Coronavirus: Africa and the pandemic on Wednesday May 20

Text by: RFI Follow

According to the CDC, the African Union Center for Disease Prevention, the continent recorded on Wednesday 92,348 cases of Covid-19, and 2,912 deaths due to the disease. The most affected states are South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Nigeria.

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• Acceleration of the number of cases on the continent

30% more Covid-19 cases were detected last week compared to the previous week. This was announced by the head of the CDC, Dr. John Nkengasong, to French senators this Wednesday morning. He was invited to speak by videoconference to the members of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. He stood out from reassuring speeches on the evolution of the epidemic on the continent: for him, no doubt, this virus is very dangerous and spreads very quickly. He expressed great concern for the most fragile countries such as Somalia and South Sudan.

In an attempt to stop the epidemic, John Nkengasong calls for more tests, up to 15 million in the next two to three months. He deplored the lack of protective equipment, human resources and funding on the continent. According to him, the CDC needs $ 600 million to support the efforts of African countries against the coronavirus.

• Postponement of the OIF summit

The International Organization of La Francophonie has formalized the postponement of the organization's 18th summit, scheduled for December 12 and 13 in Tunisia, due to the global crisis. Tunisian President Kaïs Saied previously met yesterday with the leader of the OIF, the Rwandan Louise Mushikiwabo. He would have proposed to organize it in Djerba next year, on a date that remains to be defined.

• DRC: first death in Lubumbashi, traffic suspended between the Kivus

Until then rather spared, the city of Lubumbashi, the second in the country, had its first Covid-19 death on Tuesday evening. It is a local contamination, in a city which has thirteen active cases.

In the east of the country, the province of South Kivu has announced the suspension of traffic with North Kivu, after the discovery of new cases in this region. All land, lake and air traffic is prohibited, except essential goods. This is the second time that intense trade between the two provinces has been suspended since the start of the Covid-19 crisis. On Tuesday, the governor of North Kivu announced his side the ban on population movements between the cities of Goma, Rutshuru and Kiwanja, and the rest of the province and the country.

In Kinshasa, the response committee denounced kidnapping and assaults against its teams in the capital. "  This resistance movement leads to the paralysis of surveillance activities, including the active search for cases,  " said the daily bulletin of the response.

The DRC registered for the first time Tuesday more than one hundred positive cases on the same day (1,731 in total). A database to list the sick has been set up. Seven of the twenty-six provinces are affected. The government is studying the reopening of schools and higher education establishments in provinces not affected by the coronavirus.

• First speech by Paul Biya, no festivities for the national holiday in Cameroon

For the first time since the start of the coronavirus crisis, Cameroonian President Paul Biya spoke. Tuesday evening, on national television, he confirmed the cancellation of the festivities planned for Wednesday for the national holiday. He called on Cameroonians to sacred union and to respect the measures announced by his government, including the wearing of a mandatory mask.

Paul Biya calls for sacred union

Marie-Pierre Olphand

The silence of the Head of State , 87, including 37 in the presidency, has been widely criticized by his opponents since the appearance of the Covid-19 in Cameroon on March 5. Since then, there have been more than 3,500 cases identified and 140 deaths. His absence had set social media on fire, and the government had officially denied rumors of his death in mid-April. His opponent Maurice Kamto had gone so far as to declare the “vacancy” of power.

In the wake of this speech, he also denounced in a  press release the " cacophony  " at the top of the State around the cancellation of the day's ceremonies. The opponent also wonders about the "  meaning to be given  " to national unity, when in the north-west and south-west regions "  the citizens are brutalized, abused and thrown in prison  ", he writes. A unit today in danger according to Maurice Kamto.

• Mauritania begins mask distribution campaign

In Mauritania, the ministry of employment, youth and sports began Wednesday an awareness campaign against the spread of the coronavirus with the distribution of 8,000 protective masks. An operation which mobilizes nearly a thousand young volunteers. The campaign mainly targets the country's markets and distribution was carried out without a crowd. It intervenes in any case in a moment of strong resurgence of new cases of Covid-19. This Wednesday, ten new cases were registered in Nouakchott.

Beginning of the mask distribution campaign in Mauritania

Salem Mejbour

• 150 billion FCFA of credit to Niger companies

The government of Niger launches aid to grant loans to private companies affected by the crisis. According to public television, the Minister of Finance and officials of local banks and financial institutions signed a "framework agreement" to set up a line of bank credits of 150 billion CFA francs (229 million euros). Two windows will be set up, one for large companies and endowed with 100 billion FCFA, and the other for SMEs, with 50 billion.

