New Front: Worry Over COVID-19 Spreading in African Refugee Camps

A severe coronavirus outbreak in camps hosting vulnerable people across the continent will have disastrous consequences.

by Jillian Kestler-D'Amours

Scary, distressing, catastrophic: A bleak assessment by experts, humanitarians and epidemiologists on what a severe coronavirus outbreak would look like in countries across Africa sheltering millions of refugees and other vulnerable people.

The virus that swept across the globe has infected more than 660,000 people and killed some 30,000 since it was detected in China late last year. In Africa, the confirmed figures are still fairly low - but on the rise. As of Saturday, 3,924 infections and 117 deaths had been reported across 46 of the continent's 54 countries.

As the rapidly spreading virus gains ground, aid groups warn of the potentially disastrous consequences of a major outbreak of COVID-19, the highly infectious respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, in places where healthcare systems are already strained and not easily accessible to large segments of the population.

Lack of funding and years of fighting have gutted critical infrastructure in several parts of the continent, which could leave many countries unable to respond to a surge in infections, said Crystal Ashley Wells, regional spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Nairobi.

For example, in South Sudan, where more than 1.6 million people are internally displaced, it often takes people hours, even days, to reach healthcare facilities, and the leading cause of death is "often preventable: treatable diseases like malaria and diarrhoea", Wells told Al Jazeera.

"We have surgical wards right now that are full of patients recovering from gunshot wounds," she said. "Then you have this healthcare system that has suffered from decades of under-investment and then conflict that has basically left people with little healthcare at best."

Some of the internally displaced in South Sudan have found refuge in overcrowded camps inside UN peacekeeping bases.

"They're literally living surrounded by walls and barbed wire" in tents that are only inches apart, Wells said.

So far, war-scarred South Sudan is one of the few African countries that has not had any confirmed cases of COVID-19, and the government has introduced drastic measures aimed at reducing the risk of spread, such as suspending all air travel and barring public gatherings.

But Wells said the risk is still there: "It's a pretty scary picture to think about - about what a disease like this could do to an already very fragile healthcare system."

In the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where 58 cases have been confirmed to date, COVID-19 has largely been contained in the capital, Kinshasa - unlike past outbreaks of diseases such as Ebola, which struck remote areas.

"Today, it's possible to handle sick patients because the number of patients has not yet exploded," said Jean Paul Katsuva, an epidemiologist working on the COVID-19 response in Kinshasa, a city of 12 million people.

But the general feeling is one of anxiety - especially as people watch countries better-equipped than the DRC struggle under the weight of the pandemic. Serious help is needed, Katsuva said, for "a population that is already in distress because of this situation in which the future is unclear".

'Global issue'

The contagious nature of the coronavirus, coupled with its ability to cause severe illness, has also sparked fears over what could happen if it reaches densely populated refugee camps.

A country that is of particular concern is Burkina Faso, which has registered the most confirmed cases in West Africa - 180 - and nine deaths. An impoverished country of some 20 million people, Burkina Faso has been gripped by an escalating and complex conflict that has caused "explosive displacement" over the past year, according to Wells.

"There are about 765,000 people displaced," she said. "It's up by more than 1,200 percent since 2019 … and it's expected to continue to rise. Security and access to these communities is also really challenging for humanitarian workers."

On the other side of the continent, Kenya has 38 confirmed cases to date - but none among refugees. "We would love to keep it that way," Eujin Byun, a spokeswoman for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Kenya, told Al Jazeera.

The East African country is home to two major camps: Dadaab, near the country's eastern border with Somalia, had a population of nearly 218,000 refugees and asylum seekers at the end of February, and Kakuma, in the northwest near the borders with South Sudan and Uganda, counts more than 190,000 refugees.

Byun said having so many people living in close proximity is one of the major risk factors for the spread of the virus, while ensuring that refugees have access to clean water and soap - two of the most effective weapons against it - is critical.

UNHCR has altered its operations in the camps to try to avoid gatherings, Byun said. For example, to reduce the contact between residents and humanitarian workers, it plans to distribute two months' worth of food rations at once, whereas in the past, they were distributed monthly or every two weeks.

The agency has already stopped sending outside missions into the camps to prevent a potential spread of the virus. Staff already in the camps will remain there to provide essential, life-saving services - and they have access to mental health support, Byun said.

Information is also being sent to residents via mobile phone apps such as WhatsApp, she added, to limit social gatherings and "to reduce fear and panic in the refugee camp and prevent any kind of misinformation".

Ninety beds are available inside the Dadaab camp itself to accommodate coronavirus patients, while 25 beds are set up in Kakuma, Byun said. COVID-19 isolation facilities are also set up in nearby Kenyan host communities, and both refugees and residents will have access to them.

"We're not doing this in a silo; we have to communicate and coordinate with the local authority," Byun said, adding that UNHCR welcomed the Kenyan government's decision to include refugees and asylum seekers in its national plan to combat COVID-19.

"This is a global issue, and we have to think [of it] like a global issue - not just like a refugee issue."

Refugees 'sidelined'

Indeed, UNHCR on Wednesday launched a global appeal for $255m to respond to the coronavirus in refugee camps and other vulnerable areas, as part of a wider humanitarian relief plan seeking $2bn.

"We must come to the aid of the ultra-vulnerable - millions upon millions of people who are least able to protect themselves," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, calling for stronger coordination to ensure the more vulnerable countries get the support they need.

On Thursday, the Red Cross called for $823m "to help the world's most vulnerable communities" stop the spread of COVID-19 and recover from the pandemic. That includes migrants and displaced people, homeless people, and those living in disaster-prone areas, among others.

But just how much donor countries will be able to contribute to those funding drives remains an open question. Most governments are struggling to stave off an economic crisis within their own borders and to support their citizens, many of whom have lost their jobs, through the pandemic.

In that context, "governments are going to face some really difficult decisions between allocating scarce resources to their own population and the refugee camp", said Sally Hargreaves, assistant professor in global health at the Institute for Infection and Immunity at St George's University of London.

"Refugees will be the ones that are sidelined in all of this as the governments move towards supporting their own population as best [as] they can," she said.

Hargreaves told Al Jazeera that refugees and IDPs must be included in national COVID-19 plans because they are vulnerable and risk being disproportionately affected by the pandemic. She said it is going to take a significant international effort - and investment - to make sure these groups are not left behind.

"We can't forget about them. We can't leave them to fend for themselves," said Hargreaves. "We need to make sure governments prioritise them - not just their own populations - and [that] they're funded and supported in doing it."

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA NEWS

Africa Is Two to Three Weeks Away From Height of Virus Storm

By Prinesha Naidoo
Bloomberg
March 29, 2020, 2:00 AM EDT

 $100 billion emergency stimulus needed to curb virus: UN panel
 Africa yet to experience a crisis on the scale of Covid-19

A member of the South African Police Service (SAPS) enforces social distancing of shoppers outside a supermarket in Yeoville, Johannesburg, on March 28.

Sign up here for our daily coronavirus newsletter on what you need to know, and subscribe to our Covid-19 podcast for the latest news and analysis.

Africa is two to three weeks away from the worst of the coronavirus storm and needs an emergency economic stimulus of $100 billion to bolster preventative measures and support its fragile healthcare systems, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

Almost half of the funds could come from waiving interest payments to multilateral institutions. That would give countries the fiscal space needed to impose social-distancing measures, widen social safety nets and equip hospitals to treat the sick ahead of an expected surge in infections, UNECA Executive Secretary Vera Songwe said by phone from Washington.

