How African countries are fighting to combat rapid spread of coronavirus

Standard Group Editor Vincent Kejitan gets his temperature recorded amid the spread of coronavirus. (Mercy Asamba, Standard).

 

Coronavirus cases have climbed to over 400 across Africa with nations across the continent imposing a range of measures to try to prevent the spread.

Following the outbreak of the highly contagious virus, the Chinese billionaire and co-founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma, donated 20,000 testing kits, 100,000 masks and 1,000 protective suits to each African country to help the fight against coronavirus.

There are now more than 400 known cases of coronavirus across the continent.

The World Health Organisation has warned that the coronavirus pandemic is a "defining global health crisis of our time", and urged countries to test all suspected cases.

Globally, the virus has now infected more than 190,000 people and killed at least 7,989.

African states have imposed wide-ranging and stringent new measures as the coronavirus begins to spread more rapidly across the continent.

Some of the measures include closing schools, banning large gatherings and shutting borders in an effort to combat the spread of the virus.

Kenya unveiled a series of strict measures to curb coronavirus on Sunday, blocking entry to the country by people from infected countries except her citizens and residents and shutting schools.

President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered all primary and secondary schools to close, with boarding schools and university to shut by the end of the week. All companies were urged to allow employees to work from home.

President Uhuru also said citizens should avoid congregating in places of worship and shopping malls.

Telecom companies slashed the cost of mobile money transfers to encourage people to go cashless.

The country’s health ministry reported the fourth case of coronavirus on Tuesday.

Rwanda announced the two-week closure of schools and places of worship in the country; Somalia also banned international flights shortly after announcing an outbreak; Morocco has suspended all international flights and Liberia has imposed a ban on all travel from countries with more than 200 coronavirus cases.

Tunisia which has declared 24 cases, announced that she will impose a curfew from 6 pm to 6 am starting Wednesday with the army patrolling the streets, in a move to tighten the measures to counter the spread of the coronavirus.

The north African country closed mosques, cafes and markets, its land borders and suspended all the international flights.

Algeria has also restricted much foreign travel, closed mosques and banned street protests over the coronavirus.

The country has reported 60 cases of the Covid-19 including five deaths, mostly in the town of Blida, south of the capital.

Tanzania, which announced its first coronavirus case on Monday, has ordered the closure of all schools as part of measures to curb the spread of coronavirus. The East African nation said schools will be shut from Wednesday for 30 days. On Wednesday the number of confirmed infections climbed to three.

All public gatherings, including sports events, were also to be suspended and citizens advised to postpone non-essential travel to countries with reported Covid-19 cases. 

Sudan declared a state of emergency and announced a nationwide shutdown except for scheduled cargo.

Sudan confirmed its first coronavirus case on 13 March. The case, man in his 50s, died in the capital, Khartoum. He had arrived from the United Arab Emirates.

South Africa’s infections rose to 85 on Wednesday after 23 people tested positive, making it the second country with the highest number of cases in the continent.

President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national disaster and announced a ban on travel from the worst-affected countries.

South Africa ordered the closure of nearly half of its land border crossings along with two of its eight seaports, banned foreign nationals from eight countries - including the UK and US - from entering the country and advised people to avoid domestic travel.