COVID-19 Africa Roundup Week Ending 19 April 2020

Image: Anadolu Agency

Share this

Another week and COVID-19 is not slowing down. Here is a roundup of last week’s COVID-19 news.

Interested in the economics of COVID-19 as it pertains to African nations, UNECA released a report titled, COVID-19 in Africa: Protecting Lives and Economies. 

Confirmed cases on the continent are up by 7,235 and as of 19 April we have registered 20,805 cases of COVID-19. Lesotho and the Comoros still have no confirmed cases.

Here is a regional outlook on confirmed cases and deaths.

North Africa added another 3,147 confirmed cases in the last week but what is worrying is the 288 deaths that have occurred in a week. Morocco has extended its lockdown till May 20 which means Ramadan celebrations will look a little different this year. In other preventive measures, the government of Morocco has commissioned its Digital Development Agency to develop an app for tracking COVID-19 patients and alerting vulnerable persons to get tested. A similar app was deployed in China and was very useful in flattening the curve.

On April 17, Libya joined the list of African countries using lockdown as a measure to curb transmission of COVID-19. The 10-day lockdown will allow citizens to go out between 9am and 2pm every day and only allow essential services to operate.

In the Southern part of the continent, Angola (19/2) and Namibia (16/0) have maintained the same number of infections/deaths all week. The same cannot be said unfortunately for South Africa which still maintains the highest rate of infections and death in the region at 3,034 infections and 52 deaths. Lockdowns are in place in South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, eSwataini and Namibia are on a partial lockdown.

In the West, approx. 1,000 new cases were recorded in the last week bringing the total number of cases to 4,523 at the weekend. The Chiefs of Staff to the Presidents of Nigeria and Guinea succumbed to the virus on 17 and 18 April respectively. Burkina Faso maintains the highest number of deaths at 32 and Ghana the highest number of infections at 834.

At 1,727 confirmed cases, Central Africa is the region with the least number of infections. 17 more deaths have been recorded in the past week reaching a total of 53. This past week Cameroon surpassed the 1,000 mark and harbors 59% of confirmed cases in the region. The country is not on a lockdown, but its borders are closed. There has been zero deaths from COVID-19 recorded in Burundi, Central, Africa, Chad, Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe. Burundi started and ended the week with 5 confirmed cases.

Djibouti has registered 732 cases as of Sunday April 19 making it the highest in East Africa. The country which is under lockdown till 23 April recorded its first and second deaths this week and the Ministry of Health confirmed the country has reached local community transmission stage.
 
Sources- WHO COVID-19 Situation Reports 77-76 / North Africa Post / The Conversation/ ReliefWeb