“If we want to have a fighting chance, we need it immediately,” she said. “In the next two to three weeks, if we act really decisively, we may be able to flatten the curve and then when the storm comes it will be not be as brutal as we see in Europe.”

One measure that can provide some immediate relief is the creation of the special purpose vehicle requested by African finance ministers through which interest payments on sovereign bonds could be sequestered and provide all countries on the continent, regardless of income level, with support, she said.

Stressed Systems

A lack of resources and staff means authorities must work fast to limit the spread of the disease on a continent where hospitals have an average of just 1.8 beds per 1,000 people, UNECA data show. While Africa accounts for 1% of global health expenditure, it carries 23% of the disease burden, including hundreds of thousands of deaths each year from malaria, HIV/Aids and tuberculosis.

“Our hospital systems are so weak and so stressed already that another stress on them is going to break them,” Songwe said.

There are more than 3,000 Covid-19 infections in 46 countries across the continent, according to the Addis Ababa-based Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The continent has never experienced a crisis of the scale and magnitude caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Songwe said. While its impact is likely to be felt for 12 to 18 months -- with a loss of lives, jobs and businesses as economies grind to a halt -- the potential loss of health care providers and schooling would also weigh on the continent’s health and education sectors for years to come, she said.

A coordinated global effort is required to assist countries and businesses, and support the recovery of economies across the world, she said.

“If there is one African country or one country anywhere in the world that still has the coronavirus, the whole world has it. We’ve seen the speed of contamination and how quickly it can re-spread,” Songwe said.

Trump Says Keeping US Covid-19 Deaths to 100,000 Would Be a ‘Very Good Job’

President extends social distancing rules to 30 April, saying open for Easter plans were only ‘aspirational’

David Smith in Washington
@smithinamerica
Guardian
Sun 29 Mar 2020 21.52 EDT

Donald Trump has extended America’s national shutdown for a month, bowing to public health experts, and scientific reality, and warning that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic is yet to come.

Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, the US president claimed that, if his administration keeps the death toll to 100,000, it will have done “a very good job” – a startling shift from his optimistic predictions of a few days ago when he said he hoped to restart the economy by Easter.

Trump also undermined his plea for unity by uttering falsehoods, verbally abusing reporters and making incendiary allegations that implied health care workers were stealing masks, without providing evidence.

The extended deadline marked a humiliating retreat for the president who, having squandered six precious weeks at the start of the pandemic, more recently complained that the cure is worse than the problem and floated Easter Sunday as a “beautiful timeline” for reopening big swathes of the country.

On Sunday he claimed this had only been “aspirational” as his advisers urged him not to move too hastily. He announced the initial 15-day period of social distancing urged by the federal government, which was due to expire on Monday, would be extended to 30 April, and said he hoped normality might return by 1 June.

The guidelines recommend against big group gatherings and urge older people and anyone with existing health problems to stay at home. People were also urged to work at home when possible and avoid restaurants, bars, non-essential travel and shopping trips.

“The modelling estimates that the peak in death rate is likely to hit in two weeks,” Trump told reporters, with the toll already at more than 2,400. “Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory is won. That would be the greatest loss of all.”

He added: “We can expect by June 1st we will be well on our way to recovery.”

The shift came as the full horror of the pandemic appeared to dawn on a president who long downplayed it. Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said the US could experience more than 100,000 deaths and millions of infections. Fauci praised the extension as a “wise and prudent” decision.

Trump cited projection models that said potentially 2.2 million people or more could have died had the country tried to “wing it” and not put social distancing measures in place. “I kept asking and we did models,” he said. “These are 2.2 million people would have died.

“And so, if we could hold that down, as we’re saying, to 100,000 – it’s a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000, so we have between 100 [thousand] and 200,000 – we altogether have done a very good job.”

Trump also appeared to have been rattled by scenes at Elmhurst Hospital where he grew up in Queens, New York. “I’ve been watching that for the last week on television,” he said. “Body bags all over, in hallways.”

“I’ve been watching them bring in trailer trucks, freezer trucks, they’re freezer trucks, because they can’t handle the bodies, there are so many of them. This is essentially in my community, in Queens; Queens, New York. I’ve seen things that I’ve never seen before.”

Trump had minimised the threat of the coronavirus for weeks and ignored the pleas of his health secretary to investing in testing kits and breathing apparatus. The House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, told CNN’s State of the Union this attitude had cost American lives. “The president, his denial at the beginning, was deadly,” she said.

Trump has long been criticised for refusing to own up to his own mistakes and shifting blame to others. In another lengthy, abrasive press conference, he pushed a conspiracy theory speculating that hospital staff may be stealing N95 masks and selling them on the black market.

The current demand does not square with what hospitals usually use, he told reporters. “It’s a New York hospital, very – it’s packed all the time. How do you go from 10 to 20 [thousand masks per week] to 300,000? Ten [thousand] to 20,000 masks, to 300,000 – even though this is different? Something is going on, and you ought to look into it as reporters. Are they going out the back door?”

He added: “How do you go from 10,000 to 300,000? And we have that in a lot of different places. So somebody should probably look into that, because I just don’t see from a practical standpoint how that’s possible to go from that to that.”

When a reporter asked the president to clarify, he asked for New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio to investigate, adding: “I don’t think it’s hoarding. I think it’s maybe worse than hoarding.”

The comments provoked widespread outrage. Joe Kennedy III, a Democratic Congressman from Massachusetts, tweeted: “We need supplies. We need masks. Our frontlines are suffering. Suggesting otherwise is disgusting.”

Joe Biden, the front runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, said: “This is ridiculous and completely false. Today’s conspiracy mongering from our president is among the most reckless and ignorant moves he has made during this crisis, and there have been many. Lives hang in the balance.”

A White House aide attempts to take the microphone out of the hands of correspondent Yamiche Alcindor as she questions Donald Trump.

As in previous briefings all week, the president picked fights with individual reporters including Yamiche Alcindor, a reporter at PBS NewsHour who is a woman of colour.

When Alcindor questioned him about comments he made during an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity that suggested state governors were making exaggerated demands, Trump retorted: “Why don’t you act in a little more positive? ... It’s always get ya, get ya, get ya. You know what? That’s why nobody trusts the media anymore.”

He added: “Look, let me tell you something, be nice. Don’t be threatening. Be nice.”

Trump Extends Voluntary U.S. Shutdown to April 30 — Weeks Past Prior Goal of Easter

Associated Press
Erin Myers, John Fenoglio
Mar 29, 2020 / 07:15 PM PDT

Bracing the nation for a death toll that could exceed 100,000 people, President Donald Trump on Sunday extended restrictive social distancing guidelines through April, bowing to public-health experts who presented him with even more dire projections for the expanding coronavirus pandemic.

It was a stark shift in tone by the president, who only days ago mused about the country reopening in a few weeks. From the Rose Garden, he said his Easter revival hopes had only been “aspirational.”

The initial 15-day period of social distancing urged by the federal government expires Monday and Trump had expressed interest in relaxing the national guidelines at least in parts of the country less afflicted by the pandemic. He instead decided to extend them through April 30, a tacit acknowledgment he'd been too optimistic. Many states and local governments have stiffer controls in place on mobility and gatherings.

Trump's impulse to reopen the country met a sober reality check Sunday from Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, who said the U.S. could experience more than 100,000 deaths and millions of infections from the pandemic. That warning hardened a recognition in Washington that the struggle against the coronavirus will not be resolved quickly even as Trump expressed a longing for normalcy.

“I want our life back again,” the president told reporters.

