soon to define the procedure to follow. Efforts are being made at the level of the Community of East African States, "  for better collaboration at the country level  ", adds the Head of State. 

• New serological tests in Dakar

The laboratory of the Institut Pasteur in Dakar is currently testing 500 samples of suspected coronavirus cases per day. But these tests on saliva samples, based on the search for the genome of the virus, are long and expensive. To get around these problems, the institute is working on a new protocol, in partnership with a British laboratory.

The new serological test will be based on the reaction of the human body to the coronavirus. “  The principle is a simple strip. You just have to take the sample and put it down. There will be one or two bands that will come out depending on the result. It simplifies things in terms of availability of the result on time,  "explains a doctor who worked on the project at the microphone of our correspondent in Dakar, William de Lesseux .

Another argument in favor of this new method, its price: 3 euros per unit, 10 times cheaper than the tests currently used. But reliability still needs to be improved. "  It is very important that these tests detect the virus even when it is present in very small quantities in the patient,  " added another doctor. The Institute will allow itself a few more weeks to perfect its protocol, and plans to make it available in June. 

• In Madagascar, an ecological and united soap

The social enterprise Green'N'Kool in Madagascar has developed a solidarity soap from used edible oil. With the coronavirus, washing your hands is essential, but in the country, not everyone has access to water, much less soap. The product developed comes from the oil collected from restaurants in the capital Antananarivo, a low-cost product that allows solidarity sales. "  For each soap purchased, we will offer a soap to an association, to any structure that can offer a soap to the most vulnerable people,  " explains Marie-Christina Kolo, founder of the project. The company is also producing a washing foam without rinsing, because in the capital, three out of four people do not have access to water, according to UNICEF. 

• Slam to remind you of barrier gestures

In a clip broadcast by the United Nations, the young artist from Congo-Brazzaville Mariusca Moukengue uses slam to remind people of the barrier gestures to be respected in order to protect themselves and others from the coronavirus. 

#Coronavirus | 🗨️ “The corona is very real. It is not machinery but a fact. ”

From the Republic of # Congo🇨🇬, the artist Mariusca the Slameuse (@ Mariusca3) uses the power of words and #slam to raise awareness of the dangers of # COVID19 ➔https: //t.co/sjEu215lwf pic.twitter.com / iAr75Jzors

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 ?
→  A vaccine, the only solution to stem the pandemic?
→  What impact on conflict zones?

• Practical questions:
→  What is known about the mode of contagion
→  What results for ongoing clinical trials?
→  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 put to the test
•  The history of epidemics
•  Science facing the Covid-19
•  The geopolitical consequences

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