• State of emergency extended for three weeks in Gambia

Gambian President Adama Barrow has announced a 21-day extension of the state of emergency allowing exceptional measures to combat the Covid-19. The President invoked the powers conferred by the Constitution in a televised address to override Parliament's refusal on Saturday to a 45-day extension request from the executive. The head of state says he is aware of the impact of the restrictions on the population, but stresses that the fight against the pandemic is "  a matter of survival  ". The Gambia has only 24 cases identified and one death, but suffers economically from closed borders and stopping tourism.

• Divergent tensions and approaches between Kenya and Tanzania

Kenya recorded a record of new cases in 24 hours between Tuesday and Wednesday: 66 new patients, according to the authorities, which brings to a total more than 1000 patients detected.

Above all, the crisis leads to friction with the neighbors. Kenya, which has taken strong containment measures since mid-March, closed its borders with Somalia and Tanzania this weekend. Last week, a quarter of new cases registered in Kenya came from precisely these two countries. Two neighbors whose management of the crisis worries in Nairobi, analyzes our correspondent Charlotte Simonart .

► East Africa: difficult regional coordination in the fight against the coronavirus

This Kenyan decision in any case, did not please John Magufuli, the Tanzanian president, who since the beginning of the crisis, decided to let the economy run. Being able to retaliate, he prohibited any truck from Kenya from entering the country. The Kenyan ambassador to Dar es Salaam recalled that the restrictions were not intended to discriminate against Tanzanians. “  We want to contain the epidemic. We have a common enemy. If we fight against each other, this enemy will kill everyone  , ”said Dan Kazungu.

► Tension mounts between Kenya and Tanzania against a background of coronaviruses

• Tamatave, home of the disease in Madagascar, without means to fight against the coronavirus

The Big Island has 371 cases of coronavirus, including two deaths in Tamatave. While for the past week, the majority of new Covid-19 cases have been concentrated in this city, district deputy Roland Ratsiraka, mayor of this locality and former minister, is sounding the alarm about the management of the epidemic in the country's largest port, reports Laetitia Bezain . Tamatave lacks equipment, cars, masks, gowns, the CHU scanner is out of service.

► Madagascar: Tamatave has become the home of the Covid-19 epidemic

• On RFI, Antonio Guterres calls on African states to support the agricultural sector

Invited to our antenna this Wednesday, the Secretary General of the UN insists that each state takes measures to support its agricultural sector and ensure the movement of food, while a major humanitarian crisis threatens in particular the Sahel. On the question of the vaccine, he says that it should be produced at a reasonable price and be accessible to all. He also believes that the moratorium on the debts of the poorest countries "  is not enough  ", and that targeted relief is needed to deal with "  situations that will have no solution  ".

► Antonio Guterres on RFI: a vaccine against Covid-19 must be "a global public good"

• World Bank boss calls on private creditors to join debt moratorium

Also invited to RFI this Wednesday, the President of the World Bank, David Malpass, explained how the institution intends to help poor countries, and in particular certain African countries, to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic consequences. For example, it is asking private creditors to join the debt moratorium adopted by the G20 last April.

► David Malpass (World Bank) on RFI: "We are looking to widen the debt moratorium"

• The blues of Burkinabé transporters

The measures to get out of confinement and the resumption of public transport activities do not allow taxis and carriers to smile. Indeed, the crowds are low and the frequencies of the buses have been reduced to limit losses, explains Yaya Boudani in Africa Economy, while each bus sees its number of passengers limited.

► Burkina Faso: the blues of carriers affected by the coronavirus

Our selection on the coronavirus

• Listen to our Coronavirus Info column 

• Our  explanations  :
→  What we know about the mode of contagion
→  Disparities and inequalities in the face of the coronavirus: what must be remembered
→  Triple therapy, Discovery… update on research
→  The race for the vaccine is in full swing
→  How to make a mask and use it well

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

• After Covid-19, towards a new world?

• 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: the state of the world facing the pandemic
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On the same subject

Tension mounts between Kenya and Tanzania against a background of coronaviruses

Coronavirus in Cameroon: President Biya calls for national unity

East Africa: difficult regional coordination in the fight against the coronavirus