Trump, who has largely avoided talk of potential death and infection rates, cited projection models that said potentially 2.2 million people or more could have died had social distancing measures not been put in place. And he said the country would be doing well if it "can hold" the number of deaths “down to 100,000." He said the best case for the country would be for the death rate to peak in about two weeks.

"It's a horrible number," Trump said, but added, “We all together have done a very good job.”

Brought forward by Trump at the outdoor briefing, Fauci said his projection of a potential 100,000 to 200,000 deaths is “entirely conceivable" if not enough is done to mitigate the crisis. He said that helped shape the extension of the guidelines, which he called “a wise and prudent decision.”

Americans are now being called on to prepare for another 30 days of severe economic and social disruption, as schools and businesses are closed and public life is upended. One in 3 Americans remain under state or local government orders to stay at home to slow the spread of the virus.

Trump acknowledged that he may be forced to extend the guidelines again at the end of April, but expressed hope that by June 1, "we should be well on our way to recovery.”

The federal guidelines recommend against group gatherings larger than 10 and urge older people and anyone with existing health problems to stay home. People are urged to work at home when possible and avoid restaurants, bars, non-essential travel and shopping trips.

For more than a week, Trump had been bombarded by calls from outside business leaders who urged him to begin re-opening the nation's economy and warned of catastrophic consequences that could damage his re-election chances if it remained shuttered for much longer.

“The president is right. The cure can't be worse than the disease, and we're going to have to make some difficult trade-offs," Trump's top economic adviser Larry Kudlow had said last Monday, reflecting the thinking of his economic team.

That talk alarmed health experts, who urged Trump to keep encouraging people to stay home. The virus was still spreading, with the peak still weeks away, the experts warned.

In the end, Trump, in the face of dire projections and increasingly alarming images out of New York, sided with his health experts and backed off the idea of loosening recommended restrictions on less impacted parts of the country.

"They're the best in the profession and they didn't like that idea,” he said of Fauci and Dr. Deborah Birx, head of the White House coronavirus task force.

Trump was clearly moved by the scenes from New York, particularly hard-hit Elmhurst Hospital in his native Queens.

“I've been watching that for the last week on television," he said. ”Body bags all over, in hallways. I've been watching them bring in trailer trucks — freezer trucks, they're freezer trucks, because they can't handle the bodies, there are so many of them. This is essentially in my community, in Queens, Queens, New York," he continued. “I've seen things that I've never seen before.”

Phasing out the recommendations would have been a symbolic nod to business and an affront to public health experts, but may have had little practical impact. States across the country already have their own restrictions in place that, in many cases, are far stricter than the administration's, and those would have remained in place.

Birx and Fauci said even those areas yet to face a significant outbreak must prepare for the eventuality that they will.

“This can happen anywhere," Fauci said. "And that's really one of the issues that we're concerned about and why we were so reluctant to pull back at a time when we need to put our foot on the gas as opposed to on the brake.”

The U.S. had more than 139,000 COVID-19 cases reported by Sunday evening, with more than 2,400 deaths. During the course of the Rose Garden briefing, reported deaths grew by several dozen and the number of cases by several thousand.

Most people who contract COVID-19 have mild or moderate symptoms, which can include fever and cough but also milder cases of pneumonia, sometimes requiring hospitalization. The risk of death is greater for older adults and people with other health problems. Hospitals in the most afflicted areas are straining to handle patients and some are short of critical supplies.

Fauci's prediction would take the death toll well past that of the average seasonal flu. Trump repeatedly cited the flu's comparatively much higher cost in lives in playing down the severity of this pandemic.

Trump's change in tone was previewed Saturday, when the president suggested then backed away from instituting an “enforceable” quarantine of hard-hit New York, Connecticut and New Jersey. Instead, the White House task force recommended a travel advisory for residents of those states to limit non-essential travel to slow the spread of the virus to other parts of the U.S.

The quarantine notion was strongly opposed by the governors of those states, who argued it would cause panic.

Even as he opted against the quarantine, Trump on Sunday suggested without evidence that hospitals and hospital systems were “hoarding” ventilators and other medical supplies that were needed in other areas of the state. He also encouraged the Food and Drug Administration to streamline approvals for companies seeking to sanitize badly needed respirators so they can be reused.

For weeks, Trump minimized the gravity of the pandemic, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday accused Trump of “denial” in the crisis and called it “deadly."

Asked whether she believes that attitude cost American lives, Pelosi told CNN: “Yes, I am. I'm saying that."

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, said he wouldn't go so far as to lay the blame for deaths on the president. “I think that's a little too harsh," he told NBC.

Trump Extends Social Distancing Guidelines Through April 30 to Keep US Coronavirus Death Toll Below 100,000

SUN, MAR 29 20206:14 PM EDT
Emma Newburger
@EMMA_NEWBURGER

KEY POINTS
President Donald Trump on Sunday extended the national social distancing guidelines to April 30, walking back his previous remarks that he wanted the country to reopen for business by Easter.
“Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory has been won,” Trump said at an evening press briefing after suggesting that the coronavirus death rate would likely peak in two weeks.
Public health experts had warned that loosening restrictions by Easter, on April 12, would result in unnecessary death and economic damage.
Trump said the administration is working to keep the projected death toll below 100,000. 

US President Donald Trump speaks during a Coronavirus Task Force press briefing in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, on March 29, 2020.
Jim Watson | AFP | Getty Images

President Donald Trump on Sunday extended the national social distancing guidelines to April 30 in effort to keep the projected coronavirus death toll in the U.S. from reaching a catastrophic, worst-case scenario.

Trump’s announcement walked back his previous remarks that he wanted the country to reopen for business by Easter. Public health experts have warned that loosening restrictions by Easter, on April 12, would result in unnecessary death and economic damage.

“Nothing would be worse than declaring victory before the victory has been won,” Trump said at an evening press briefing after suggesting that the coronavirus death rate would likely peak in two weeks. The president claimed Sunday that Easter was just an “aspiration” and he hopes the country will “be well on our way to recovery” by June 1.

Trump said his administration was extending the guidelines in order to avoid a major death toll. The president pointed to modeling that forecast 2.2 million deaths in the U.S. if drastic measures weren’t taken to mitigate the outbreak. Trump said the administration is working to keep the projected death toll below 100,000. 

“So if we can hold that down, as we’re saying, to 100,000, it’s a horrible number, maybe even less, but to 100,000, so we have between 100 and 200,000, we all together have done a very good job,” Trump said.

Earlier in the day, White House health adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said the country could see up to 200,000 deaths and millions of infections, though he cautioned that the numbers are based on models and nothing is certain.

There are about 140,000 confirmed cases in the U.S., and at least 2,400 people have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

While Trump can issue federal guidelines, the president doesn’t have the power to decide if the country can reopen, since those decisions are being made by governors on a state-by-state basis. The Trump administration’s guidance advises people to stay mostly at home and avoid groups of more than 10.

States across the country have ordered residents to stay mostly indoors, and schools, restaurants and other businesses have shuttered. The CDC has urged New York, New Jersey and Connecticut residents to avoid non-essential travel for 14 days.

Trump also alleged on Sunday that hospitals and healthcare workers were hoarding ventilators, which are in scarce supply across the country. The president cited no evidence to back up the claim and it was not clear what facilities he was referring to.

City and state officials have consistently called for more medical supplies as hospitals see a major influx of patients. 

What Happens to People's Lungs When They Get Coronavirus?

