Coronavirus: Africa faces the pandemic on Sunday, June 21

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Africa counted this Sunday, June 21, 298,370 confirmed cases of coronavirus. The Covid-19 has already claimed the lives of 7,944 people on the continent, according to the African Center for Disease Prevention and Control. The countries most affected by the pandemic are South Africa (92,681 cases), Egypt (53,758), Nigeria (19,808), Ghana (13,717), Algeria (11,631), Cameroon (11,610) and Morocco (9,957).

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• Extended health emergency for 15 days in the Democratic Republic of Congo

The Congolese Parliament voted on Saturday June 20 for the fifth time this measure taken to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. It is, "  I think, for the last time  " advanced the deputy Henri Thomas Lokondo to AFP. President Tshisekedi declared a state of emergency on March 24.

In addition, the government asked mining companies in the provinces of Lualaba and Haut-Katanga to deconfine their employees, some of whom are forced to remain on site without being able to return home. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) denounced this situation in a letter . Certain mining sites have already acceded to this request. The DRC has 5,826 confirmed cases of Covid-19 including 130 deaths and 841 cures.

• Morocco announces a new phase of deconfinement despite localized outbreaks

Cafes, restaurants and gyms can reopen Thursday, June 25. Domestic tourism will also be able to restart: hotels, shopping malls and even hammams will be able to accommodate customers but will remain limited to 50% of their total capacity. Travel between cities will be able to resume, road, rail and air transport (only for domestic flights) being authorized again from next Thursday.

As summer is now installed, the beaches will once again be accessible to the public, with however the “  obligation to respect physical distance  ”. All shops can now remain open after 8pm.

According to the Moroccan authorities, this new phase of the "  containment relief plan  " takes into account "  the evolution of the epidemiological situation  " and the "  demands for a gradual return to normal life  ". Morocco, a country of 35 million inhabitants, appears relatively unscathed by the pandemic with 9,957 contaminations in total, including 213 deaths and 8,249 cures officially listed.

However, this relaxation does not concern half a dozen cities, which remain subject to restrictions. Some rural communities in the west of the country have also been quarantined since the outbreak on Friday of epidemiological outbreaks in red fruit packaging plants, northeast of the city of Kenitra. The kingdom erected a field hospital there, Sunday, June 21, to accommodate the 700 or so people tested positive for Covid-19.

• Nearly 5,000 new cases in 24 hours in South Africa

The continent's most affected country, which massively tests its population, now has more than 92,500 cases of Covid-19, more than half of which is in the Western Cape province alone, and in particular its capital, Cape Town. 20% of cases are recorded in the province of Gauteng, where Johannesburg and Pretoria, the administrative capital, are located. Despite daily increases in the number of cases, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced new measures to relax anti-coronavirus rules during the week. Casinos, beauty salons and indoor restaurants are among the last businesses authorized to reopen.

Also authorized for several weeks (except Friday to Sunday): the sale of alcohol, when it had been prohibited at the start of the establishment of one of the strictest confinements on the continent. This strategy worked: accidents and crime fell, relieving the hospitals that had to prepare for the influx of coronavirus patients. But it had catastrophic consequences for the country's wine industry, one of the largest in the world, which employs 300,000 people.

"  Because of the ban on alcohol sales, around 18,000 jobs have been lost,  " said Maryna Calow, spokesperson for the organization Wines of South Africa, which promotes local wines. In addition to banning the sale of alcohol for nine weeks, the South African authorities also banned exports of wine for six weeks, a blow to the industry. In countries like Canada, Sweden, Finland, the South African vintages, which sold very little because of the suspension of exports, disappeared very quickly from the shelves, explains a sector professional at Agence France Presse. (AFP). Small positive note, since the authorization of sale in the country, the South Africans have rushed on the local wine.

• Southern Africa is now the most affected area on the continent

This is the finding of the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), attached to the African Union. The public health agency indicates that Southern Africa has surpassed North Africa in the number of cases positive for Covid-19, West Africa being the third region most affected. Taking into account the population, Djibouti, Saint Tome and Principe, Gabon, Cape Verde and Equatorial Guinea report the most cumulative cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to the CDC Africa. In total, some 132,412 people infected with the disease have recovered across the continent.

• In Madagascar, arrests in the “8 billion Ariary candy” affair

Seven people were placed on Friday, June 19, under warrant of deposit by the Anti-Corruption Pole. This is the so-called "8 billion Ariary candy" affair. This sum, equivalent to two million euros, is the source of a big controversy on the island which led to the dismissal of the Minister of National Education two weeks ago.

This ministry and companies have concluded over-the-counter contracts to buy two million euros of candy to distribute to students, as an accompaniment to Covid-organics, the famous remedy of the President of the Republic, supposed to prevent and cure Covid- 19. According to the investigation of the Independent Anti-Corruption Office, these expenses were indeed incurred by the ministry, and part of the goods was delivered. Those arrested, senior officials in the ministry as well as representatives of the companies which benefited from these contracts, are suspected of "  abuse of office, favoritism, passive and active corruption, forgery and use of forgeries  " . La Grande Île has 1,596 confirmed cases including 14 deaths and 655 recoveries.

• Public health workers in Nigeria end strike

Doctors in public hospitals in the continent's most populous country launched their movement on June 15 to demand better working conditions, including protective equipment against the coronavirus. The National Association of Resident Physicians, which represents approximately 40% of the country's physicians, had exempted those caring for patients with Covid-19 from it. She announced in a press release lifting her watchword as of Monday, June 22, explaining that she had taken this decision following the intervention of personalities and state governors of the country to give the government "  time to satisfy the claims presented  ”.

The union points to shortcomings in the state, in particular the “totally inadequate” provision of protective equipment and the requirement for a risk premium for those who fight the disease. Other more general demands concern the improvement of working conditions and denounce the dismissals and reductions in doctors' wages. Strikes are common in the neglected and underfunded health sector in Nigeria for decades. The country has 19,808 confirmed cases including 506 deaths and 6,718 recoveries.

• Covid Times Music Festival in Senegal

All over the world, organizers and artists must adapt to the health situation and the ban on assembly. In Senegal, the Institut Français de Dakar is offering, for the first time, a music festival without audience. The event is exclusively online. The country has 5,888 confirmed cases including 84 deaths and 3,919 recoveries.

Sym Sam live from the French Institute for Music Day. # Symsam #alibeta #rhapsod #kalsoum #samiraslam #fetedelamusique # institutfrançaisdakar #senegal #Dakar pic.twitter.com/9nuvXVJwJw

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