Covid-19: Portuguese president praises Porto nurse Luis who cared for Boris Johnson

LISBON, April 13 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa expressed his thanks to a Portuguese nurse who had tended to coronavirus-stricken British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in intensive care, according to a statement by the presidency. The statement said the President has personally thanked Luis Pitarma. Johnson, who…

Covid-19: Questions over Nigeria virus measures as lockdown period ends

ABUJA, April 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to Nigerians to stay at home to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but the government has still not said whether it will extend a two-week confinement order on three states that ends Monday (April 13). Residents in Lagos, Ogun…

Covid-19: Police collect nearly 800 bodies from Ecuador’s virus epicentre

The Jardines de la Esperanza cemetery in Guayaquil GUAYAQUIL, April 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Ecuador said police have removed almost 800 bodies in recent weeks from homes in Guayaquil, the epicentre of the country’s coronavirus outbreak, after the disease overwhelmed emergency services, hospitals and funeral parlours. Mortuary workers in the Pacific…

Covid-19: Positive cases and deaths increase in Bolivia

LA PAZ, Apr 13 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — A total of 300 confirmed cases and 24 deaths from Covid-19 have been reported by the health authorities of the de-facto government of Bolivia. Of the 300 patients with the disease, 147 were reported in Santa Cruz, 65 in La Paz, 49 in…

Covid-19: Cuban medical brigade leaves for Togo to assist in virus crisis

HAVANA, Apr 13 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — A Cuban medical brigade left for Togo, in West Africa, to join actions against SARS CoV-2. This is the first time that Cuban doctors will work in Togo, according to official sources. Angola was the first country on the continent to receive Cuban doctors…

Covid-19: CARICOM summit convened to analyse crisis

BRIDGETOWN, April 13 (NNN-Prensa Latina) — The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has convened a special summit for Wednesday to analyze the crisis created by the Covid-19 pandemic. The meeting was convened by the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, current president of the regional mechanism, which groups 15 countries in the…

Covid-19: AU appoints special envoys

Heads of state at an African Union session in Addis Ababa PRETORIA, April 13 (NNN-SANEWS) — African Union Chairperson President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Dr Donald Kaberuka, Tidjane Thiam and Trevor Manuel as the African Union’s COVID-19 Special Envoys. The newly appointed envoys are tasked with mobilising…

Covid-19: Great-Grandmother, 97, becomes Brazil’s oldest survivor

Gina Dal Colleto is pushed in a wheelchair out of Sao Paulo’s Vila Nova Star hospital to applause from doctors and nurses RIO DE JANEIRO, April 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — When 97-year-old Brazilian Gina Dal Colleto was hospitalised on Apr 1 with coronavirus symptoms, few could have thought she would survive the…

Covid-19: Italy reports lowest virus death toll in over three weeks

ROME, April 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Italy reported its lowest coronavirus death toll in more than three weeks, confirming trends showing that the COVID-19 outbreak in Europe’s worst-hit nation had peaked. The 431 new deaths reported by the civil protection service were the lowest since March 19. Italy’s death total now…

Covid-19: Peru police arrest Chinese man for illegal testing

LIMA, April 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Police in Lima arrested a Chinese citizen for illegally conducting rapid COVID-19 tests on the public with newly-delivered kits stolen from Peru’s health ministry. Tianxing Zhang, 36, was arrested in the Brena district of Lima as he was about to take samples from two women…