Respiratory physician John Wilson explains the range of Covid-19 impacts, from no symptoms to severe illness featuring pneumonia

Graham Readfearn
@readfearn  Email
Sat 28 Mar 2020 04.26 EDT

Respiratory physician John Wilson explains the range of Covid-19 impacts. This image shows a CT scan from a man with Covid-19. Pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus can show up as distinctive hazy patches on the outer edges of the lungs, indicated by arrows.
 Respiratory physician John Wilson explains the range of Covid-19 impacts. This image shows a CT scan from a man with Covid-19. Pneumonia caused by the new coronavirus can show up as distinctive hazy patches on the outer edges of the lungs, indicated by arrows. Photograph: AP
What became known as Covid-19, or the coronavirus, started in late 2019 as a cluster of pneumonia cases with an unknown cause. The cause of the pneumonia was found to be a new virus – severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or Sars-CoV-2. The illness caused by the virus is Covid-19.

Now declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the majority of people who contract Covid-19 suffer only mild, cold-like symptoms.

WHO says about 80% of people with Covid-19 recover without needing any specialist treatment. Only about one person in six becomes seriously ill “and develops difficulty breathing”.

So how can Covid-19 develop into a more serious illness featuring pneumonia, and what does that do to our lungs and the rest of our body?

How is the virus affecting people?

Guardian Australia spoke with Prof John Wilson, president-elect of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and a respiratory physician.

He says almost all serious consequences of Covid-19 feature pneumonia.

Wilson says people who catch Covid-19 can be placed into four broad categories.

The least serious are those people who are “sub-clinical” and who have the virus but have no symptoms.

Next are those who get an infection in the upper respiratory tract, which, Wilson says, “means a person has a fever and a cough and maybe milder symptoms like headache or conjunctivitis”.

He says: “Those people with minor symptoms are still able to transmit the virus but may not be aware of it.”

The largest group of those who would be positive for Covid-19, and the people most likely to present to hospitals and surgeries, are those who develop the same flu-like symptoms that would usually keep them off work.

A fourth group, Wilson says, will develop severe illness that features pneumonia.

He says: “In Wuhan, it worked out that from those who had tested positive and had sought medical help, roughly 6% had a severe illness.”

The WHO says the elderly and people with underlying problems like high blood pressure, heart and lung problems or diabetes, are more likely to develop serious illness.

How does the pneumonia develop?

When people with Covid-19 develop a cough and fever, Wilson says this is a result of the infection reaching the respiratory tree – the air passages that conduct air between the lungs and the outside.

He says: “The lining of the respiratory tree becomes injured, causing inflammation. This in turn irritates the nerves in the lining of the airway. Just a speck of dust can stimulate a cough.

“But if this gets worse, it goes past just the lining of the airway and goes to the gas exchange units, which are at the end of the air passages.

“If they become infected they respond by pouring out inflammatory material into the air sacs that are at the bottom of our lungs.”

If the air sacs then become inflamed, Wilson says this causes an “outpouring of inflammatory material [fluid and inflammatory cells] into the lungs and we end up with pneumonia.”

He says lungs that become filled with inflammatory material are unable to get enough oxygen to the bloodstream, reducing the body’s ability to take on oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide.

“That’s the usual cause of death with severe pneumonia,” he says.

How can the pneumonia be treated?

Prof Christine Jenkins, chair of Lung Foundation Australia and a leading respiratory physician, told Guardian Australia: “Unfortunately, so far we don’t have anything that can stop people getting Covid-19 pneumonia.

“People are already trialling all sorts of medications and we’re hopeful that we might discover that there are various combinations of viral and anti-viral medications that could be effective. At the moment there isn’t any established treatment apart from supportive treatment, which is what we give people in intensive care.

“We ventilate them and maintain high oxygen levels until their lungs are able to function in a normal way again as they recover.”

Wilson says patients with viral pneumonia are also at risk of developing secondary infections, so they would also be treated with anti-viral medication and antibiotics.

“In some situations that isn’t enough,” he says of the current outbreak. “The pneumonia went unabated and the patients did not survive.”

Is Covid-19 pneumonia different?

Jenkins says Covid-19 pneumonia is different from the most common cases that people are admitted to hospitals for.

“Most types of pneumonia that we know of and that we admit people to hospital for are bacterial and they respond to an antibiotic.

Wilson says there is evidence that pneumonia caused by Covid-19 may be particularly severe. Wilson says cases of coronavirus pneumonia tend to affect all of the lungs, instead of just small parts.

He says: “Once we have an infection in the lung and, if it involves the air sacs, then the body’s response is first to try and destroy [the virus] and limit its replication.”

But Wilson says this “first responder mechanism” can be impaired in some groups, including people with underlying heart and lung conditions, diabetes and the elderly.

Jenkins says that, generally, people aged 65 and over are at risk of getting pneumonia, as well as people with medical conditions such as diabetes, cancer or a chronic disease affecting the lungs, heart, kidney or liver, smokers, Indigenous Australians, and infants aged 12 months and under.

“Age is the major predictor of risk of death from pneumonia. Pneumonia is always serious for an older person and in fact it used to be one of the main causes of death in the elderly. Now we have very good treatments for pneumonia.

“It’s important to remember that no matter how healthy and active you are, your risk for getting pneumonia increases with age. This is because our immune system naturally weakens with age, making it harder for our bodies to fight off infections and diseases.”

California Governor: 170 Ventilators Sent from Trump Administration Were 'Not Working'

BY JUSTIN WISE
The Hill
03/29/20 07:55 AM EDT

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said Saturday that 170 ventilators shipped by the federal government to help his state respond to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus were "not working" when they arrived.

Newsom made the remarks during a press conference in which he noted that the number of coronavirus patients in intensive care units had doubled since Friday, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Newsom said that the stockpile of ventilators had been sent to Los Angeles County by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). He noted that a company called Bloom Energy was fixing the equipment.

“Rather than lamenting about it, rather than complaining about it, rather than pointing fingers, rather than generating headlines in order to generate more stress and anxiety, we got a car and a truck,” Newsom said after touring Bloom Energy's ventilator refurbishing site in Sunnyvale, Calif.

“We had those 170 brought here to this facility at 8 a.m. this morning, and they are quite literally working on those ventilators right now.”

HHS did not immediately return a request for comment from The Hill.

Newsom said that he first learned of the problems with the ventilators after visiting Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) last week.

The governor's office said in a statement Saturday that California had 7,500 ventilators throughout its hospital systems before the COVID-19 outbreak. The state has added more than 4,200 since, though about 1,000 have required repair.

Bloom Energy was expected to refurbish approximately 200 ventilators by Saturday, and the defective ventilators Los Angeles County received are set to be returned by Monday, Newsom added.

“That’s the spirit of California,” Newsom said. “That’s the spirit of this moment. Take responsibility, take ownership and take it upon ourselves to meet this moment head on."

The coronavirus, which originated in China in December, has infected more than 100,000 people in the U.S., including more than 5,500 in California, according to a Johns Hopkins University database of confirmed cases. The state had reported 115 deaths from the disease as of Saturday.

The surge in cases in California and other states has led to greater concerns about a shortage of medical supplies, such as ventilators and masks. California has set a goal of manufacturing 10,000 additional ventilators, which can be critical for patients diagnosed with the virus.

Covid-19: Zimbabwe in Total Lockdown… President Issues Stay-at-home Order

 28 MAR, 2020 - 00:03
 
President Mnangagwa announces the 21-day total lockdown at State House in Harare last night, starting from Monday to curb the spread of Covid-19. Flanking him are some members of the Covid-19 Taskforce (from left) Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa, Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo, Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri and Public Service Chairperson Dr Vincent Hungwe. — Picture: Believe Nyakudjara

Farirai Machivenyika
Senior Reporter
Herald

Zimbabwe goes into a 21-day lockdown on Monday as the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases yesterday rose to five, four in Harare and one in Victoria Falls.

