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Coronavirus live updates: Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Ghana... cases, deaths and news, today

Update:
A migrant girl heading in a caravan to the border with Guatemala, smiles onboard a truck in Cerro Hula, 10 km south of Tegucigalpa, on June 3, 2020. - Almost a hundred migrants from Congo, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Haiti and Cuba heading in a caravan from Cholu

Coronavirus live Africa: latest Covid-19 news - 4 June

Africa

Africa Covid-19 update: 01:30 WAT (02:30 CEST Friday 5 June)

According to the latest figures published by Johns Hopkins University, 6,595,391 cases have been detected worldwide, with 388,710 deaths and 2,851,157 people now recovered.

Nigeria: 11,516 cases / 323 deaths
South Africa:  40,792 cases / 848 deaths
Ghana: 8,885 cases / 38 deaths

219 people in intensive care in South Africa

That's an increase of 45% in the past 10 days.

Hammerblow for the airlines across Africa

And how quickly will people get back to flying as they did before?

Ghana government defends ban on football

Ghana has been lifting coronavirus restrictions but the ban on football remains for now. The sports minister Isaac Asiamah has defended the stance, saying the cost of putting the required measures in place, such as disinfection of stadiums and testing of players, was too high. He also said it would be impossible to stop fans from coming to games. 

South Africa passes 40,000 cases

According to figures from Johns Hopkins University, South Africa now has over 40,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19. In total 848 people in the country have lost their life to the virus.

WHO says representative told to leave Equatorial Guinea

Equatorial Guinea is "severely affected" by the coronavirus, the World Health Organization's (WHO) Africa head said on Thursday, as its representative in the country was told to leave.

The Central African nation of over 1.2 million people has registered more than 1,000 cases of Covid-19 and 12 deaths since confirmation of its first case in mid-March, according to WHO data.

That is dwarfed by other countries in the region, but is significant given the oil-producing nation's small population, the WHO said.

"By population we estimate it to be one of the severely affected countries in terms of the number of cases," WHO's Matshidiso Moeti told reporters.

The government has asked the WHO to replace its representative Triphonie Nkurunziza in Equatorial Guinea, Moeti added, without giving details on why.

"We are currently working on doing that," she said. "I'd like to emphasise very much that we are committed to working with the government, particularly working to support the people." (Reuters)

Covid-19 recovery patient offers advice to other Nigerians

Charles Korir offered first hand experience and advice to anyone experience possible coronavirus symptoms. 

Simple but key tips from the WHO

Key guidelines from the World Health Organisation with preventative measures against contracting coronavirus.

Malawi reports 11 new cases

The Minsistry for Health reported 11 new cases today in the African nation with sill just 4 deaths confirmed as a result of the Covid-19 virus.

Two more people infected with Ebola in new Congo outbreak, WHO says

The Ebola virus has infected two more people in Equator province in western Democratic Republic of Congo and spread to a new area 150 km (93 miles) away from the original six cases, the World Heath Organization confirmed.

On Monday Congolese authorities confirmed tests showing that four people had died of Ebola in the western city of Mbandaka. Congo had been preparing to declare itself Ebola-free this month. An epidemic of the virus on the other side of the country has killed more than 2,200 people since 2018.

The two outbreaks are the same strain of the virus, which means the same vaccines can be used to help contain its spread, health officials say, although they are not thought to be linked.

Coronavirus protests rock Senegal capital and holy city Touba

Protestors in Dakar set tyres on fire and threw stones at security forces on Wednesday night during protests over a nationwide dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed almost three months ago because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The unrest in Senegal's capital followed similar action in the holy city of Touba a night earlier, where crowds of people torched an ambulance, threw rocks and looted office buildings.

"Youths took to the streets after the curfew and tangled with police officers, throwing stones and burning tires," a resident in central Dakar, who requested anonymity citing security concerns, told Reuters.

There were also protests in the Kaolack region in the south of the country, a local official said.

Senegal's government has not faced major opposition to its handling of the pandemic but the economy has been hard hit by measures like the overnight curfew and a ban on inter-regional travel.

Senegal has confirmed almost 4,000 cases of COVID-19, including 45 deaths. Dakar and Touba, which is both a trading hub and major pilgrimage destination, have been hardest hit.

Tunisia

Tunisia to reopen restaurants, cafes, hotels and places of worship today

The Tunisian government confirmed that cafes, restaurante, mosques and hotels will reopen on 4 June as lockdown restrictions in the North African nation.

A focus on some of the good things happening due to the coronavirus. It remains to be seen if they will last but it is interesting to see how the pandemic has changed our default way of thinking about many things.

Equatorial Guinea sacks WHO rep over Covid-19 stats

Equatorial Guinea has joined Burundi as two of the countries that have asked World Health Organization country representatives to leave.

AFP reported the development citing a document from the foreign ministry and a source at the UN health agency The issue is believed to be related to false Covid-19 statistics.

WHO representative Triphonie Nkurunziza is accused of “falsifying” the country’s tally of coronavirus cases. Dr Nkurunziza however remains in Malabo for now because there are no outbound flights.

“We don’t have a problem with the WHO, we have a problem with the WHO’s representative in Malabo,” Prime Minister Pascual Obama Asue, told the Senate late last week

Coronavirus protests rock Senegal capital and holy city Touba

Protestors in Dakar set tyres on fire and threw stones at security forces on Wednesday night during protests over a nationwide dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed almost three months ago because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The unrest in Senegal's capital followed similar action in the holy city of Touba a night earlier, where crowds of people torched an ambulance, threw rocks and looted office buildings.

"Youths took to the streets after the curfew and tangled with police officers, throwing stones and burning tires," a resident in central Dakar, who requested anonymity citing security concerns, told Reuters.

There were also protests in the Kaolack region in the south of the country, a local official said.

Coronavirus live Africa updates: welcome

Hello and welcome to our live, Africa-focused coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has now seen well over six million cases worldwide.

Join us for the latest news and numbers as they emerge throughout the day