Africa
South Sudan ministers test positive for coronavirus
Ten cabinet ministers in South Sudan are now confirmed to have contracted Coronavirus. Information Minister Michael Makuei has said that all former members of the high-level task force on Coronavirus – apart from the health minister – have tested positive for Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus. But he has denied reports that President Salva Kiir – who was also a member of the team – had also tested positive. It comes just days after first Vice-President Riek Machar announced he had tested positive alongside his wife, Defence Minister Angelina Teny. They tested positive after coming into contact with a former member of the team, who has Covid-19. All the ministers infected are now in self-isolation and the government says they are in good health. Dozens of bodyguards and ...
WHO: Africa’s confirmed coronavirus cases top 95,000
Flickr The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday reported that COVID-19 cases in Africa as at May 21, had risen to over 95, 000. WHO Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, gave the update on its official twitter account @WHOAFRO. “There are over 95,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent – with more than 34,000 recoveries and 2,995 deaths,” it said. The figures showed that South Africa, Algeria and Nigeria had the highest reported cases in Africa. According to the report, South Africa had 18,003 cases and 339 deaths followed by Algeria with 7,542 cases and 568 deaths, while Nigeria had 6,677 confirmed cases and 200 deaths. It stated that Ghana had 6,096 reported cases and 31 deaths, while Cameroon recorded 3, 733 confirmed cases and 146 deaths. The report sai...
DR Congo police shoot dead activist during rally
Agence France-Presse An activist was shot and killed by police on Thursday during a rally in a strife-torn region of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a campaign group has said. Police in the city of Beni, in a region plagued by attacks from bandits and militias, told AFP that two officers had been arrested over the incident. Roughly 20 people had gathered in a stadium in Beni for a protest organised by grassroots group Lucha against killings and general insecurity in the area. The Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), a mainly Muslim rebel group, is accused of killing more than 1,000 civilians in the Beni region since October 2014. Residents have protested regularly against the failure of officials and UN forces to protect them. Roughly a dozen people were detained at Thursday’s rally, acco...
PTF: Nigeria unaware of €170,000 cost for Madagascar herbal mixture
Secretary to the Government of the Federation SGF and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 pandemic, Boss Mustapha, has said he was not aware of any cost paid for the Madagascar herbal mixture. Mustapha was responding to a question on reports that Nigeria had been asked to pay €170,000 for the Madagascar herbal mixture delivered to President Muhammadu Buhari on Saturday by the visiting President of Guinea Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embalo. He said he had taken delivery of the solution sent to Nigeria as well as other African countries by Madagascar without request without any invoice. “In terms of the question of whether it comes with a cost. It was handed to me without an invoice so I assume it doesn’t come with a cost. “That’s my assumption. For that, I think the Madagasc...
House of Reps urges speedy production of local coronavirus vaccines in Nigeria
The House of Representatives has stressed the need for speedy production of local vaccines for the treatment of COVID-19 in Nigeria. The House also mandated its standing Committees on Healthcare Services, Health Institutions and Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria to invite the Hon. Minister, Federal Ministry of Health, the Executive Director/CEO, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the Director General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the Executive Director, May and Baker Nigeria PLC to brief the Committees and deliberate on possible ways of getting the needed legislative support to fast track the production of vaccines in Nigeria and report back within four (4) weeks for further legislative action The resolutioms followed the adoption of a motion on notice, moved by Rep. J...
12 found dead in Burkina jail were ‘executed’ – relatives
File Photo Relatives of 12 people held for “suspected acts of terrorism” and found dead in their prison cells earlier this month, accused the Burkina Faso security forces of having executed them. The 12 men, among 25 arrested on the same charges, were found dead in their cells at Tanwalbougou, in the east of the country, the local prosecutor announced on May 13. The local gendarmerie has already launched an investigation into their deaths. “All the people were executed in a systematic manner,” said Aziz Diallo on Monday. Diallo’s cousin, 34-year-old Abdoulaye Barry, was one of those who died. “All the witnesses at the cemetery (where the bodies were initially buried) were of the opinion that they had been executed,” he added. “My cousin was executed with a bullet in the head,” said Diallo,...