The lockdown was the principal measure announced by President Mnangagwa in an address to the nation from State House last night.

While most businesses will close, essential services and producers and retailers of essential goods will continue to be open, including food shops, pharmacies and informal food markets. Power and water supplies are given high priority.

The measures are being taken to ensure local business can make more of the needed equipment.

Public transport for essential workers will be restricted to services provided by Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) and the Public Service Commission (PSC) and they will be implementing new rules on disinfection and passenger spacing.

The lockdown will be enforced and civilian authority can be reinforced by security forces if necessary to ensure this happens and that peace and security are maintained.

The lockdown and other measures announced by the President arise from reports and recommendations from the inter-ministerial taskforce on Covid-19.

Spelling out what the lockdown means, the President said: “This means all our citizens are required to stay at home, except of course in respect of essential movements related to seeking health services; to purchase and procurement of food and medicines and for the essential supplies and critical services.

“Workers manning our essential services, including health services and outlets, emergency and security services, as well as operation of key utilities like power and water, are exempt from this directive.”

The President said he had directed that the National Command Element of the country’s security arms to deploy as appropriate in support of civilian authority. Only civil servants on duty, in line with decisions and directives of the PSC, heads of ministries and the ad-hoc taskforce on Covid-19, will be exempt unrestricted movement.

“While funerals will be exempt from this directive, numbers in attendance should not exceed 50. Visits to hospitals and clinics remain as earlier announced, that is one visitor per patient per day. Motorists seeking to refuel their vehicles will not be allowed to leave their vehicles,” President Mnangagwa said.

In so far as the informal sector was concerned, food markets would be allowed to operate, although under the control of health personnel, while those trading in non-food items would be closed.

The Government will work with local authorities to ensure regular supply of water supplies to residential areas, while the ministries of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services and Health and Child Care had been directed to ensure that communities were aware and comprehensively informed about the pandemic.

Medical care facilities are being expanded so medical facilities can carry their normal load and deal with Covid-19-related cases.

“To ensure that our hospitals are not overwhelmed and that other normal hospital services are not compromised, more separate treatment and isolation units and facilities will be established either at hospitals or on other identified centres, whether public or private, as directed by the Minister of Health and Child Care. To expedite testing diagnostic services, Government will decentralise Covid-19 testing to provincial hubs throughout the country,” the President said.

Local industries and institutions of higher learning would get Government support to produce what they can in light of restricted movement of international traffic and trade in goods and services.

This, the President said, includes the manufacture of medicines, sanitisers, personal protective equipment and establishment of the temporary isolation facilities.

He called for unity of purpose among Zimbabweans and warned that Government would come hard on businesses that would seek to profiteer from the pandemic.

The Government was also taking steps to deal with fake news. “Legal instruments are being put in place to deal with and punish those who cause unnecessary alarm and despondency through social and other media, during this emergency. We all need to act responsibly.”

Government had already started taking steps to ensure that the pandemic would not lead to a recession, said the President.

“I continue to appeal to our employers to show compassion towards their workforce during these trying times. On its part, Government continues to explore more ways of supporting businesses and the economy and avert a recession,” the President said.

In a related development, it was announced last night that the inter-ministerial taskforce established this week to deal with the coronavirus outbreak will now be chaired by the Vice Presidency, with Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri as deputy chairperson.

The taskforce was previously chaired by Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo deputised by Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo.

The two remain members of the taskforce.

The changes were announced by the Secretary for Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Mr Nick Mangwana.

Other members of the taskforce include Ministers Monica Mutsvangwa (Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services); Kazembe Kazembe (Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage); Dr Sibusiso Moyo (Foreign Affairs and International Trade); Joel Biggie Matiza (Transport and Infrastructural Development); Mangaliso Ndlovu (Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry); Professor Mthuli Ncube (Finance and Economic Development); Professor Amon Murwira (Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation and Science Technology Development).

Mr Mangwana said the President had also directed the unfreezing of all vacant posts in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, allowing this critical ministry to now recruit more staff swiftly.

Highlights

Starting Monday March 30, 2020 — total lockdown for 21 days.
Exceptions: Critical movement of goods, key utilities ie power, water
Security deployment to complement civilian efforts.
Funerals exempted, but numbers should be less than 50.
Refuelling motorists ordered not to leave vehicles.
Food stalls allowed to operate, none food stalls closed.
Public transport stopped except for ZUPCO and PSC buses.
Toll-free hotline number is 2019.
Testing and diagnostics, centralised at Provincial level.
Social media alarmist to be punished.
Business encouraged to support employees.

Zimbabwe Covid-19 Testing to Decentralize

28 MAR, 2020 - 00:03
Paidamoyo Chipunza
Senior Health Reporter
Herald

Government is decentralising laboratory testing for coronavirus specimens with the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Bulawayo joining the National Reference Laboratory in Harare for the confirming tests, while rapid test kits will be distributed across the country.

NUST was identified as one of the centres to provide similar tests to those conducted at the National Reference Laboratory housed at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital in Harare and plans for using the university were already at an advanced stage.

In addition to these main confirming tests, Government was looking at availing rapid test kits for Covid-19.

These would be distributed across the country to ensure that all suspected cases receive preliminary results as soon as 15 minutes after testing, with only confirmatory laboratory tests required at the two main facilities.

In a recent interview with Zimpapers Television Network (ZTN), Health and Child Care Minister Dr Obadiah Moyo said Covid-19 testing and confirmation were a critical part in managing the outbreak.

“What we have put in place for our system is to establish a testing system. We must be able to test and confirm whether someone has the disease or not. So, as far as testing is concerned, what we would really want to have is a system where we have the rapid test kits, which takes about 15 minutes and if you come out positive, you then upgrade to another testing scheme, which is the confirmatory.”

Speaking during the same interview, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa described the response from universities as encouraging.

“It is very encouraging news coming from the institutions, universities are actually prepared to assist us in this response,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.

She said Government was planning on decentralising not only testing facilities, but also isolation facilities.

Meanwhile, non-governmental players continued to pledge financial and material support towards the fight against Covid-19.

The United States through its development agency, USAID, has pledged US$470 000 towards the fight against Covid-19.

Through this funding, the World Health Organisation will work with Government to implement life-saving activities such as preparing laboratories for large-scale testing of Covid-19, implementing a public health emergency plan for points of entry and activating case finding and evidence-based surveillance for influenza like illnesses.

“This assistance will be built on the ongoing investments by the US in Zimbabwe’s health sector,” said USAID Mission director Stephanie Funk.

Zimbabwe Varsities to Produce PPEs, Sanitisers

28 MAR, 2020 - 00:03
Tendai Rupapa and Joseph Madzimure
Zimbabwe Herald

Five State universities with engineering and technology capacity have been roped in to produce personal protective equipment and sanitisers to help combat the spread of coronavirus.

Further, Government has also bolstered efforts to capacitate Verify Engineering, a technology development parastatal under the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development, to produce 30 tonnes of medical oxygen monthly.

Verify Engineering is a research company for the Government and has the capacity to produce medical oxygen for the local market, as well as for export.

Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation, Science and Technology Development  Minister Professor Amon Murwira, who is a member of the Covid-19 taskforce, said preparatory work was 99 percent complete.

“Verify Engineering has an oxygen plant and they work with universities, but they are not a university,” he said.

