AFRICA

In late January, China put 60 million residents on lockdown to slow the spread of the coronavirus in its hardest-hit region, the Hubei province. Residents were not allowed out of their homes except to go to grocery stores or pharmacies. Planes, trains, and buses into and out of the city were shut …

When Africa’s first case of coronavirus was detected in Egypt in February, the rest of the continent prepared for the brunt of a pandemic that has engulfed Europe and spread to the United States, infecting more than 1.6 million worldwide. Health experts warned of the devastation the deadly virus could …

March was arguably the busiest month for President Cyril Ramaphosa in his tenure as head of state. Every other day, the President is putting out fires – some created unnecessarily by members of his own cabinet. The extended five-week national lockdown has postponed South Africa’s worst-case Covid-19 scenario to September, …

Uganda lost power countrywide on Tuesday after weeds clogged the intake of water at its three largest hydropower dams which generate most of the country’s electricity, the Ministry of Energy said in a statement. It happened just as President Yoweri Museveni was getting ready to address the nation as its …

The threat of being infected with the Covid-19 coronavirus did little to deter Botswana’s Members of Parliament – all of whom were quarantined – as the House endorsed a six-month state of emergency declaration. The state of emergency could see the landlocked diamond-rich country facing an extended and much stricter …

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa is 2 415, as of Tuesday, 14 March. Releasing the update of cases, the Health Department said the total number of tests conducted to date is 87 022. Gauteng has 909 cases, Western Cape 643, KwaZulu-Natal 489, Eastern Cape 174, …

Residents of Jeppes Reef near the Matsamo border with Swaziland last Sunday gathered to kill and eat a baboon which was found wandering on the streets during a lockdown.     When pictures of the slaughter emerged on social media, it prompted Mpumalanga MEC for community safety, security & liaison …

The World Health Organization has warned that discrimination against those who test positive for coronavirus could be more dangerous than the virus itself. In South Africa, people who have the virus say they’re facing a double burden – fighting off the illness and suffering victimisation from their communities. The stigma …

The Democratic Republic of Congo reported its third new case of Ebola on Monday, a seven-year-old girl who had visited the same health center as the two previous cases in the city of Beni. Boubacar Diallo, deputy incident manager for the World Health Organization’s Ebola response, said the girl started …

One Bilkisu Surajo, 20, and Ibrahim Sani,13 have died after they consumed food suspected to be laced with poisonous substances at a wedding in Katsina. The Katsina State Police Command while confirming the incident on Thursday said that 19 victims who consumed the food at a wedding which was held …