Coronavirus: Africa faces the pandemic on Sunday, May 17

Text by: RFI Follow

According to figures from the Center for Disease Prevention of the African Union (CDC), the African continent had, this Sunday, May 17, 81,882 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 2,715 deaths due to the disease. South Africa is the most affected country, ahead of Egypt and Morocco.

Publicity

• Benin pandemic elections

Polling stations opened this morning in Cotonou and in the rest of the country for the municipal elections. Jean-Luc Aplogan, our correspondent, noted "  a low attendance  " in the offices he visited and that if "  the wearing of the mask was generally well respected, this was not always the case for social distancing  "

Throughout the campaign , which took place virtually door to door and meetings having been banned,   the opposition had asked for the postponement of the elections.

Joël Atayi-Guèdègbé, president of the Beninese NGO Nouvelle éthique and specialist in electoral matters estimated on our antenna that the risk resided "  in the behavior of men  " and wondered about the formations set up to respect the rules of social distancing .

Benin has so far been little affected by Covid-19 with 339 confirmed cases and two deaths.

• Strong emotion in Algeria after the death of a pregnant doctor

Algerian hospital director sacked Sunday after death of Covid-19 from 28-year-old doctor, eight months pregnant, denied leave, a case that prompted great emotion.

Following the death of doctor Wafa Boudissa, who was practicing in surgical emergencies, and the child she was carrying, the Minister of Health, Abderrahmane Benbouzid terminated the functions of the director of the Ras el Oued hospital (east), an administrative penalty.

In #Algeria, a doctor died as a result of Covid-19 this weekend. She was 8 months pregnant and continued to work.
According to the authorities, she contracted the disease during her work.

Mr. Benbouzid had ordered Saturday May 16 the opening of an administrative investigation to determine the circumstances of the death of Dr. Boudissa, instructing, exceptionally, the Inspector General of the Ministry of Health to conduct the investigations. At the end of the investigation, the file is likely to be transmitted to justice and, if a serious fault is proven, the responsible person (s) risk being prosecuted for homicide by negligence, specified this source.

The husband of the deceased doctor expressed his anger in El Watan  : “  Exhausted by the workload and the effects of the pregnancy, my wife who worked from 8h to 20h was not spared. His three requests for sick leave were refused by the hospital management who will have my wife's death on my conscience. I will never forgive them, he said to the Algerian daily. To justify his refusal, his management hid behind the instructions from above  ”

The only Algerian war since 62 is the one waged in the front line by hospital services with the most deplorable means.
Tribute from Dilem for their sense of duty and to the last victim Dr Wafa Boudissa pic.twitter.com/EbPOEdsjJW

His death caused a stir and an uproar on social networks, especially since the young doctor had priority to benefit from an exceptional leave.

A presidential decree, aimed at combating the spread of Covid-19, states that "  priority is given to exceptional leave for pregnant women and women raising children, as well as people with chronic illnesses and those with medical vulnerabilities"

• Madagascar announces first death of Covid-19

Madagascar reported on Sunday the first death of a patient suffering from the new coronavirus almost two months after its first detection in the country.

A  57-year-old caretaker in a hospital died of Covid-19 in Toamasina (east). [...] He died last night,  "said Professor Hanta Vololontiana, spokesperson for the anti-Covid-19 operational command center. He added that this patient also suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure.

The Indian Ocean island, which has reported 304 cases so far, has been in the headlines for a homemade herb concoction that President Andry Rajoelina says could cure people affected by the disease. virus.

Let us have faith in the virtues of our medicinal plants and in the work of our researchers! 🇲🇬 pic.twitter.com/vkZ8P6SoiR

Madagascar has provided its people and several African countries with a drink made from artemisia, a plant with a recognized therapeutic effect against malaria, by claiming that it prevented and treated Covid-19. The possible benefits of this herbal tea, called Covid Organics, have not been validated by any scientific study .

The Covid-Organics arrived Saturday in the hands of Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian president. Nafdac, the agency responsible for monitoring food and drugs in the country, will conduct a battery of tests to prove whether or not it works.

• Egypt tightens restrictions during Eid al-Fitr

"  All stores, shopping malls, restaurants, entertainment, beaches and public parks will be closed for six days from May 24 to 29,  " Mostafa Madbouli, the Egyptian Prime Minister, said at a press conference on Sunday. adding that public transport will be interrupted and the curfew will be imposed from 5 p.m. (3 p.m. UT). He stressed that these measures would be eased again from May 30: the curfew will then start at 8 p.m. (6 p.m. UT) from that date.

On Sunday, the prestigious Sunni Al-Azhar institution asked the faithful to perform their prayers at home. "  People will be asked to wear masks in closed and busy public places  ," he said, adding that offenders would be punished, without giving further details. In Egypt, a country of 100 million inhabitants, these figures are officially 11,719 cases, including 612 deaths.

• Two men killed after violating curfew in Sudan

The Sudanese military announced on Sunday that two men had been killed by a soldier after forcing a roadblock during a full curfew imposed by the authorities to fight the pandemic of new coronavirus.

"  A tuk-tuk crossed without stopping a military roadblock in Khartoum ... at 9 p.m. (7 p.m. GMT) exactly  " said in a statement published this Sunday morning army spokesman Amer Mohamed al-Hassan. "  A soldier shot at the occupants of the tuk-tuk for refusing to comply with repeated orders to stop,  " he added before adding that the two men aboard the tuk-tuk were injured and later died in hospital.

According to the military spokesman, the soldier who fired was arrested. "  No one is above the law [...] We are engaging in all the necessary legal procedures  ," he said in his statement. Sudan has officially registered 2,289 cases of new coronavirus, including 97 deaths.

Newsletter Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

Follow all international news by downloading the RFI application

• Coronavirus: the state of the world facing the pandemic
• Coronavirus
• Health and Medicine
• Benign
• Algeria
• Madagascar
• Egypt
• Sudan

On the same subject

Nigeria to test effectiveness of Covid-Organics

Series

In the Maghreb, early measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus