Category: Foreign

African countries could be hit harder by the new coronavirus when winter arrives later this year, a World Health Organisation (WHO) official warned on Thursday.

Seasonal flu normally hits southern and eastern Africa when temperatures drop, suggesting the rate of coronavirus transmissions would also increase, WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said.

The coldest months in the region are usually July and August.

But Moeti also cautioned that the coronavirus, which results in the respiratory disease COVID-19, is new and that experts are still trying to understand its behaviour.

For weeks, Africa was largely spared from the pandemic, but more than 600 coronavirus cases have now been reported across 35 of the continent’s 54 countries.

There are concerns that weaker national health systems in Africa will be quickly overwhelmed by the outbreak.

Moeti pointed to the risks posed by shortages of hospital equipment and medical specialists, as well as the high rates of HIV, which compromises patients’ immune systems.

On Thursday, Chad became the latest African nation to report its first case of coronavirus.

The patient is a Moroccan national who travelled to Chad from Cameroun, senior official Kalzeube Deubet said in a statement.

The country closed its airports on Wednesday and instituted health controls at its borders.

The island of Mauritius, a popular tourist destination in the Indian Ocean, also began shutting down on Thursday after recording its first cases.

READ ALSO: WHO backs COVID-19 drug trial as cases surpass 200,000

Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth announced a 15-day ban on all arrivals to the island’s airport from Thursday, with cruise ships also banned from docking there.

The island’s cases are Mauritian nationals – aged 21, 25 and 59 – who recently returned to the island from abroad.

Two worked on cruise ships and one is from Britain, the government said in a statement.

Many African countries have implemented restrictions in a bid to contain the spread of the virus, including nations that have not yet had any cases, such as Uganda and Lesotho.

“We must do everything possible to ensure that this enemy does not come here,” Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni said late on Tuesday as he announced that schools would be closed and religious services suspended for a month.

Moeti raised concerns that border closures would prevent experts and commodities from entering and called for discussions over the creation of humanitarian corridors.

In South Africa, now one of the continent’s coronavirus hotspots, the number of cases rose to 150 on Thursday, though no deaths had yet been reported.

Elsewhere, virus-related deaths have been reported in Algeria, Burkina Faso, Egypt, Morocco and Sudan.

Algeria reported 10 new cases on Thursday and two deaths, bringing the total number of cases to 82, with eight fatalities, according to news agency APS.

In Congo, which has so far reported 14 cases, Economy Minister Acacia Bandubola was reported to have tested positive for the virus, shortly after attending meetings with the president, prime minister and ministerial council.

She developed a fever during a crisis meeting at the prime minister’s office, the national broadcaster RTNC said.

Bandubola returned from a trip to France on March 10.

(dpa/NAN)

The Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC) on Wednesday said the outbreak of coronavirus would not affect the Chinese food market.

An official of the ministry, Mr Wang Bin,who made the disclosure at a news conference, said that food sales had picked up by 9.7 per cent, but that people now preferred take-away packs.

According to him, the period has also witnessed increase in the sales of protective gear, health and sanitation products.

“New consumption and retail models including “contactless” pick-ups and live-streaming are gaining momentum while emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence are burgeoning against the broader consumption downturn.

“Affected by the outbreak, retail sales of consumer goods, a major indicator of consumption growth, declined by 20.5 per cent in the first two months of this year, down 28.7 per cent.

READ ALSO: ‘Weaker China imports to affect Nigeria’

“Hotels, restaurants, barber shops, departmental stores and shopping centres were among the hardest-hit, with far fewer customers since the outbreak,’’ he said.

Bin expressed optimism that China’s consumption growth would be stronger as soon as the government’s policies to boost consumption were implemented.

He also said that the epidemic would not affect the trend of long-term stability and continuous upgrade of China’s consumption.

(Xinhua/NAN)

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, on Thursday said Italy’s nationwide coronavirus lockdown would be extended beyond the initial April 3 end date.

Conte told the Corriere della Sera newspaper “we have avoided the collapse of the system; the restrictive measures are working.

“But it’s obvious that when we reach a peak and contagion begins to diminish hopefully in a few days, things won’t get back to normal right away.’’

Italy is combating Europe’s worst outbreak of the Covid-19 disease caused by the new coronavirus, with more than 35,000 infections and a death toll of 2,978 as of Wednesday.

News agency ANSA meanwhile published a picture of a column of army trucks moving through the northern city of Bergamo at night.

They were carrying 60 coffins of victims to crematoria in other regions because the city’s cemetery was full, it reported.

“At the moment I can’t reasonably say anything more, but it’s clear that the measures we have taken will have to be prolonged once they run out.’’ Conte said.

Conte said Italy was working on an investment plan on a scale ever seen before to combat the economic impact of the outbreak.

The government already on Monday approved a 25-billion-euro (27.1-billion-dollar) aid package for businesses, workers and the health system.

Conte said the new package could amount to 50, 70 or 100 billion euros.

READ ALSO: Italy’s coronavirus cases up to 31,506, with more than 2,500 deaths

Meanwhile, the spread, or interest rate differential between Italian and German benchmark 10-year government bonds, fell back sharply from more than 280 basis points to about 200.

The development came after Conte’s comments and Wednesday decision by the European Central Bank (ECB) to launch an emergency bond-buying programme worth 750 billion Euros.

The spread is seen as a proxy for market confidence in a country’s credit worthiness.
The higher it is, the greater the investors’ concerns and the more expensive, relatively, for the Italian government to borrow money.

The spread had risen to a six-month high, and rose further in the days following an initial ECB package that was widely seen as lacklustre.

Announcing the first package, ECB chief Christine Lagarde had said the bank was “not here to close spreads,’’ drawing a furious reaction in Italy.

Conte, however, applauded the bank, writing on Twitter that the latest measures were strong, loud, and measure up to the gravity of the health emergency we are facing and the resulting economic shock.

(dpa/NAN)

The spokesperson for Afghanistan’s National Security Council, Javid Faisal, on Thursday tweeted that the Taliban should stop killing Afghans and provide guarantees that those getting released shall not be returning to war.

“Our position on the release of prisoners remains unchanged.

“The Taliban will have to stop killing Afghans and provide guarantees that those getting released shall not be returning to war,’’ Faisal said.

The U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan peace Zalmay Khalilzad said on Wednesday that Washington would like to see prisoner releases begin as soon as possible in line with the agreement it signed with the militant group in February.

“No prisoners have been released to date despite the commitment to do so expressed by both sides,’’ Khalilzad said in a series of tweets.

According to the agreement, up to 5,000 Taliban prisoners should be released ahead of the intra-Afghan negotiations that were planned to start on March 10.

Earlier, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a decree that paves the way for the gradual release of 1,500 Taliban prisoners ahead of talks.

READ ALSO: Afghanistan swears in two Presidents

Another 3,500 Taliban prisoners would be conditionally released in a second phase.

The first batch of prisoners should have been released on Saturday, but this hasn’t happened yet and the militants continue their attacks.

The Taliban are demanding the release of all 5,000 prisoners ahead of any talks.

Khalilzad has suggested that technical teams from both sides can work together on the release of the inmates.

“The Taliban commit that released prisoners will abide by the commitments made in the peace agreement and not return to the battlefield.

“A violation will undermine the peace process.’’

The Afghan peace talks appear to have stalled with no apparent breakthrough in plans for a prisoner swap between the Afghan government and the Taliban militant group.

In addition to a huge internal political rift, both warring sides in the country have different views about how the prisoner swap should be carried out.

(dpa/NAN)