US coronavirus death toll exceeds 90,000 as Donald Trump urges reopening
The coronavirus death toll in the United States surpassed 90,000 on Monday as the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases exceeded 1.5 million across the country, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally. The grim milestones came as President Donald Trump tweeted to “REOPEN OUR COUNTRY!” and the White House attempted to shift blame, including onto its own scientists, for the high number of deaths. On Sunday, members of Trump administration disagreed on whether the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) let the country down with testing efforts. “Early on in this crisis, the CDC, which really had the most trusted brand around the world in this space, really let the country down with the testing,” Peter Navarro, Trump’s trade adviser, told NBC’s Meet the Press programme....
Nigerian stock market capitalisation opens week with N37 billion growth
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) resumed trading for the week on Monday on a positive trend, with the market capitalisation rising by N37 billion. Speficially, the market capitalisation which opened at N12.440 trillion rose by N37 billion to close at N12.477 trillion, indicating by 0.30 per cent. Also, the All-Share Index grew by 70.42 points or 0.30 per cent to close at 23,941.75 against 23,871.33 achieved on Friday. The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Okomu Oil, MTN Nigeria, Unilever Nigeria, Lafarge Africa and GlaxoSmithKline. Analysts at Imperial Asset Managers Ltd stated that “This week, we expect market sentiment to be mild considering that risks remains broad following the increasing new cases of COVID-19 in Nigeria. ...
Nigeria overtakes Ghana as confirmed coronavirus cases hit 84,000 in Africa
The World Health Organization, WHO, regional office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, says the number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Africa has risen to over 84,000 in the past 24 hours. The UN health agency gave the update on its official Twitter account on Monday morning. According to the tweet, COVID-19 has killed 2,700 people on the continent, while 32,000 people have recovered from the virus. “Over 84,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent – with more than 32,000 recoveries & 2,700 deaths,” it said. Nigeria is now the highest country in West Africa, with 5,959 cases and 182 deaths, followed by Ghana with 5,735 cases and 29 deaths. The Africa CDC COVID-19 dashboard showed that South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco have continued to top the list of countries w...
Morocco confirms 129 new coronavirus cases, total now 6,870
The Moroccan Ministry of Health on Sunday confirmed 129 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the total number of cases to 6,870 in the country. Meanwhile, 192 people have died from the novel coronavirus so far, while 3,660 have recovered after 173 recoveries were added during the last 24 hours, Mohamed El Youbi, Director of Epidemiology at the ministry, said at his daily briefing. On April 18, Morocco extended the state of medical emergency until May 20 in an effort to strengthen preventive measures to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus. Get more stories like this on Twitter
Egypt editor detained outside Cairo jail
Egyptian security services on Sunday detained the editor-in-chief of prominent independent news outlet Mada Masr, its lawyer said, the latest in a crackdown against journalists. Lina Attallah was arrested outside Cairo’s Tora prison as she was interviewing rights activist Laila Soueif, mother of jailed activist Alaa Abdel Fattah who recently began a hunger strike. “The prison security guards asked Attallah to show her identification card and later called her in for an investigation that lasted three hours,” lawyer Hassan al-Azhari told AFP. He said she was later taken a police station and was expected to appear before the prosecution Monday morning, adding the reason for her arrest and charges remained unclear. Later on Sunday, Mada Masr tweeted that the prosecution ordered Attallah’s rele...
Madagascar records first death from coronavirus
Madagascar has registered its first coronavirus death, two months after its index case, the national COVID-19 taskforce said on Sunday, according to news site Reuters. The taskforce spokeswoman, Hanta Vololontiana, was quoted by Reuters to have said in a televised statement that the man had died on Saturday night. “A man died from COVID-19 in Madagascar … he is 57 years old and a member of the medical staff,” she said. The first casualty of the island on the east coast of Africa was said to be a 57-year-old medical worker who suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure. Newsmen had about a fortnight ago did a rundown of countries with a clean death slate. This included Vietnam, Rwanda, Faroe Islands, Madagascar, Cambodia, Nepal, Uganda, Central African Republic, and Mozambique, accordin...
