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Sunday, March 22, 2020

ANALYSIS: Rwanda imposes shutdown as infections jump across Africa

Issued on: 22/03/2020 - 09:52Modified: 22/03/2020 - 13:51 GMT/ZULU

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Kigali

by Susan Peterson and Biodun Iginla, France24 News Analysts

Rwanda imposed a nationwide shutdown and border controls to combat the coronavirus at the weekend in some of the strictest measures taken in Africa, as infections spread across the continent and authorities warn healthcare systems are ill-equipped to cope.

Governments from the Indian Ocean nation of Mauritius to Burkina Faso on the fringes of the Sahara have banned public gatherings, shuttered schools, churches, mosques and bars and closed their airports.

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Africa has lagged behind the global curve for coronavirus infections and deaths, but in the past few days has seen a significant rise in cases.

The continent has now reported more than 1,100 infections -- more than 1,000 of them in sub-Saharan Africa -- as the World Health Organization expresses concern that poor sanitation, urban crowding and the lack of intensive-care units, equipment and trained staff could hamper any response.

The Democratic Republic of Congo reported its first death on Saturday, taking the sub-saharan African toll to six after Burkina Faso, Gabon and Mauritius previously reported fatalities.

But World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that official figures being given likely did not reflect the full picture.

The figures for Africa are just a fraction of the more than 300,000 confirmed infections worldwide and the more than 13,000 dead.

Rwanda is closing its borders completely, except for goods and cargo and returning citizens, authorities said, after reporting 17 confirmed cases, the highest number in the East Africa region.

Anyone arriving in Rwanda will be subject to a 14-day quarantine at designated locations.

International visitors for tourism and trade shows are a major source of revenue for Rwanda and the capital Kigali in particular, which markets itself as an attractive location for global conferences.

- 'No tolerance' -

It follows Mauritius -- some 1,800 kilometres (1,100 miles) off the eastern coast of Africa -- which went into lockdown on Friday after reporting its first death and 14 confirmed cases.

Africa's most populated country Nigeria announced a tightening of restrictions on its 200 million people, with churches, mosques, social gatherings, football viewing centres and night clubs only permitted to host up to up to 50 people.

In West Africa, the outbreak has resurrected memories of the 2014 Ebola outbreak that left more than 11,000 dead mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Despite fears over the virus, Guineans were set to go to the polls Sunday to vote in a divisive referendum on whether to adopt a new constitution that has sparked months of protests.

In neighbouring Senegal, which has almost 60 confirmed infections, the government said Saturday it would show "no tolerance" for those found breaking restrictions -- including a ban on public prayers in mosques put in place to combat the pandemic.

On Friday, Zimbabwe announced its first COVID-19 case at Victoria Falls, a resort town. That was followed on Saturday by news of the first case in the capital Harare.

In South Africa -- the continent's largest economy -- Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said last week that infections "ultimately can affect up to 60 percent of the population."

A 2016 analysis by the Rand Corporation, a US think-tank, found that of the 25 countries in the world that were most vulnerable to infectious outbreaks, 22 were in Africa -- the others were Afghanistan, Yemen and Haiti.

The report identified a "disease hotspot belt" extending across the southern rim of the Sahara through the Sahel to the Horn of Africa, where many countries are struggling with conflicts

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.