Covid-19: South Africa announces start of mass testing

South Africa is on day five of a three-week lockdown ordered last week PRETORIA, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has launched a mass screening programme for coronavirus. The president said 10,000 field workers will be visiting homes to screen people – and those found with symptoms…

Covid-19: US evacuates nationals caught up in Nigeria lockdown

ABUJA, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US is evacuating its nationals from Nigeria’s commercial hub, Lagos and the capital, Abuja, after the two cities were were placed on a two-week lockdown in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The US embassy has tweeted that multiple emergency flights will…

Covid-19: Kenya wants 50 MPs tested

NAIROBI, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Kenya’s lower parliamentary chamber wants some 50 lawmakers to be tested for coronavirus amid fears they may have contracted the virus from a member who recently tested positive.Local media reports say the parliament has submitted the names of MPs and parliamentary staff it wants tested…

Covid-19: Congo ex-president Yombi Opango dies in France

BRAZZAVILLE, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Former Republic of Congo president Jacques Joaquim Yhombi Opango died in France on Monday of the new coronavirus, his family said. He was 81. Yhombi Opango, who led Congo-Brazzaville from 1977 until he was toppled in 1979, died at a Paris hospital of COVID-19, his…

Update: Global lockdown tightens as Covid-19 deaths mount

PARIS, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Harsh lockdowns aimed at halting themarch of the coronavirus pandemic extended worldwide Monday as the death toll soared past 37,600 amid new waves of US outbreaks. Despite slivers of hope in stricken Italy and Spain, the tough measuresthat have confined some two-fifths of the globe’s…

Covid-19: South Africa may seek IMF loan to fight coronavirus; announces tax relief for businesses

A soldier stands guard as police members check vehicles at the start of a 21 day nationwide lockdown PRETORIA, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — South Africa has considered approaching the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other institutions as a last resort for emergency funding to fight the coronavirus that has brought…

Covid-19: Germany to fly out 7,000 tourists stuck in South Africa

South African Airways will provide the repatriation flights PRETORIA, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The German embassy in South Africa is making plans to repatriate some 7,000 of its nationals who are stuck in the country. Already, 47 German tourists are under quarantine in the country after one of them tested…

Covid-19: Drone monitoring curfew shot down by mistake in Sudan

The streets of Sudan’s capital Khartoum are empty during the curfew KHARTOUM, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Sudan’s presidential guards shot down a drone that turned out to be monitoring a curfew put in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus , according to al-Sahya newspaper. The guards shot down the…

Somali governor killed in Al-Shabaab suicide blast

A destroyed car at the site where a car bomb exploded near the Somali parliament in Mogadishu MOGADISHU, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A governor in Somalia’s Puntland has been killed in a suicide bombing claimed by the al-Shabaab group, police and hospital sources said.Abdisalan Hassan Hersi, governor of Nugaal region,…

Covid-19: African governments increase help to poor as more cases reported in East Africa

Kenya is to distribute cereals to the poor NAIROBI, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — As the number of coronavirus cases continues to rise in Africa, governments in some countries are taking measures to help poor people affected by lockdowns and other restrictions.In Rwanda, which has the highest number of confirmed cases…
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