Category Archives: Africa

Coronavirus live news: global deaths pass 95,000 as Easter begins under lockdown

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Boris Johnson leaves intensive care; cases worldwide top 1.6m; UN chief says virus threatens global security

Oman’s capital, Muscat, went under full lockdown this morning as number of confirmed coronavirus cases reach 484 in the sultanate with 27 recorded in last 24 hours, writes Akhtar Mohammad Makoii.

The government announced that the isolation procedure will be implemented until April 22. The plan started 10 am this morning by “activating control and checkpoints”.

The Decision to Lockdown Muscat Governorate
comes into effect.#عمان_تواجه_كورونا pic.twitter.com/F6evI3u2Zv

Singapore has suspended the use of video-conferencing tool Zoom by teachers, its education ministry said on Friday, after “very serious incidents” occurred in the first week of a coronavirus lockdown that has seen schools move to home-based learning, Reuters reports.

One of the incidents involved obscene images appearing on screens and strange men making lewd comments during the streaming of a geography lesson with teenage girls, according to local media reports.

These are very serious incidents. MOE (Ministry of Education) is currently investigating both breaches and will lodge a police report if warranted. As a precautionary measure, our teachers will suspend their use of Zoom until these security issues are ironed out.

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Coronavirus live news: confirmed worldwide Covid-19 death toll passes 100,000

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Italy extends lockdown; death rate in Spain begins falling again; cases worldwide top 1.6m

Here’s a summary of the most recent news:

The US has approved 661,000 loans to small businesses totalling $168bn (£134bn) under a programme to address the pandemic’s fallout, the White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow says.

A $2.3tn economic stimulus enacted last month allocated $349bn to loans to small businesses hurt by the crisis that can be turned into grants if they meet certain conditions.

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Tanzania to ease education ban on pregnant girls – but not in classrooms

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Official announcement greeted with cautious optimism but World Bank comes under fire over $500m education loan

Tanzania has pledged to improve access to education for pregnant girls after receiving a controversial $500m (£402m) World Bank loan, but has stopped short of readmitting them to mainstream classrooms.

The World Bank has been accused of undermining human rights and has faced criticism from local and international civil society groups over the Tanzania secondary education quality improvement programme loan. Campaigners say approval should not have been given without first securing a commitment from the government to reverse its discrimination towards pregnant girls and end compulsory pregnancy tests.

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Ugandan president records home workout encouraging citizens to exercise indoors – video

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Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, has released a video of his home workout routine in a bid to encourage Ugandans to stay indoors during the country's coronavirus lockdown. The 75-year-old is shown jogging barefoot around his office before completing 30 press-ups. Museveni banned public exercise on Wednesday to limit the spread of the virus

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Vigilantes kill eight people in Malawi amid fear of ‘bloodsuckers’

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President condemns mob justice and says fears of a cult are baseless rumours designed to sow fear and panic

Vigilante groups have killed at least eight people in northern Malawi claiming to be protecting communities from “bloodsuckers”, a local official has said.

The latest victims were from Mozambique and were attacked on Monday while travelling to Tanzania through Malawi’s northern region.

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Coronavirus live news: confirmed global cases pass 1.5m as Boris Johnson leaves intensive care

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Italy’s curve flattening but deaths rise by 610; UK’s PM improves in hospital; virus could push 500m people into poverty

The UK’s housing secretary Robert Jenrick has responded on Twitter to The Guardian’s story about him visiting his parents.

For clarity - my parents asked me to deliver some essentials - including medicines.

They are both self-isolating due to age and my father's medical condition and I respected social distancing rules.https://t.co/XlRujT8S5Y

Egypt reported 139 new cases of coronavirus, bringing its total since the start of the outbreak to 1,699, according to a health ministry statement.

The Arab world’s most populous country also recorded 15 new deaths, raising the total number to 118.

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Coronavirus live news: global trade forecast to fall by up to a third as US sees highest one-day death toll

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Scientists predict UK will be worst-hit country in Europe; Trump threatens to stop WHO funding; Global cases pass 1.4 million

Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:

Kenya has reported seven new confirmed cases of coronavirus.

The country’s ministry of health has provided all the information about the latest developments on Twitter.

In the last 24 hours, we have tested a total of 305 samples, out of which seven people have tested positive for the Coronavirus disease. All the seven are Kenyans.#KomeshaCorona pic.twitter.com/nUQJY8nOND

Four of confirmed cases have a history of travel; (1) from Congo, (1) UK and (2) USA.

