Coronavirus - The African Mirror

Oct

2020

Tunisia bans internal travel to contain pandemic

TUNISIA has banned travel between the country's regions, suspended schools and public gatherings and extended a curfew, as it tried to contain a rapid surge of COVID-19 cases with hospitals nearly full. Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi has said Tunisia cannot afford a second lockdown with the government already fighting the central bank over a projected deficit double what it had originally foreseen. However, after successfully containing the coronavirus in the spring and summer, Tunisia is now experiencing a very rapid spread of the disease with more than 55,000 cases and intensive care units full in some…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

UN food agency WFP hails Peace Nobel as call to action against hunger

WORLD

NERIJUS ADOMAITIS and STEPHANIE NEBEHAY THE United Nations' World Food Programme, which has coordinated medical logistics during the coronavirus pandemic, won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in what its boss said was a call to action that no one should go hungry with the wealth in the world today. The head of the awards committee called the WFP a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict, and said the COVID-19 pandemic, which the WFP says could double hunger worldwide, had made it even more relevant. At one point at…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

South Africa’s COSATU leads union protests over coronavirus impact

NEWS

ALEXANDER WINNING SOUTH Africa's biggest trade union group, COSATU, has led nationwide protests against job losses, wage curbs and corruption cases, in an outpouring of anger at how workers have been treated during the coronavirus crisis. The union federation organised motorcades, pickets and marches in the country's nine provinces, although it was not clear how many of its more than 1 million members heeded a call to stay away from work. Labour unrest regularly affects companies in sectors like mining during negotiations over wages, but it is much rarer for COSATU, typically an ally of the governing African National Congress…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Turkish F1 GP to be held without fans due to COVID-19

SPORT

FORMULA One's Turkish Grand Prix next month will be held without spectators due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Istanbul governor's office has announced, as the event returns to Istanbul after an absence of almost a decade. The Turkish Grand Prix, scheduled for November 13-15, was put back on the Formula One calendar in August. Turkey last hosted a race in 2011 at the Istanbul Park circuit, which was popular among drivers but attracted small crowds. In order to boost attendances, Istanbul Park's operators Intercity had sold tickets at record-low prices for the 2020 weekend and announced that as many as…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Tunisia to ban gatherings, cut public-sector work hours due to pandemic

COVID-19

TUNISIAN authorities will ban all gatherings and reduce working hours for employees in the public sector in order to stop the rapid spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi has announced. The decision was taken amid strong fears that hospitals in the North African nation will be unable to cope with a high number of patients because of the shortage of intensive-care beds. The total number of coronavirus cases has jumped to more than 20,000 compared with roughly 1,000 cases before the country's borders were reopened on June 27. In a speech announcing the latest measures to combat the…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Tunisia reports daily coronavirus record of 1308 cases

COVID-19

TUNISIA recorded 1,308 new confirmed coronavirus cases on Wednesday, the health ministry has said, a record since the start of the pandemic, prompting the government to impose a night curfew in two governorates. The total number of cases has jumped to around 20,000 compared with roughly 1,000 cases before the country's borders were opened on June 27. The total number of deaths has reached 271, the Health Ministry said. Hichem Mechichi, Tunisia's Prime Minister-designate. The authorities on Thursday imposed a night curfew in Sousse and Monastir, two coastal governorates, to curb the increase in infections, amid fears that hospitals will…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Global coronavirus deaths pass ‘agonizing milestone’ of 1 million

COVID-19

JANE WARDELL THE global death toll from COVID-19 rose past 1 million, according to a Reuters tally, a bleak milestone in a pandemic that has devastated the global economy, overloaded health systems and changed the way people live. The number of deaths from the novel coronavirus this year is now double the number of people who die annually from malaria - and the death rate has increased in recent weeks as infections surge in several countries. "Our world has reached an agonizing milestone," U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement. "It's a mind-numbing figure. Yet we must never lose…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigeria might fall into recession as virus takes toll, budget office says

BUSINESS

FELIX ONUAH NIGERIA might fall into recession in the third quarter, the head of the country's budget office said on Thursday, citing the impact of low oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic on Africa's largest economy. The continent's top oil producer faces its worst economic crisis in four decades in the wake of an oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia at the start of the year, and the pandemic, which hurt demand for its main export commodity which provides 90% of foreign exchange earnings. Ben Akabueze, director-general of the budget office, told reporters it was expected that growth…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Education emergency’ as third of world’s children lack remote learning

EDUCATION

NITA BHALLA ONE in three schoolchildren across the world have been unable to access remote learning during coronavirus school closures, the U.N. children's agency said on Thursday, warning of a "global education emergency". Nearly 1.5 billion children were affected by school closures as countries locked down to prevent the disease from spreading, UNICEF said in a report. Yet at least one in three students have had no way of continuing their education at home. "For at least 463 million children whose schools closed due to COVID-19, there was no such a thing as remote learning," said UNICEF's Executive Director Henrietta…

Aug

2020

By The African Mirror

Ivory Coast president sees growth slowing to 1.8% in 2020

BUSINESS

IVORY Coast's economic growth is expected to slow to 1.8% in 2020 from a projected 7.2% due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, according to President Alassane Ouattara. Several sectors of the Ivorian economy including agriculture, construction, transport and tourism have been hit by the outbreak that has slowed gross domestic product (GDP) in the world's top cocoa producer, Ouattara said. Ivory Coast's GDP growth had averaged around 8% between 2012 and 2019, Ouattara said during a speech at the annual general meeting of the African Development Bank. - Thomson Reuters Foundation.