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Thursday, March 19, 2020

ANALYSIS: Lagos closes schools as virus shadow lengthens over Africa

Issued on: 19/03/2020 - 14:34Modified: 19/03/2020 - 16:32 GMT/ZULU

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Lagos

by Tokun Lawal and Biodun Iginla, France24 News Analysts

Sub-Saharan Africa's biggest city, Lagos, announced on Thursday it would shut schools and limit religious gatherings to help fight the spread of coronavirus.

A day after Burkina Faso announced the first virus fatality south of the Sahara, authorities in Nigeria's sprawling economic hub also declared curbs on gatherings.

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"After consulting with our healthcare professionals over COVID-19, we are closing down schools and limiting religious gathering," Lagos state governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu wrote on Twitter.

"We are limiting gatherings and events to no more than 50 people and appropriate social distancing must be observed."

The state government said schools in the city of some 20 million people would be shut from Monday.

Africa's most populous nation -- home to around 200 million people -- has so far recorded just eight confirmed cases of COVID-19 and is following other countries on the continent in ratcheting up its response to the global pandemic.

The central government on Wednesday announced an entry ban on 13 countries worst-hit by the new coronavirus.

The continent's largest oil producer has also said it will slash spending worth billions of dollars from its budget as a collapse in crude prices hammers its revenues.

- Enforcement problem -

Imposing the new restrictions on the chaotic and overcrowded streets of Lagos will be a major challenge for the authorities.

The city is home to an array of so-called "megachurches" where thousands of worshippers typically gather each weekend for services.

Meanwhile, the Sahel state of Burkina Faso, which on Wednesday reported the first death from coronavirus in sub-Saharan Africa, said the number of detected cases had risen to 35.

The national coordinator for the fight against the disease, Martial Ouedraogo, said Thursday most of the infections had been reported in the capital Ouagadougou.

Others were in Hounde 250 kilometres (155 miles) away and in Bobo Dioulasso, the country's second largest city.

"The spread is in peaks and troughs," Ouedraogo told reporters.

On Wednesday, Ouedraogo said the tally of cases stood at 27, including a fatality -- a 62-year-old female legislator who had been suffering from diabetes.

Coronavirus has been slow to spread -- or be detected -- in sub-Saharan Africa, which experts fear is deeply vulnerable to the disease.

Africa has 675 known cases of the virus, according to a tally compiled by AFP.

Health specialists say the continent is a potential breeding ground for the virus, given poor sanitation, poverty, urban over-crowding and creaking medical systems.

- Mercy flights -

In West Africa, Senegal on Thursday authorised six exceptional flights by Air France and Air Senegal to pick up stranded travellers in Dakar and fly them to Paris, the French embassy said.

Senegal, a former French colony, has close ties with France in education, tourism and business.

On Monday, it announced it would suspend flights with France, Italy and five other European and North African countries as of midnight Wednesday to help prevent the spread of the virus.

Senegalese President Macky Sall, meanwhile, has called on his ministers to make a voluntary contribution of one million CFA francs ($1,700, 1,500 euros) each to a national solidarity fund, a spokesman told us at Fance24.

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

BREAKING: Last tourists race home from virus-hit Italy

Issued on: 11/03/2020 - 03:54Modified: 11/03/2020 - 06:52 GMT/ZULU

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Florence (Italy)

by Elodie Bagnol and Biodun Iginla, France24

The only tourists outside Florence's majestic cathedral were a suitcase-laden couple rushing to leave Italy, where a nationwide virus shutdown is devastating an already fragile tourism industry.

"Everything's closed, we're going home," said German Alex Gross, 32, as his girlfriend nervously checked for updates on her phone. "That is, unless our flight gets cancelled."

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Many holidaymakers had already made their escape when Italy started succumbing last month to COVID-19, which has killed 631 people there so far and infected over 10,000, mainly in the country's wealthy north.

It may be blue skies and sunshine from Sicily to the Alps, but the few remaining tourists now have two options: stay holed up in their hotels, relying on mini-bar snacks for dinner, or head home.

"We've had over 90 percent of bookings cancelled, even as far ahead as June," said Nicola, a hotel manager in Florence who did not want to give his last name.

"Though if we've not resolved the virus situation before then, empty rooms will be the least of our problems," he said.

From the Colosseum to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the government has shuttered all museums and monuments, ordered restaurants and bars to close at 6pm, and told people to leave their homes only if strictly necessary until April 3.

- 'Eerily quiet' -

A slew of airlines are suspending flights to Italy -- including Air France, Air Canada, Ryanair, Easyjet and British Airways -- while many countries have imposed travel restrictions.

"I don't know if we can actually get out of Milan. Nobody really seems to know what's going on," said Texan Nick Manage, looking lost as he wandered around the northern city's central train station.

Gone are the crowds at the Vatican's Saint Peter's Square, Rome's Spanish Steps, the Venice waterfront and Pompeii.

Campo de' Fiori in Rome, where market traders shout all day and foreign students party all night, lies silent.

Stefano Ruggiero, 48, who owns a perfume shop near Florence's Ponte Vecchio bridge, said the business had been going since 1911 but "this is the quietest the street has ever been".

"Even after the terrible 1966 flood, when there was mud and devastation everywhere, there were more people".

The carousel with its gold-gilded horses is still, the street musicians have disappeared. "It's eerily quiet," he said.

Italian hoteliers' association Federalberghi says bookings are down at least 80 percent nationwide, with a loss estimated at 2.5 billion euros.

And that's not counting the losses from the rest of the tourism chain, from transport to restaurants and shops.

The sector employs around one million people in the run-up to Easter, who now fear for their jobs.

- Sacrifices -

The government has promised 7.5 billion euros ($8.5 billion) to help mitigate economic fallout from the crisis, with the economy ministry saying that figure may rise to 10 billion euros or more.

Crowded around television screens, Italians watched as Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told them they have to make big sacrifices to stop the virus in its tracks and prevent Italy's health system collapsing under the strain.

Hotel manager Nicola said that sacrifice would likely mean most hotels would be forced to close, "though some of the bigger structures like us may be asked to remain open in case they're needed as makeshift hospitals".

Agostino Ferrara, 52, who has owned the Spada restaurant in the centre of Florence for 28 years, says he has been forced to put a large part of his staff on forced leave after the 140 covers a day dropped to 20.

"I've never seen anything like this," he said softly, as the kitchen staff set about cleaning up the few pots and pans.

I'm optimistic though, because we know people tend to forget horrid things," he added with a small smile.

"My hope is, we'll make it through this, and a few weeks, a few months later, everyone will return to Italy.

"In even greater numbers than before."