Corona Watch 21 April 2020

South Africa

South Africa will increase welfare provision to help poor households suffering because of a nationwide lockdown aimed at containing the country's coronavirus outbreak, president Cyril Ramaphosa said yesterday.

Ramaphosa did not specify how the government would lift welfare provision, but some economists and labour unions have called for social grant payments to be topped up.

He said in a newsletter that the government would this week announce interventions to shield people from starvation.

Ramaphosa's cabinet was due to meet yesterday to discuss new measures to cushion the economic and social impact of Covid-19. – Nampa/Reuters

Ghana

Ghana yesterday ended a three-week lockdown on two key regions as the west African nation's leader said testing had improved and the measures were having a "severe" impact on the poor.

President Nana Akufo-Addo announced the lifting of restrictions on movement around the capital Accra and second region Kumasi in a televised address.

Ghana has so far confirmed 1 042 infections, with nine deaths, from the novel coronavirus.

The country of around 30 million has ramped up testing and checked over 68 000 samples. – Nampa/Reuters

Madagascar

The coronavirus lockdown imposed in Madagascar's three main cities was to be progressively lifted from yesterday, president Andry Rajoelina said, adding that a Malgache "remedy" for the disease had been successfully tested.

"We are going to start by doing for it for half a day, in the mornings from 6:00 am to 1:00 pm."

However, people will not be allowed "to leave their city" and everyone will have to wear masks when they go out, or face being punished with community service, he said.

Madagascar has recorded 121 cases of coronavirus, but no fatalities.

Rajoelina in his speech also said that a "remedy" based on the plant artemisia, which he had put forward 10 days earlier as a potential treatment, had passed tests. – Nampa/AFP

Tunisia

Tunisia's president extended on Friday a coronavirus lockdown, with the government to announce later the extension period, a presidency statement said.

This is the second extension of the lockdown which started March 20, as Tunisia is struggling to stop the spread of the coronavirus with more than 822 infections and 37 deaths declared. – Nampa/Reuters

Zambia

Zambia will hold talks with International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the southern Africa's country request for an economic programme, finance minister Bwalya Ng'andu said yesterday.

"Zambia has just completed two-week virtual mission with the IMF at which an assessment of the macro-economic and fiscal situation was undertaken. This follows Zambia's request for an economic programme which was made at the end of 2019," Ng'andu told journalists.

"On the basis of the mission's outcome, Zambia will now discuss with the fund on an appropriate macro-economic framework that will lead to a programme eventually," he said. – Nampa/Reuters

Nigeria

Nigeria yesterday confirmed its first coronavirus case in the insurgency-hit northeast of the country, a medic with Doctors Without Borders (MSF) who died from Covid-19.

Aid workers fear the virus could prove devastating if it spreads inside the crowded camps holding hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

MSF insisted it "will continue to operate, providing essential treatment for communities in Nigeria". – Nampa/AFP