“They are a parastatal, a research company for the Government of Zimbabwe. We are going to capacitate it to produce medical oxygen as soon as possible. The company has the capacity to satisfy both the Zimbabwean and export markets.”

Prof Murwira emphasised that all was being done in response to the science, technology and medical needs of the country.

The University of Zimbabwe, Bindura University of Science Education, Chinhoyi University of Technology, Midlands State University and the National University of Science and Technology have since been tasked to produce sanitisers and personal protective equipment.

“As soon as materials that are required are there, we will then move in the right direction,” said Prof Murwira.

“We are 99 percent there, but cannot say the exact date we will be starting the manufacturing.’’

Prof Murwira said the universities had the capacity to produce 15 000 litres of sanitisers a day.

“UZ has the capability of producing 10 000 litres per day, while Bindura can also produce between 2 000 and 3 000 litres; so we expect Chinhoyi, MSU and NUST to account for the remainder,” he said.

“We have chemistry labs and the capacity to produce.

“The universities are ready to do so. CUT, UZ, MSU also have the capacity, if given the specifications of the protective clothing, to make protective clothing for our workers in the frontline of fighting Covid-19.

“We are in the process of making sure that they fulfil this.

“These are the fruits of the re-orientation of our Higher and Tertiary Education towards innovation and industrialisation.”

Prof Murwira said Government was going to work with the remaining critical staff at the universities.

“The universities are closed and there have been guidelines on who the critical staff are,” he said.

“We are going to follow the Government’s guideline to let people who are at the forefront of fighting Covid-19 to be at work so that they are able to save lives.

“We are under the direction of President Mnangagwa and the taskforce that he set up, so we act within the limits that are given.

“A budget will be provided for critical things that are needed for the nation and I am sure that it would be provided.

“I am confident that the gap we have had was of capability, not necessarily funding. The universities will be submitting their budgets and will get the support needed to make sure this nation is able to face the challenge posed by Covid-19.”

The sanitisers produced by the universities, Prof Murwira said, conformed to the standards set by the Standards Association of Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, Consumer Council of Zimbabwe deputy executive director Ms Rosemary Mpofu has said the council noted the proliferation of sanitisers and protective clothing on the market and was monitoring their quality to ensure they met the required standards.

“As CCZ we are monitoring the sanitisers very closely,” she said.

“In fact, we were the first ones to make a report to the Ministry of Health and Child Care about the issue of sanitisers.

“We also made a report to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to look not just at the standards of the product, but also at the prices.

“SAZ is testing the sanitisers from all manufacturers. As CCZ we urge all the manufacturers to approach SAZ.

“They have got laboratories with the capacity to test the quality and standards of sanitisers.”

Ms Mpofu said gloves could also be tested through the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe and manufacturers were free to approach them.

Sanitisers are based on alcohol, usually isopropyl alcohol, although ethanol can also be used, with a few additives.

In the United States, to meet demand, ethanol producers have been allowed to enter the market by having the high taxes ethanol attracts suspended for the duration of the emergency.

China to Build Four Schools in Namibia

19 MAR, 2020 - 00:03

WINDHOEK.  — China has provided 200 million Namibian dollars (about US$12,8 million) to construct four modern schools in Namibia’s rural constituencies, Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Zhang Yiming said Monday.

According to Zhang, the preparations for the construction of the schools in the country’s northeast Kavango West region and Zambezi region are at an advanced stage.

‘‘We are looking forward to starting construction as soon as possible,’’ Zhang said.

The Chinese government has played a crucial role in improving Namibia’s education sector.

The two governments signed agreements for cooperation on education under which the Chinese government will provide full scholarships to Namibian students.

China has been providing various forms of financial assistance to the country including grants, interest free-loans and interest subsidised loans since 1990.

—Xinhua.

Congolese Soukous Legend Aurlus Mabele Dies

20 MAR, 2020 - 10:03
Aurlus Mabele

Soukous music legend Aurlus Mabele has succumbed to complications arising from a previous stroke in France, his counterpart Nyboma Mwandido confirmed to the Nation on Friday.

Mr Mwandido said Mabele passed on at a Paris hospital where he had been admitted on Thursday night.

-Daily Nation

Waging War on Locusts: Fungus vs Pesticides

18 MAR, 2020 - 00:03
Manfred Hartbauer
Correspondent
Zimbabwe Herald

Swarming locusts are famous for their destructive potential. Currently, locust outbreaks in East Africa are threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of farmers and their families.

For instance, a recent swarm in Kenya consumed more than 2 000 tonnes of food.

Despite the fact that pest management authorities are faced with a well-known, ancient plague, it seems that current measures are failing.

The outbreak in East Africa started months ago and has, so far, spread into eight countries. How is this possible, considering all the technical advances that have been made over many years?

As a biologist who has specialised in insect research for the past 20 years, I believe current pest management regulations need to be revised. Currently, outbreaks are managed using chemical pesticides or an insect fungus (Metarhizium sp.). Neither is a good option.

Chemical (synthetic) pesticides may be harmful to the environment and humans because of their neurotoxic effects. They target an animal’s nervous system and, at higher concentrations, the nervous system of people handling the substance.

Insecticide fungi are applied as spores to kill the locusts. This can take a long period of time and requires certain climate conditions, so it often won’t work as expected. This fungus also has unwanted side-effects on species that aren’t being targeted, such as scarab beetles and termites.

My colleague and I found that linseed oil, combined with some essential oils, is highly effective in killing two of the most problematic locust species: Schistocerca gregaria and Locusta migratoria. Both species are very destructive and are responsible for most outbreaks in Africa.

This botanical pesticide can be sprayed with conventional spraying devices and kills adult locusts within 24 hours.

Botanical pesticides have already proved successful against several insect pest species, but this is one of the first to target locust swarms effectively.

In our study we tested the toxicity of a linseed oil and bicarbonate emulsion against swarming locusts and looked for plant essential oils that would enhance its toxicity. The tests we did were encouraging. Our study shows how a botanical pesticide can be effective against locusts, and has properties that are less harmful to people and the environment.

Mixing the oil components of this botanical pesticide is simple and the agricultural industry already produces these oils at large scale for various purposes.

Botanical solution

The emulsion we tested was made up of botanical pesticides known to be harmless to humans because of their historical use as cosmetics, spices or healing aids.

We combined the linseed emulsion with low concentrations of caraway, wintergreen and orange peel oils to develop a new formula that is effective against desert and migratory locust species after a single spray treatment. Within 24 hours, the formula killed between 80 percent of desert locusts and 100 percent of migratory locusts.

It worked because the combination of linseed oil and bicarbonate led to a quick hardening of this oil on the surface of insects. This suffocated them. We also believe that it affects the central nervous system and sensory information processing of locusts.

We tested it on other insects to see its impact on non-target species. We found that it was toxic to ladybird adults and is highly toxic to their larvae. It didn’t, however, affect the vitality of the mealworm beetle adults that we also tested it on.

We aren’t sure why, but the mealworm beetles behaved normally, even eight days after spray treatment.

Because this botanical pesticide can have a negative effect on some non-target species, we propose that it should be sprayed on crowded locust colonies at their evening resting places and should not sprayed over huge areas.

This botanical insecticide emulsion can also be mixed in the field, unlike other pesticides, so no laboratory equipment or protective clothing are needed.

Problems of extensive pesticide use

The agent of choice that’s being used in the current outbreak countries is an insecticide that relies on fungus spores to kill the locusts.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations ordered four tonnes, for US$76 million, to combat the current outbreak in East Africa.

