Patrick Achi, secretary general to the presidency of the Ivory Coast, was appointed Monday interim prime minister while the country’s premier, Hamed Bakayoko, is in Europe receiving medical treatment, the president’s office said. “State minister Patrick Achi will take over the functions of prime minister and head of government in an interim capacity,” the presidency said in a statement. Tene Birahima Ouattara, presidential affairs minister and the younger brother of President Alassane Ouattara, was appointed interim defence minister, also replacing Bakayoko in that position. Bakayoko, 56, travelled to France on February 18 for health reasons and has just been transferred to a hospital in Germany, a source close to the presidency told AFP, without specifying exactly when. The nature of Baka...
iStock Zvishavane District Hospital in Zimbabwe’s Midlands Province has suspended admissions and other health care services after 25 workers tested positive for COVID-19. Midlands Provincial Affairs Minister Larry Mavima, also the provincial COVID-19 taskforce chairperson, said this in a statement on Tuesday in Harare. The health workers that tested positive were mostly nurses and three officials from the district registrar’s office. The latest infections put to the fore concerns by health workers at the front that they remain at high risk from contracting the virus. Three other healthcare workers at Claybank Private Hospital in Gweru, also in the Midlands Province, have also tested positive to the virus. This had added to the increasing number of infected healthcare workers after at least...