Coronavirus: Africa and the pandemic Wednesday May 13

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According to figures from the African Union Center for Disease Prevention (CDC), this continent counted on Wednesday May 13, 69,947 confirmed cases of coronavirus, and 2,410 deaths due to the disease. South Africa is the most affected country, ahead of Egypt and Morocco.

Publicity

• Niger eases constraints

"  On a proposal from the religious leaders, after consulting the Covid-19 Committee of Experts and in view of the favorable trend in the development of the disease in Covid-19  ", the government authorized the reopening of places of worship from this Wednesday, and announced the lifting of the curfew in force in Niamey since the end of March. He calls on the faithful to respect barrier measures to prevent the spread of the virus. The ban on collective prayers had sparked riots in Niamey as the month of Ramadan began. Nigeria will have recorded 854 cases of coronavirus including 47 deaths, according to the latest report.

• Senegal: diversely appreciated deconfinement, fishermen suffering

How did the Dakarois welcome Macky Sall's decision to launch the deconfinement of the country by reopening places of worship, markets, shops and certain classes? Charlotte Idrac went to ask them, there are optimists and those who believe that it is premature. Reportage.

Senegal: a diversely appreciated deconfinement

Charlotte Idrac

Senegal currently registers 22 deaths out of 2,105 confirmed cases. The curve of new cases continues to increase. The association of imams and ulemas of Senegal claims not to have been consulted on the reopening of places of worship, and that "  the mosques are not prepared  " for the reopening.

Among the economic activities which are undergoing the full force of the crisis, we spoke on Tuesday of tourism in Saly, today RFI and William de Lesseux take you to Mbour, where the fishing quay is one of the most important in the country. But the curfew hinders and considerably reduces their activity, on which most families in the region depend.

► Listen  : Senegal: fishing in difficulty

In addition, in our series “Nurses' words”, which highlights caregivers on the front line against coronavirus, our correspondent Manon Laplace spoke with Marie-Antoinette Vieira Mané, 44, including thirteen in the intensive care unit at Fann hospital in Dakar. She has been mobilized since March 2 to take care of patients with Covid-19.

► Marie-Antoinette, nurse in Senegal: "After Ebola, I was ready"

• Mauritania: the “hot spot” market still lukewarm

Also in Mauritania, the government partially lifted restrictions taken a month earlier to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in late April. The curfew has been eased (from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.), Friday collective prayer authorized. Restaurants and markets have resumed their activity, provided that preventive measures, including the wearing of masks, are respected. In particular that of mobile telephony, very famous in Nouakchott, and nicknamed "hot spot". A market frequented by thousands of young people specializing in the repair, purchase and sale of second-hand telephones and recharge cards. But small traders have not yet found their usual customers, noted our correspondent Salem Mejbour Salem.

Small phone repairers in Mauritania are struggling to find their regular customers

Salem Mejbour

• Congo hopes for emergency aid from the IMF, Tunisia cannot balance its budget

The fall in oil prices has a very strong impact on the countries of the continent that live on this rent. From Nigeria to Angola, via Gabon or Chad, the recipes plunge. In Congo-Brazzaville, the government has requested $ 300 million in emergency aid from the IMF, which the Fund is currently examining, demanding guarantees. Because relations are not in good shape since the affair of the debt hidden by Brazaville, reminds us Florence Morice . Last December, the Fund suspended the loan granted to Brazzaville under conditions a few months earlier, explaining that the Congolese authorities had not kept some of their commitments.

► IMF examines Congo-Brazzaville's emergency aid request

Congolese government spokesman Thierry Moungalla reacted to this information and said he was optimistic about the granting of this aid. "  There is no breach of trust,  " he insisted.

Furthermore, in the Chronicle of raw materials, Claire Fages wonders today if the Covid-19 crisis does not mark a lasting decline for fossil fuels.

►Listen to it: The coronavirus, signal of a lasting decline in fossil fuels?

• The crisis also puts Tunisia in difficulty

The Tunisian government announced Tuesday evening that it will need five billion euros to complete its 2020 budget. "  We are seeing all the leads, both at international and national level,  " said head of government Elyes Fakhfakh in France. 24, also considering that the epidemic was being brought under control in his country. Tunisia has just over 1,000 cases for 45 deaths.

► For Prime Minister Elyes Farkhfakh, Tunisia needs 5 billion euros

The European Union announced at the end of March a donation of 250 million euros and the IMF an emergency loan of 685 million euros. The containment, eased since May 4, has notably erased the rebound observed in the key tourism sector.

• Schools remain closed in Morocco, but the bac is maintained

The Moroccan Minister of National Education has announced that Moroccan schools will remain closed until September. However, the baccalaureate exams are maintained and will take place in July and September, according to the Moroccan press agency MAP. "  The supervisory department will work to implement health measures to preserve the health of students," said the minister. Examination subjects will only relate to lessons given in class before the closure of schools "in order to guarantee equal opportunities for all students  ", he also specified.
Morocco is the third most affected African country with 6,466 cases identified and 188 deaths.

• Asymptomatic patients more hospitalized in Gabon, the first case in Lesotho

About 71% of the cases detected in Gabon are asymptomatic. To avoid saturation of hospitals, all positive cases will no longer be systematically hospitalized, explained to our correspondent Yves-Laurent Goma , Guy-Patrick Obiang Ndong, spokesperson for the Steering Committee of the monitoring plan and response to the pandemic of coronavirus: “  We are starting to have a saturation of the beds by healthy Covid-19 carriers, while these people can be followed at home by providing them with a sanitary kit which allows them not to contaminate their neighborhood. In two months, Gabon installed three new Covid-19 laboratories in Libreville. There are five in total in the country. The objective is to carry out 5,000 to 10,000 tests per day. Gabon has 863 recorded cases, for 9 deaths.

► Update in Gabon after two months of fighting the coronavirus

So far officially spared, Lesotho today reported its first case of coronavirus. One patient among 81 people tested last week, people from South Africa and Saudi Arabia, the health ministry said in a statement. The confinement which had been imposed in the country for 6 weeks was lifted on May 6.

• Denis Mukwege defends prevention in South Kivu and calls for "  not lowering the guard  "

RFI's Africa guest this Wednesday was Dr. Mukwege. The Congolese gynecologist, Nobel Peace Prize 2018, has been appointed by the DRC authorities to coordinate the response against the coronavirus in the province of South Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Today, this province has no active cases of Covid-19. Joined by Carine Frenk , Denis Mukwege advocates for prevention and also urgently requests screening tests.

► To listen and also read: Denis Mukwege: "Coronavirus screening tests are very important"

Our selection on the coronavirus

• Listen to our daily chronicle  Coronavirus info

• The practical questions  :
→  What is known about the mode of contagion
→  disparities and inequalities in coronaviruses: what to remember
→  What outcomes for clinical trials?
→  A vaccine, the only solution to stem the pandemic?
→  How to make a mask and use it well

• Our series  : "  The response, country by country  "

• Each evening, find the State of the world and Africa facing the pandemic

• 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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• Coronavirus
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• Africa
• Coronavirus: the state of the world facing the pandemic
• Confinement

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