Five are from Nairobi county, one Mombasa and one Uasin Gishu.#KomeshaCorona

✅With regard to contacts tracing, a total of 2,004 persons have been monitored. Out of these, 1,426 have been discharged and 578 are currently on follow up. To date, we have managed to test 5,278 samples from individuals. #KomeshaCorona pic.twitter.com/eoRg1wHdeP

✅In terms of severity breakdown of the 179 cases, 1 case is under critical care, while the rest- 178- are moderate & mild cases. A patient who was in critical care is moving to the ward today. 2 additional cases have been discharged in the last 24 hours. #KomeshaCorona pic.twitter.com/cLEtYIgCa7

✅Of the 7 people have tested positive for the #COVID-19. All the 7 are Kenyans. 4 of them have a history of travel; 1 from Congo, UK 1 & USA 2. In terms of distribution per their counties of residence, Nairobi has 5, Mombasa 1 & Uasin Gishu 1.#KomeshaCorona pic.twitter.com/FnLrZn3c8Q

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Coronavirus in Africa: what happens next?

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As Covid-19 creeps across the region, fears mount over how it will unfold. Will a young population help stem the spread of disease, or will it unleash catastrophe on creaking health systems?

Just seven weeks after Africa recorded its first case of Covid-19 – an Italian national in Algeria – the virus is creeping across the continent, infecting more than 10,000 people and causing 487 deaths. Three of the region’s 54 countries – São Tome and Principe, Comoros, and Lesotho – remain apparently virus-free.

“Case numbers are increasing exponentially in the African region,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Africa. “It took 16 days from the first confirmed case in the region to reach 100 cases. It took a further 10 days to reach the first thousand. Three days after this, there were 2,000 cases, and two days later we were at 3,000.”

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Rapper Naira Marley: ‘It’s better to have a big bum than qualifications in Nigeria’

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He’s been attacked by pastors and jailed by the authorities. But the outspoken rapper will not be silenced. He talks about his cult-like following – and the weird rules ‘Marlians’ live by

Depending on who you talk to, Naira Marley is either the scourge of the next generation of Nigerians or their saviour. But whoever’s talking, the pop star – arguably the most controversial in Africa – is spoken about in near-mythological tones, which makes his amiability very arresting when we meet in London a few weeks before lockdown.

He arrives flanked by an entourage, photoshoot-ready in a reflective puffer, and oscillates between class clown and deep thought. To some, the 25-year-old’s meteoric rise over the past two years has been sudden: selling out Brixton Academy in three minutes; accruing three million Instagram followers, tens of millions of streams, and a cult-like fandom. But the signs of stardom have always been there.

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‘There is no magic bullet’: the town that turned the tide against HIV

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Lessons learned in Eshowe, South Africa, one of the areas worst hit by the HIV pandemic, are being used against coronavirus

In the visitors’ books of Eshowe’s many guesthouses and hotels, tourists inspired by verdant sugar cane fields and blossoming trees write about “a corner of Eden”.

Locals and specialists know the small town set high among the rolling hills that run along South Africa’s eastern coast for another reason.

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Global leaders urge G20 to tackle twin health and economic crises

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Letter calls for $8bn emergency fund to bolster health systems in world’s poorer countries

A group of 165 global leaders has called for immediate and coordinated international action to tackle the twin health and economic emergencies caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Past and present politicians – including three former UK prime ministers – joined academics and civil society representatives to warn the G20 that the virus will return unless urgent action is taken to bolster health systems in poor countries of Africa and Latin America.

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Whether in the UK or the developing world, we’re not all in coronavirus together

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In the slums of Delhi or Lagos, social distancing is a dream while social exclusion is all too real and pernicious

‘The virus does not discriminate,” suggested Michael Gove after both Boris Johnson and the health secretary, Matt Hancock, were struck down by Covid-19. But societies do. And in so doing, they ensure that the devastation wreaked by the virus is not equally shared.

We can see this in the way that the low paid both disproportionately have to continue to work and are more likely to be laid off; in the sacking of an Amazon worker for leading a protest against unsafe conditions; in the rich having access to coronavirus tests denied to even most NHS workers.

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The Observer view on coronavirus, a tragedy for poorer nations

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If Europe, the US and China are struggling to contain it, what chance for millions of people in less developed countries?

