Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
AFRICA covid-19 deaths top 1,000.
52 of 54 countries affected; high-ranking Nigerian is victim
Page 5A
ABUJA, Nigeria — Africa now has more than 1,000 deaths from covid-19, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Saturday, while Nigeria said the president’s chief of staff had died.
A total of 52 of the continent’s 54 countries have reported the coronavirus, with the overall number of cases surpassing 20,000 Saturday.
Nigeria’s government said Abba Kyari, chief of staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, died Friday of covid-19. “May God accept his soul,” the statement said.
Kyari had been considered by some as Nigeria’s most powerful government figure, His infection had been one of the highest-profile in Africa. Several government ministers and a U.S. ambassador were infected with the virus earlier in Burkina Faso.
Kyari announced his illness last month, saying that “I have made my own care arrangements to avoid further burdening the public health system, which faces so many pressures.”
He was reported to have been infected during a visit to Germany. He was criticized for not isolating upon his return to Nigeria and accused of infecting other top government officials.
Nigeria currently has nearly 500 cases of the virus.
The World Health Organization on Friday noted a 51% increase in cases in Africa and a 60% jump in deaths in the past week. But the WHO chief warned that because of a shortage of testing, “it’s likely the real numbers are higher than reported.”
The Africa CDC has said more than 1 million test kits will be rolled out starting this week.
LOCKDOWN TO EASE
In South Africa, regulations are to be gradually eased in various sectors to restart activity after the national lockdown, and the country will work on fast-tracking some structural reforms to help the economy recover.
A meeting of the President’s Coordinating Council on Saturday “agreed on the need for a risk-adjusted approach to the resumption of economic activity at the completion of the lockdown period,” the presidency said in a statement.
The virtual gathering, chaired by President Cyril Ramaphosa, “discussed progress and challenges in the implementation of the nationwide lockdown with specific emphasis on the need for relief of social distress suffered by many South Africans who have suffered a loss of income, who are experiencing food shortages or who do not have access to water,” according to the statement.
South Africa is on day 23 of a five-week national lockdown that was extended from an initial 21 days. While the restrictions first halted all economic activity except essential services, Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma announced last week that mines can resume work at 50% capacity.
The central bank projects the economy will contract by 6.1% this year and cut its key interest rate to a record low last week following the decision to keep the restrictions in place until the end of April.
Labor union representatives Friday told Ramaphosa at a special meeting of the National Economic Development and Labor Council that a $2.1 billion fund to compensate temporarily laid-off workers is not being distributed fast enough and the 17 million people on welfare need more assistance.
The president’s council “agreed that measures should be put in place to ensure that more cash is put in the hands of households to induce economic activity in the medium term.”