Covid-19: Field hospital opens in London, adding 4,000 beds

The Nightingale would be one of the largest hospitals in the world LONDON, April 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Prince Charles opened a new 4,000-bed temporary hospital in a conference centre in east London on Friday, the first of several being built in Britain to deal with the Coronavirus outbreak. The new…

Covid-19: US set to recommend wearing of masks

WASHINGTON, April 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The White House is expected soon to advise Americans living in coronavirus hotspots to wear cloth masks or scarves in public to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. President Donald Trump said “I don’t think it will be mandatory – if people want to…

Covid-19: Europe’s care homes struggle as deaths rise

This Naples nursing home was evacuated in an attempt to stop the virus spreading PARIS, April 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — As nursing and care homes across Europe battle to stop the spread of COVID-19 among the elderly, France has revealed 884 residents have succumbed to the virus since the epidemic began.…

Covid-19: British PM Johnson continues in isolation with mild symptoms

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson LONDON, April 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was remaining in isolation with mild symptoms of COVID-19, including a high temperature, seven days after he first tested positive for the new coronavirus which causes respiratory disease. “Although I’m feeling better and…

Covid-19: Staying home this weekend ‘not a request’, UK told

UK Health Secretary, Matt Hancock LONDON, April 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Staying at home this weekend is an instruction and “not a request”, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said as he updated the country on the coronavirus. Speaking at the No 10 briefing, Hancock said that while warm weather was forecast in…

Covid-19: East Africa locust swarms gather as coronavirus curbs delay pesticides – UN

Workers attempt to fend-off a swarm of desert locusts at a ranch near the town of Nanyuki in Laikipia county, Kenya NAIROBI, April 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Coronavirus-linked flight restrictions are hampering efforts to wipe out locust swarms on the verge of devastating crops in eastern Africa, the UN Food and…

Covid-19: Rwandan soldiers arrested for rape, brutalities during lockdown

Victims have been talking to military prosecutors about the abuses KIGALI, April 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Rwanda’s government has ordered the arrest of five soldiers accused of raping women and brutalizing civilians during the coronavirus lockdown. Residents of a slum in the capital, Kigali accused the soldiers of the sexual abuse…

Low voter turn out in Mali’s legislative polls

A campaign billboard on a busy street in Bamako, Mali BAMAKO, April 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Officials in Mali said that voter turnout for the country‘s legislative elections on March 29 was just 36 per cent. Mali’s territorial administration minister, Boubacar Alpha Bah said many chose to stay away from the…

Covid-19: Tunisia deploys police robot on lockdown patrol

The robot questions people it sees out on the streets TUNIS, April 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A police robot has been deployed to patrol areas of Tunisia’s capital, Tunis, to ensure that people are observing a coronavirus lockdown. If it spies anyone walking in the largely deserted streets, it approaches them…

Covid-19: Four African countries yet to record cases

ADDIS ABABA, April 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Lesotho, Comoros, South Sudan and São Tomé and Príncipe are the remaining African countries yet to record a single case of coronavirus. Fifty African countries as at April 3 had recorded cases of coronavirus totalling over 7,000. So far 284 deaths have been recorded…