South Africa intensifies lockdown in virus hotspot
South Africa’s has intensified lockdown regulations in the coastal city of Durban and the wider Kwa-Zulu Natal province to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The province has recorded 21 of the 52 coronavirus-related deaths in South Africa, and more than 600 infections. It has been...
Virus fears in Tanzania parliament after MP diagnosed
A Tanzanian member of parliament has tested positive for coronavirus, triggering calls for a suspension of on-going House sessions. Without naming the politician, Deputy Speaker Tulia Ackson said the MP had travelled to the commercial capital, Dar es Salaam, the country’s epicentre of infections. She...
Coronavirus likely to transform world far more than 1918 flu pandemic
The Black Death that struck Europe in the 14th century forced a total reordering of society, permanently rewriting rules between landowners and workers, and between the church and the faithful. The influenza pandemic that swept the globe after World War I, by contrast, left barely...
Hudeidi: The Somali ‘king of oud’ who was felled by coronavirus
Ahmed Ismail Hussein Hudeidi, a founding father of modern Somali music, died in London after contracting coronavirus at the age of 91. The BBC’s Mary Harper was a friend of his. Whenever Hudeidi played his oud, it was impossible to keep still. Bodies swayed, hands...
Nigerian president’s chief of staff dies
The Nigerian president’s chief of staff, Abba Kyari, has died after contracting coronavirus. A statement from President Muhammadu Buhari’s office said it “regrets to announce the passage” of Kyari. “The deceased had tested positive to the ravaging Covid-19, and had been receiving treatment. But he...
Coronavirus has now killed 150,000 people worldwide
The coronavirus has now killed more than 150,000 people worldwide, according to the latest statistics at Johns Hopkins University. The tragic milestone was passed Friday night; by midnight, the U.S. continued to have the pandemic’s highest death toll, at 31,456, followed by Italy, with 22,745...
Putin, Xi slam attempts to blame China for late virus response
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday rejected as counterproductive attempts to blame Beijing for delaying informing the world about the coronavirus, the Kremlin said. Putin and Xi spoke after US President Donald Trump’s administration berated China for not sharing data...
Some recovered patients are testing positive again
In South Korea, health officials are trying to solve a mystery: why 163 people who recovered from coronavirus have retested positive, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). The same has been recorded in China, where some coronavirus patients tested positive...
Africans in China: We face coronavirus discrimination
Five months earlier, the Nigerian student had moved to Guangzhou, southern China, to study computing at Guangdong university. He had just paid his university fees for the new semester when his landlord informed him that he needed to leave. He scrambled to pack his belongings....
Coronavirus: Security forces kill more Nigerians than Covid-19
Security forces enforcing the lockdown in parts of Nigeria have killed more people than coronavirus itself, a local rights group says. Evidence of the killings comes from members of the public who rang their hotline or sent in videos, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)...
Kenyans attempt to storm out of virus quarantine centre
Dozens of Kenyans who have been in mandatory quarantine attempted to storm out of an isolation centre in the capital, Nairobi, because of what they say are unbearable conditions. The health ministry says 225 people across the country have been infected with the virus, and...
South Africa reports seven new coronavirus deaths
South Africa has recorded seven new deaths as a result of coronavirus, bringing the total number of deaths to 34. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said five out of the seven patients who died had underlying medical conditions ranging from diabetes to hypertension. The country’s confirmed...
Nigerian doctor dies from Covid-19
A Nigerian doctor has died from Covid-19 after contracting coronavirus while managing an infected patient at his private clinic. The doctor was admitted to Lagos University Teaching Hospital on Monday and died on Wednesday, according to the hospital’s director Chris Bode. Mr Bode said the...
Prominent scientists have bad news for the White House about coronavirus antibody tests
In a phone call last week, some of the nation’s top scientists briefed White House officials about antibody testing, according to two doctors who were on the call. Much of the news wasn’t very good. Antibody tests check to see if a person has previously...
Malawi declares 21-day coronavirus lockdown
Malawi’s Health Minister Jappie Mhango has declared a 21-day lockdown in the country to curb the spread of coronavirus. The country has to date confirmed a total of 16 coronavirus cases including two deaths. The lockdown will commence at midnight on 18 April and end...