The fungus is called Metarhizium sp. and it forms spores inside locusts, with fatal consequences. It was created and tested during a 13-year French research programme called LUBILOSA.

It is found to infest locusts between about seven and 14 days after single treatment and it needs high humidity and moderate temperatures to work effectively.

To my knowledge, few field studies are available that demonstrate the effect of this fungus on adult locusts. Only one was performed in Nigeria in the LUBILOSA field studies.

Three major problems are associated with this fungus-based pesticide:

First of all, the LUBILOSA user handbook from 1999 instructs users to dissolve the spores in diesel or paraffin — also called “mineral oils”. But spraying large areas of land with this would have serious environmental consequences.

Mineral oils are known to contain toxins and carcinogens that can affect human health. Another problem is that they don’t degrade easily and stay in the environment for a long period of time.

The second problem is that infestation is not fast enough to control large swarms and it needs specific environmental conditions to work. The fungus-based insecticide takes about 14 days to affect adult locusts. To produce spores, it needs high humidity and moderate temperatures, more than 20°C at night and less than 38°C during the day. In areas where locusts cause massive problems, these climate conditions are rarely found.

The third problem is that current FAO regulations favour a fungus over other pesticides. This regulation indirectly prevents the development and registration of novel, more effective botanical pesticides.

Regulatory change is therefore necessary. The regulation should be quickly revised to prevent further problems caused by massive locust outbreaks.

— The Conversation

South Africa Police Enforcement of Alcohol Ban Ignites Debate

28 March 2020 4:26pm

Police and army patrols in South Africa began at midnight as the lockdown came into effect and continued throughout the course of the day in the townships and suburbs to enforce the new regulations.

No-one except for key workers is allowed to be out in public unless they are buying food or medication.

There has been some resistance to the new normal.

A few people have been arrested – one a cyclist in Johannesburg and others who were found with alcohol in a Cape Town township.

The sale of alcohol has been banned here for the next three weeks – but it hasn’t gone down well.

Videos circulating on social media show law enforcement workers using force to get people to toe the line.

In one such video, a man is wrestled to the ground by two police officers. In another, a soldier is seen kicking a man after refusing to part with his alcohol.

The new regulations are aimed at making sure that people are not out socialising, and practice social distancing.

Even so, there’s been much talk here about how these rules amount to an abuse of rights.

To that, South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said drastic steps are needed to save lives.

And South Africa – even with its liberal constitution – allows for certain freedoms to be limited for the greater good.

Health experts here argue that preventing a health catastrophe is one of those times.

Coronavirus: The South African Township Where People Just Won't Follow the Lockdown Rules

Several hundred soldiers have been bused into impoverished Alexandra with orders to keep the township's residents indoors.

John Sparks
Africa correspondent
Sky News
Saturday 28 March 2020 19:46, UK

These people will not follow the lockdown

This is what I observed after spending the day in Alexandra, an impoverished and badly overcrowded township in Johannesburg.

The highly restrictive, 21-day lock-down ordered by South African president Cyril Ramaphosa will not work.

It will not work because a significant percentage of the population cannot or will not follow the rules and regulations stipulated by the shutdown, which has been put in place in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

The South African government should refocus its approach and prepare with urgency for the worst case scenario where tens of thousands of people fall seriously ill.

After 12 hours in Alexandra, nothing else makes sense.

We began the day outside the Freedom Supermarket, where a 500m queue began at the front door.

Across the road, a similarly lengthy line ended at a metal gate which stood in front of the local bank.

Attempting to keep order was a solitary policeman, who screamed and pleaded with the shoppers to spread themselves out.

"Please, one metre away, keep one metre away."

No one seemed to pay much notice.

The people of Alexandra know what the coronavirus is doing in South Africa. The authorities have recorded an explosive rise in the number cases, increasing from 200 to over 1000 in seven days.

But residents also need to eat and they are permitted to buy food or medicine at the shops.

Still, the lockdown is not supposed to work like this. There was no social distancing in Alexandra and there were few facemasks or hand sanitizers to be seen. Plus, I could only spot one policeman on the scene.

"Not easy at all, not easy at all, not easy at all," he muttered.

I spoke to one shopper called Tirello, in front of the Freedom Supermarket.

"We are out now, going shopping, we are meeting different people. If I am infected, maybe this man [in front of me] is not infected and I am spreading the virus to him. It is not going to work. It is not going to work."

The authorities changed tack in the afternoon.

Several hundred soldiers were bussed into Alexandra with orders to keep the township's residents indoors.

We tagged along with one detachment through a particularly rough part of "Alex" and it was clear the residents did not want them around.

"Go away, go away," they yelled. "We don't need this."

The rules and regulations are strict. Anyone caught outside their home faces six months in jail - or a fine - or both. But they are not taking this seriously in the townships.

"The police minister says you could go to jail for being out here," I said to one man, who was drinking a beer in the street.

"I am staying in one room with five others, how can I stay in there all day? They must just come and arrest us," he replied.

The residents ebbed and flowed around the troops as they made their way down the township's sodden tracks.

Some took shelter in the alleyways and others perched on roofs. But when the soldiers had passed, the people retook the streets.

Some members of the infantry unit began to lose their patience. A woman in uniform targeted a man in a deckchair with a well-aimed slap and a barrage of expletives.

A few minutes later, a soldier walked up to a resident and aimed a punch at his head and swift kick at his legs.

It looked like a show of strength but in reality, it was a telling sign of weakness. Alexandra Township, like many other impoverished communities, cannot be policed and its residents will not self-isolate.

When the virus takes root here, as it almost certainly will, the national healthcare system will crack. South Africa possesses 1,000 intensive care beds. The population of Alexandra alone is estimated at 200,000 to 300,000.

Some 16,000 beds at 52 quarantine sites have been identified across South Africa, "as part of the government's preparations", but this does not go anywhere near enough.

You only need to visit "Alex" to see it.

South Africa: The First Two Coronavirus Deaths - This Is What We Know

Greenmarket Square in Cape Town, usually a vibrant place for tourist trinkets, was deserted on Tuesday - two days before the national COVID-19 lockdown.

27 MARCH 2020
News24Wire (Cape Town)
By Chantall Presence and Jenni Evans

As South Africans woke up to news of the country's first two fatalities linked to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) - both in the Western Cape - the Department of Health was giving very little detail about who the two women were, how they contracted the virus and where they died.

News24 has been able to piece together that the 48-year-old woman died at the Durbanville Medi-Clinic, after being admitted to hospital this week for a separate illness. It was during this time that doctors found she had also contracted Covid-19.

She was an employee of Sanlam, one of South Africa's biggest financial services groups.

In a tribute to the woman on Facebook, a friend wrote: "She had a way. Always calm... She had a very good sense of humour. Always appreciated and enjoyed her jokes. Because that is what we do. We laugh. It does not matter what life throws at you; we never give up on laughing. Sometimes we cry when we laugh, but we do not give up... We are sorry that we could not say goodbye..."

Sanlam has declined to comment, referring all queries to the national health department.

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde confirmed the woman had been in intensive care when her condition worsened.

Details of the other fatality, that of a 28-year-old woman at a public hospital, were also being withheld.

Winde said the woman had been admitted to hospital on Thursday and had received emergency medical care before she passed.

He added that the clinical picture was consistent with Covid-19, but they were still awaiting the outcome of test results to confirm.

