Coronavirus: Africa facing the pandemic on Monday, August 24

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9 min

Africa counted this Monday, August 24, more than a million confirmed cases of coronavirus, for 27,783 deaths. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) regional office for Africa, the countries most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic are South Africa, with 609,773 cases including 13,059 deaths, the Egypt, with 97,340 cases including 5,262 deaths, Morocco, with 52,349 cases including 888 deaths, Nigeria, with 52,227 cases including 1,002 deaths or Ghana, with 43,094 including 256 deaths.

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• South Africa will take five years to recover from Covid-19

The South African economy is expected to take five years to recover from the recession announced in 2020 following the coronavirus pandemic. The United Nations organization behind the announcement also predicts a sharp rise in poverty and inequality.

The gross domestic product of the most industrialized country on the African continent is expected to decline by more than 7% this year, according to forecasts by its Central Bank.

The strict containment of the country put in place by President Cyril Ramaphosa to try to stop the spread of Covid-19 has plunged the activity of the already slowed down country into uncertainty.

The country has been stuck for more than ten years in a crisis characterized by sluggish growth, deteriorating public finances and an unemployment rate reaching 30%.

Although most of the restrictions have since been lifted, businesses and the public are still feeling the effects.

► Read also: South Africa: consumption at half mast because of the Covid-19 pandemic

According to the UNDP, the health crisis is expected to boost extreme poverty in the country by 66% and drop a third (34%) of middle-class households into the category of “vulnerable” households.

President Ramaphosa, who has already launched an unprecedented 24 billion euro support plan for businesses and the poorest, on Monday promised another to promote a "  new economy that creates jobs and promotes inclusive growth "

South Africa is the country in sub-Saharan Africa most affected by Covid-19, with more than 600,000 infections and 13,000 deaths recorded to date.

• Corruption around protective equipment: the head of the WHO speaks of "murder"

The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) described as "murder" the cases of corruption surrounding the protective equipment (PPE) that are used in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in South Africa. South.

“  Any level of corruption is unacceptable and any type of corruption is unacceptable. However, corruption related to PPE is, for me, in fact murder,  ”said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, after being questioned by a journalist about corruption cases in South Africa.

“  If healthcare workers work without PPE, their lives are in danger. And it also endangers the lives of those they care for. So it's criminal, and it's murder. And it must stop,  ”he added.

While South Africa has one of the best health systems on the continent, accusations of corruption in the provision of protective equipment for caregivers have recently increased.

Last month, irregularities surrounding a contract awarded to the husband of the president's spokesperson, Kuusela Diko, forced the latter to take leave for the duration of the investigation. Other figures from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) have since been splashed in other cases, including its secretary general Ace Magashule. All have proclaimed their innocence. Summoned to react, the Head of State promised to track down “  the hyenas that roam around injured prey  ”.

For his part, the gendarme of public ethics in South Africa said in early August to investigate several complaints about failures in the state's management of the Covid-19 pandemic, in particular in the awarding of contracts for equipment or quarantine centers.

• A new containment in Rwanda and Uganda?

Faced with a peak in Covid, Rwanda and Uganda, two East African countries which had imposed strict containment to fight Covid-19, do not rule out re-containment.

As economic activity picks up, both countries are seeing a marked increase in positive cases for the virus.

Rwanda recorded its highest daily number of infections on Sunday with 200 positive cases, after conducting testing campaigns in markets, where 164 new cases were identified. "  A large number of new (sick) Covid-19 in the country are infected in public spaces and markets and shops,  " the Ministry of Health said in a statement released Sunday evening.

In total, almost 30% of the total cases recorded so far have been in the last ten days, or 889 out of 3,089.

Rwanda imposed on March 22 a total containment of the population, with the closure of borders, schools, public transport and businesses, one of the hardest in Africa. The authorities, who blame the non-compliance with protective measures , have indicated that they do not rule out , in the absence of a drop in the spread, a new total containment, a possibility that worries residents.

For its part, Uganda experienced a record number of cases on Saturday, with 318 positive tests for the new coronavirus. Among them, 153 cases were detected in a prison in Amuru district, a badly affected region in the north of the country.

"  Unless people change their behavior and observe the anti-Covid-19 measures, we could experience another lockdown, and soon,  " Betty Olive Kamya, member of the National Covid-Committee, told AFP on Monday. 19.

It also notes that the protective measures are not respected, in particular in transport, from where come “  approximately 90% of infections  ”. "  The president will make announcements on the establishment or not of a new lockdown by the end of the week,  " Kamya added.

President Yoweri Museveni had announced national lockdown on March 30, while the country had 33 cases of Covid-19 but no deaths. The measure was lifted four months later. The country has so far recorded 2,362 cases and 22 deaths.

► To read also: Coronavirus: concern is spreading to Uganda, so far preserved from the epidemic

• Algerian universities partially reopen

Algeria partially reopens from Sunday its universities, closed for five months because of the coronavirus pandemic, in order to supervise the preparation of theses and to resume the defense of doctoral theses.

The defenses must begin this week and will continue until the end of September, but they must take place with strong constraints. Indeed, only the doctoral student, his supervisor and the jury will be present. Contrary to what is usually done, relatives will not be able to attend.

Distance courses also resumed on Sunday, after two months of summer vacation. On the other hand, the return of the nearly 2 million students in the corridors of the universities is not planned until September 1, in particular to take the exams of the second semester.

The rules of prevention must be respected, in particular the compulsory wearing of a mask. However, each university will be able to decide on the measures to be taken depending in particular on the epidemiological situation in their region.Partial home confinement has been extended until August 31 in 29 of the country's 48 prefectures, with a curfew from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. local.

More than 41,000 cases of Covid-19 have been identified on Algerian soil since February 25, including more than 1,400 deaths, according to the latest report from the Ministry of Health. Algeria is the third most bereaved country in Africa, behind Egypt and South Africa.

• Tunisia: curfew in a city in the east after a jump in contamination

Tunisian authorities on Friday reinstated a curfew in El Hamma, a city in eastern Tunisia facing an outbreak of cases of the new coronavirus, and suspended all rail links serving the region.

A curfew has been established from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. for a week in this city of 100,000 inhabitants, said the mayor of the city, Nacef Ennajeh. According to him, El Hamma recorded a total of 441 cases of Covid-19 including 50 new cases on Thursday, mainly asymptomatic young people, and 5 deaths since the start of the pandemic in March.

Mr. Ennajeh had launched Thursday a "cry of distress" in the face of the disorganization of health services, deploring that the patients are "  not admitted for lack of administrative service  ", deserted after a wave of contaminations.

The city hospital lacks a director and is poorly equipped. A field hospital was set up by the army at the end of last week. Friday prayers, weddings and other festivities were again banned there in mid-August. Cafes and restaurants can only do take-out to limit gatherings.

Almost all restrictions were lifted in Tunisia at the start of the summer, but faced with the multiplication of cases since the border opened on June 27, Tunisian authorities announced on Wednesday that all travelers should now take a PCR test. negative to enter the country.

► To read also: Coronavirus: in Tunisia the population in fear of a resumption of contaminations

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
→  Triple therapy, Discovery… update on research
→  Remdesivir, antibodies and immunity
→  The vaccine race is in full swing
→  How to make a mask and use it well

• Our series  :
→ "  The response, country by country  "
→ "  Words of nurses  "

• After Covid-19, towards a new world?

• See also the records of RFI Knowledge on Covid-19
→  Birth of a pandemic
→  Daily proof
→  The history of epidemics
→  Science facing Covid-19
→  The geopolitical consequences

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