President Paul Biya of Cameroon has kept a low profile in recent months but delivered a televised address to the troubled West African nation to mark its National Day, one muted by the coronavirus pandemic and the absence of festivities. The 87-year-old Biya focused on the COVID-19 crisis during his…
The European Union has announced €105.5 million in aid to Horn of Africa nations facing not just the coronavirus pandemic but also ongoing conflict, severe flooding and a months-long locust infestation that has destroyed crops and threatened food security. Somalia and Ethiopia will share €90 million nearly equally, while Kenya…
There are more than 4 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 across the globe, including more than 285,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization on Friday. Children have been spared for the most part, but a rise in cases of a mysterious inflammatory syndrome that doctors think is related to…
United Nations peacekeepers in the Central African Republic are helping to battle the coronavirus pandemic alongside the government led by President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, and one of their priorities is shutting down misinformation about COVID-19. MINUSCA is distributing 50,000 solar-powered radios to communities in CAR to improve people’s access to health…
Tanzania’s main opposition party has called on its affiliated MPs to avoid parliamentary meetings and committee work because of the spread of the coronavirus, which has claimed several of its members. Party for Democracy and Development (Chadema) leader Freeman Mbowe, who has been sharply critical of President John Magufuli’s response…
Madagascar continues to promote a controversial herbal remedy for COVID-19, and now Guinea Bissau has become the third African nation with leaders expressing interest in the Tambavy Covid Organics product for their own citizens. That’s according to President Andry Rajoelina, who has been touting the traditional remedy developed by scientists…
Funds from the World Bank’s Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) will start going out to eligible low-income nations as early as next week, according to an announcement from the bank on Monday. The US$195.8 million is headed to 64 of the world’s poorest countries with confirmed cases of COVID-19, including…
A senior United States official says the U.S. remains in close contact with the Africa Centers for Disease Control and the continent’s national public health agencies in support of the COVID-19 response. The unnamed official, who provided a U.S. Department of State briefing on Wednesday, said the U.S. is far…
The Chinese government had strong words for the United States after another round of accusations about the coronavirus pandemic, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. Spokesman Geng Shuang, speaking at a Ministry of Foreign Affairs briefing on Monday, said the U.S. needs to understand that…
Just as the Democratic Republic of Congo was closing in on the end of its current Ebola outbreak, a new case has emerged in the eastern city of Beni. “After 52 days without a case, surveillance and response teams on the ground have confirmed a new case. We have been…
There’s a new tool in the fight against COVID-19, and it’s a tech tool from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention that shows the impact of the coronavirus pandemic across the continent in one easy-to-use dashboard. The interactive COVID-19 dashboard linked here keeps real-time cumulative case totals for…
The COVID-19 pandemic has swept rapidly from its origin in the Chinese city of Wuhan to every continent save Antarctica. Not all regions have been affected equally, however. Asian countries like Japan and Singapore initially seemed hard-hit but managed to get a grip on the disease through extensive testing, tracking…
Ethiopian officials announced new measures to control the COVID-19 outbreak on Monday, as the country’s ministry of health confirmed a new case and a number of African governments enacted more strict controls amid a rising case count. All large gatherings or events are forbidden for the next two weeks, and…
There are now at least 229 positive cases of the novel coronavirus on the African continent, according to health officials, with the first confirmed cases in Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania, Rwanda and Seychelles among them. The Department of Health on Seychelles said two of its citizens returned to the Indian Ocean…
There are now at least 159 positive cases of the novel coronavirus on the African continent, according to health officials, with the first confirmed cases in Ethiopia and Kenya among them. The Ethiopian case involves a 48-year-old Japanese citizen who traveled from Burkina Faso on March 4 but is isolated…