Kenyans to be arrested for not wearing masks
Kenya’s police boss has said the grace period for everyone to wear masks has expired and arrests will now take place, starting on Wednesday. Inspector General Hillary Mutyambai said people had been given enough time to buy the masks and enforcement will now start. The...
Coronavirus Nurses Ask An Ebola Veteran: Is It OK To Be Afraid?
Martha Phillips knows exactly how it feels to suddenly find yourself up close to — and unprotected from — a deadly virus. In 2014, Phillips, an emergency room nurse, was at the bedside of a suspected Ebola patient in Sierra Leone when the disposable plastic...
How the spread of coronavirus is testing Africa
Africa has passed the grim milestone of 10,000 reported cases of coronavirus, along with more than 500 deaths, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (ACDC). As the daily number of new infections appears to be falling in parts of the world,...
Libyan coronavirus hospital closes amid attacks
Libya’s UN-backed government says it has suspended activity at one of the main hospitals hospitals in the capital, Tripoli, which has been repeatedly targeted in bombardments. The health authorities said the al-Khadra hospital was hit again on Thursday – the third such strike in a...
Covid-19 cases surpass 10,000 in Africa, WHO says
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases on the continent of Africa has climbed to more than 10,000 and caused more than 500 deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Wednesday. Africa’s first Covid-19 case was reported in Egypt in February and the novel coronavirus has...
What French doctors and the WHO really said about Africa and vaccine testing
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, condemned on Monday “racist remarks” that were made on French TV about testing a new vaccine against coronavirus in Africa. Two doctors debating vaccine trials on French TV channel LCI were accused of racism on...
Coronavirus wreaks havoc in African American neighbourhoods
Stark statistics from Chicago health officials have underscored the heavy toll of coronavirus on black Americans. Black Chicagoans account for half of all coronavirus cases in the city and more than 70% of deaths, despite making up 30% of the population. Other cities with large...
Coronavirus: Africa will not be testing ground for vaccine, says WHO
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has condemned as “racist” the comments by two French doctors who suggested a vaccine for the coronavirus could be tested in Africa. “Africa can’t and won’t be a testing ground for any vaccine,” said Director General Dr...
Libya’s former prime minister dies from coronavirus
Libya’s former interim Prime Minister Mahmoud Jebril has died from the coronavirus, according to his political party. The 67-year-old contracted the virus in Egypt in late March and died at a hospital in Cairo, according to his aide. He was in power as head of...
South Africa’s ruthlessly efficient fight against coronavirus
One week into South Africa’s nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of coronavirus, and it is tempting – dangerously tempting – to breathe a sigh of relief. After all, look at how much has already been achieved. More than 47,000 people have been tested, and...
Coronavirus: Top South African HIV scientist Gita Ramjee dies
Tributes are being paid to world-renowned South African scientist Gita Ramjee, who has died from Covid-19-related complications. “She dedicated many years of her life to finding HIV prevention solutions for women,” her colleague and friend Gavin Churchyard told the BBC. Head of UNAids Winnie Byanyima...
SA president announces start of mass testing
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has launched a mass screening programme for coronavirus. On Monday evening, the president said 10,000 field workers would be visiting homes to screen people – and those found with symptoms would be quarantined either in their homes or in hospitals....
Somalia closes down madrassas to stop virus
The government of Somalia has ordered the closure of all religious schools or madrassas in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus. It has urged people to pray from home for the next two weeks instead of going to the mosque. Although there have...
Coronavirus: South Africa reports first deaths as lockdown begins
South Africa has announced its first deaths from Coronavirus infection, and said cases there have passed the 1,000 mark. “This morning, we South Africans wake up with sad news that we now have our first deaths resulting from COVID-19,” the health ministry said on Friday....
Nigeria pours millions into fighting coronavirus
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has announced fresh measures to combat the spread of coronavirus. These include a $26m (£21m) grant to Lagos state and a $13m grant to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). Nigeria has recorded a steady rise in the number of...