Source: News24

South African Police Fire Rubber Bullets at Shoppers Amid Lockdown

Country records over 1,100 cases as fears about impact of Covid-19 on African continent mount

Jason Burke in Johannesburg
Guardian
Sat 28 Mar 2020 08.02 EDT

A member of the South African national defence force keeps watch as shoppers leave the Shoprite grocery store

Between 200 and 300 people gathered outside Shoprite in Yeoville on Saturday. Photograph: Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters

South African police and soldiers have used rubber bullets to enforce lockdown after hundreds of shoppers gathered outside a supermarket in Johannesburg.

The incident came on Saturday, the second day of the 21-day lockdown that was ordered last week by president Cyril Ramaphosa to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

South Africa has recorded more than 1,100 cases of Covid-19, a steep rise in recent days. So far, it is believed only one death can be attributed to the virus.

South Africa’s total number of cases is the highest on the continent, though it also reflects much more extensive testing and tracing than elsewhere. There have so far been 3,924 cases in the continent, according to the African Union’s Centre for Disease Control, though experts say the figures are a gross underestimate.

Most African countries have now imposed measures ranging from shutting schools and banning religious services, to strict lockdowns such as that in South Africa, where all but essential workers must stay home, with only trips to buy groceries or seek medical attention allowed.

All restaurants, fast-food outlets, pubs, bars and taverns will be shut and transportation of alcohol has been banned. Ports, land border crossings and airports are effectively shut to passenger traffic.

Zimbabwe is the latest country to impose a full lockdown, which will come into effect on Monday. The country’s limited healthcare system would be rapidly overwhelmed if the virus spread among a population already weakened by malnutrition and diseases such as tuberculosis. Drugs are already rare, with even paracetamol hard to find in Harare, the capital.

Though the new restrictions have been largely respected in South Africa, police and soldiers have adopted a muscular approach to defiance.

In the incident on Saturday, between 200 and 300 people had gathered in a tight-packed crowd outside a popular grocery store, Shoprite, in Yeoville, a crime-prone area in Johannesburg’s central business district.

Soldiers wearing face masks and gloves also patrolled Alexandra, a township in northern Johannesburg, and officials said 55 people had been arrested on Friday.

“These are people who don’t have a good will, people who are doing exactly what they were told not to do,” Bheki Cele, minister of police, said.

“We are staying at home now. Before we were going to the shops, but the soldiers are beating people so everyone is inside now,” said Emily Ndemande, a domestic worker who lives in Alexandra.

Other ministers praised “enormously high levels of cooperation by tens of millions of South Africans who have followed the call by the president to stay at home.”

Billionaire Patrice Motsepe announced that his group of companies would donate 1bn rand (£45.5m) to help fight the coronavirus outbreak that has forced the country into total lockdown as infections climb.

Motsepe, who is the president’s brother-in-law and head of investment firm African Rainbow Capital, said the money would be channelled through the government to build water, health and education facilities.

The pledge follows a 1bn rand donation each by the Oppenheimer and Rupert families, and a government package of more than 3bn rand for industrial firms. It comes a day after the country saw its sovereign credit rating downgraded to “junk” status.

Though South Africa has a young population, and Covid-19 is deadlier among older people, there are millions who are vulnerable because of HIV or malnutrition. The healthcare system has long had an acute lack of resources and critical facilities remain extremely limited despite recent efforts to expand capacity.

The situation is considerably worse elsewhere in the continent. Health officials across Africa know hospitals can deal with only a fraction of those needing care if the virus spreads through crowded cities, remote villages and among vulnerable populations such as refugees, malnourished people or those with HIV and other chronic conditions.

Officials in Mali, which has a population of over 17 million, vociferously denied a report saying they had no ventilators available, explaining that in fact they had 56.

Governments across Africa have turned to the police or army to enforce lockdowns which deprive millions of their livelihood. In Kenya, where there are currently 38 cases of Covid-19, police fired teargas at a crowd of ferry commuters in the port city of Mombasa and officers were captured in mobile phone footage hitting people with batons.

Amnesty International condemned an “excessive use of police force ahead of the curfew that began on Friday night”.

Kenya’s interior ministry issued a statement saying the curfew “is meant to guard against an apparent threat to public health. Breaking it is not only irresponsible but also puts others in harm’s way.”

African Union Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahama in Quarantine

 Moussa Faki Mahama practicing social distancing.

Photo: from twitter page of Moussa Faki Mahama

Borkena
March 27, 2020

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahama, confirmed on Friday that he is under quarantine. He confirmed that one of his collaborators in his Office has tested positive for COVID 19.

He mentioned that his colleagues in the Office (unspecified number) are also in isolation.

 He tweeted :

“I can confirm that one of my collaborators in my Office at the  @_AfricanUnion
Commission has tested postive for #COVID19. The staff member is in a stable condition. As a precautionary measury, I am under quarantine as are some other collaborators in my Office.

The  African Union Commission headquarters is in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

On Friday, Ethiopia confirmed four more cases of COVID patients in the country. That makes the total number of patients sixteen.

According to state media, Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC), two of the new cases have recent travel history. They entered the country from Congo Brazzaville and Israel. The third patient did not have a travel history but had contact with a foreign national who came to the country. And the fourth patient did not have a travel history or exposure to persons who entered the country recently.

Ethiopian Government Supported Traditional Medicine Hopes to Be the Answer to COVID 19

Left to right : Abraham Belay (Technology and Science Minister), Liya Tadesse ( Minister For Health), and Hakim Abebech (Ethiopian traditional medicine healer) Photo credit : Ministry of Innovation and Technology social media page.

Borkena
March 27, 2020

Ethiopia is working to combine Ethiopian traditional medicine with modern medicine to resolve COVID 19 puzzle.

According to the Innovation and Technology Minister, the lab research phase of the project is completed.

The next step is testing the product. Based on information from the Ministry, it is not a cure. It is said to boost immunity to fight the disease and is free from toxicity.

The Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Innovation and Technology and Hakim Abebech, Ethiopian traditional medicine expert, held a joint press statement in the capital Addis Ababa regarding the product.

The research is underway as per World Health Organization standards, said Dr. Abraham Belay, Minister for Innovation and Technology. And relevant Ethiopian authorities believe that the project is promising and the product could soon be available for the public.

The Ministry said that it would announce once the product gets clearance. Until then, the Ministry of Health advised that Ethiopians adhere to World Health Organization prevention methods.

Ethiopia has over 6500 plant species, and hundreds of them are endemic to the country.

The number of confirmed Patients in Ethiopia has reached 16, although there are fears that the number could be much higher if the test is administered.

Eritrea Bans Commercial Flights as Three More COVID 19 Patients Are Confirmed

Commercial flights ban is imposed after three more COVID patients are confirmed in Eritrea

Asmara. Photo credit : Eritrean Press Social media page (resized)

Borkena
March 25, 2020

Eritrea confirmed on Wednesday that three more COVID patients are confirmed in the country.  All the patients are Eritrean nationals who arrived in Asmara from Dubai on Saturday, March 21, 2020. All the patients are reportedly in a stable condition.

Yemane Gebremeskel, Minister for Information, said, “The passengers who were on the same flight with the patients and all those who came in physical contact with them have been quarantined.  All the patients are receiving necessary treatment and remain in satisfactory condition”

Eritrea’s first confirmed case was a 39 years old Eritrean national who arrived in the country from Norway. The total number of COVID cases in the country is now 4.

On Monday, Eritrea announced that social gatherings of more than ten people are strictly banned, whether it is a cultural, social, or religious gathering.

Today, Eritrea declared that commercial flights to and from Eritrea are not allowed starting March 25, 2020. 

According to a statement from the Ministry of Information, the ban on commercial flights will remain in place for two weeks until further notice.