It is a terrible thing to see a disaster in the making and be unable to prevent it. Yet this is the prospect confronting us if we dare to look beyond the walls and parapets of a Britain besieged by the coronavirus invader. Tens of millions of people in poorer, less developed countries across the world face a looming catastrophe that appears as unstoppable as it is potentially lethal.

The moment has not quite arrived. But an axe is poised to fall on untold numbers of largely defenceless heads, a massacre almost too appalling to contemplate. As the relatively wealthy countries of the northern hemisphere engage in a noisy struggle to repulse Covid-19, alarm bells are ringing from south Asia to the Middle East and Africa. Mostly they have not yet been heard.

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‘Show me your ID’: Tunisia deploys ‘robocop’ to enforce coronavirus lockdown

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A police robot is patrolling the streets of the capital calling out suspected violators of the lockdown

Tunisia’s interior ministry has sent a police robot to patrol the streets of the capital and enforce a lockdown imposed last month as the country battles the spread of coronavirus.

Known as PGuard, the “robocop” is remotely operated and equipped with infrared and thermal imaging cameras, in addition to a sound and light alarm system.

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‘We will starve’: Zimbabwe’s poor full of misgiving over Covid-19 lockdown

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Unable to access state benefits, food and even running water as the country shuts up shop, people in Harare fear the worst

Nelson Mahunde, 70, trudges along the deserted streets of Harare’s central business district to collect his monthly pension.

In one hand, he clutches a pension letter; with the other, he hold on firmly to his walking stick.

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‘If it comes, it will overwhelm us’: Malawi braces for coronavirus

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Concern is growing that a woefully inadequate health system will leave Malawi unable to cope when Covid-19 arrives

When the overcrowded, long-distance bus from Johannesburg arrived at the Malawian border post of Mwanza last week, one passenger was dead. Fearing he had picked up Covid-19 in South Africa and infected all his fellow travellers, the guards sent everyone to a hastily built quarantine centre for 14 days.

The man had died of other causes but Malawi, which is well used to devastating diseases like HIV and Aids, cholera and malaria, is taking no chances. Along with São Tomé, Comoros, South Sudan, Burundi, and Sierra Leone in Africa, it is one of the last countries in the world not to have confirmed a single Covid-19 case yet.

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‘Zero accountability’: US accused of failure to report civilian deaths in Africa

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US military vows to be more open about activities after allegations that teenager and farmer were killed in Somalia airstrikes

Faced with new allegations of killing civilians with drone strikes in Somalia, the US military has announced plans to make its operations across Africa more transparent.

Amnesty International accused the US military on Wednesday of providing “zero accountability” for civilian victims of airstrikes by its Africa command, Africom.

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Confirmed cases pass 1 million – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

We are about to wrap up our coverage on this blog for the day, but you can follow all developments on our new global live blog here. In the interim, you can catch up on all the day’s latest news here, on our latest At a Glance:

Related: Coronavirus latest: at a glance

Just dipping back into the Trump press conference at the White House, and the president has blame states for lack of supplies.

“By the way, the states should have been building their stockpiles,” Trump said, reiterating that the federal government is “a backup.”

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Protests, postponements and the last stand of an African strongman

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Once hailed as a champion of democracy, Alpha Condé is threatening to outstay his welcome as Guinea’s president

Even before the pandemic there were postponements. Before that, there were protests. From a large armchair positioned beneath his own portrait, the 82-year-old president of Guinea is not answering the key question preoccupying his country whether or not he wants to remain in situ until he is 94.

In the Sekhoutoureah presidential palace in Conakry, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and trousers, Alpha Condé is flanked on one side by a large photograph of himself alongside Barack Obama in the White House. On the other, framed photographs on a table show him shaking hands with the Turkish leader, Recep Erdoğan, and with China’s Xi Jinping. There’s also a golden bust of Chairman Mao and a hefty book about the Beninese politician Robert Dossou.

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Fears for civilians in Chad after army suffers devastating Boko Haram attack

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Local communities flee as boundaries with Lake Chad become a war zone following ambush in which almost 100 soldiers died

The Chadian army that lost nearly 100 soldiers to a Boko Haram ambush a week ago has declared the Lake Chad borderlands a war zone, heightening fears that civilians will suffer an escalation in violence.

President Idriss Déby travelled to the region to announce the Wrath of Boma operation, named after the island where Boko Haram launched a seven-hour assault that Déby said was the worst the country’s military had ever suffered.

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