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Sep
01
2020
By The African Mirror
With borders closed, South Africa pins hopes on cash-strapped local tourists

With borders closed, South Africa pins hopes on cash-strapped local tourists

COVID-19
WENDELL ROELF LISA Krohn’s Ashanti Lodge in Cape Town - normally abuzz with backpackers from around the world - today sits largely empty, a sign of how the pandemic has crushed South Africa’s tourist industry. “This place is like a morgue,” she said, contemplating the Victorian-era building’s deserted foyer. Following a five-month lockdown, South Africa is easing domestic travel restrictions, allowing hotels to reopen. With international borders still closed, the government is pinning its hopes on domestic tourism, echoing a strategy being tried from Vietnam to New Zealand with mixed results. South Africa remains among the countries hardest hit by…
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Sep
01
2020
By The African Mirror
Locked out by COVID, refugees’ lives on hold

Locked out by COVID, refugees’ lives on hold

COVID-19
EDWARD MCALLISTER WHEN Michelle Alfaro left her office at the United Nations in Geneva on March 13, her job finding homes for the world’s most vulnerable refugees was under control. Four days later, the new coronavirus had knocked it into chaos. Governments across the world announced border closures, lockdowns and flight cancellations. The United Nations was forced to suspend the programme. “Everything collapsed that week,” said Alfaro, who manages resettlements for the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR. Millions of people have been thrown into limbo by the new coronavirus. Those Alfaro works with had been promised escape from war, violence, conflict…
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Sep
01
2020
By The African Mirror
COVID-19 can wipe out health care progress in short order – WHO

COVID-19 can wipe out health care progress in short order – WHO

COVID-19
EMMA FARGE MORE than 90% of countries have seen ordinary health services disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with major gains in medical care attained over decades vulnerable to being wiped out in a short period, a World Health Organization survey showed. The Geneva-based body has frequently warned about other life-saving programmes being impacted by the pandemic and has sent countries mitigation advice, but the survey yielded the first WHO data so far on the scale of disruptions. “The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on essential health services is a source of great concern,” said a report on the study released…
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Sep
02
2020
By The African Mirror
Grounded by COVID, Nigerian diners get a taste of air travel

Grounded by COVID, Nigerian diners get a taste of air travel

COVID-19
ABRAHAM ACHIRGA MISSING the thrill of air travel during the coronavirus lockdown? A Nigerian restaurant is now offering its customers the illusion of flight without them ever having to leave the ground. The diners at Urban Air in the Nigerian capital Abuja sit on plush white seats and peruse a flight-themed cocktail menu beside windows illustrated with blue skies and puffy white clouds. Some customers take selfies as staff leave the ‘cockpit’ to serve them. “The environment is really amazing considering this corona stuff,” said IT worker Fatima Garba during her second visit. “It’s been a while since we’ve all…
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Sep
02
2020
By The African Mirror
South African state firms request bailouts over COVID-19

South African state firms request bailouts over COVID-19

COVID-19
South African state companies have requested billions of rand in funding from the government to help them weather the impact of the coronavirus crisis, a finance ministry presentation to parliament showed on Tuesday. Loss-making state companies have long been an Achilles heel for Africa’s most industrialised economy, requiring bailouts that have placed its public finances under huge strain at a time of weak economic growth and helped push its sovereign credit rating to “junk” status. The South African Post Office had requested 4.9 billion rand ($292.87 million) in support, broadcaster SABC was seeking 1.5 billion and airports company ACSA had…
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Sep
02
2020
By The African Mirror
Zimbabwe to reopen schools from September 14 for students taking final exams

Zimbabwe to reopen schools from September 14 for students taking final exams

COVID-19
ZIMBABWE will reopen primary and secondary schools this month for students preparing to sit their final exams, six months after they were closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the government has announced.  The first students to return, on September 14, will be those taking Cambridge International exams. Those taking locally administered final exams will go back two weeks later. "The ministry (of education) is working closely with other ministries and stakeholders to guarantee the safety of pupils and staff during the examinations period," the government said. The education ministry had previously said it would give priority to pupils taking final…
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Sep
04
2020
By The African Mirror
Nigerian authorities cite need for more COVID-19 test sample collections

Nigerian authorities cite need for more COVID-19 test sample collections

COVID-19
FELIX ONUAH  NIGERIAN  authorities are disturbed by the low level of coronavirus test sample collections, a senior government official has said. Africa's most populous country of some 200 million inhabitants, as of Thursday had 54,463 confirmed coronavirus cases which have resulted in 1,027 deaths. Boss Mustapha, who chairs the government's task force on the disease, said he and other officials who make up the panel overseeing the response to the pandemic were "disturbed by the low level of sample collection" because of the implications for testing, tracing, and treatment. "Despite the increased diagnostic capacity and improved access to testing, the…
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Sep
03
2020
By The African Mirror
Bad weather, COVID-19 leave over 2.6 mln Malawians short of food

Bad weather, COVID-19 leave over 2.6 mln Malawians short of food

COVID-19
MALAWI says that weather-related hazards coupled with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic would leave 15% of the population in need of food aid this season. The Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee, a grouping of government, food experts and aid agencies, found that over 2.6 million people in the southern African country of 17.7 million would not be able to meet their food requirements during the 2020/21 consumption season. Impoverished Malawi is periodically hit by food shortages as it relies heavily on rain-fed agriculture and most of its maize is grown on small plots by subsistence farmers. Winford Masanjala, secretary for…
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Sep
03
2020
By The African Mirror
Hitting women hard, pandemic makes gender poverty gap wider – U.N

Hitting women hard, pandemic makes gender poverty gap wider – U.N

COVID-19
ANASTASIA MOLONEY THE coronavirus pandemic will widen the poverty gap between women and men, pushing 47 million more women and girls into impoverished lives by next year, and undoing progress made in recent decades, the United Nations said on Wednesday. Worldwide more women than men will be made poor by the economic fallout and massive job losses caused by COVID-19, with informal workers worst hit in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, according to new U.N. estimates. "The increases in women's extreme poverty ... are a stark indictment of deep flaws in the ways we have constructed our societies and economies,"…
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