Coronavirus Africa: cases, deaths and news - 5 July

Kenya gov denies Covid-19 sufferers being denied refused medical attention

South African National Defence Force (SANDF) military health practitioners are seen after their arrival at Air Force Station Port Elizabeth, a South African Air Force facility situated on the north-eastern side of the Port Elizabeth Airport, on Sunday. Dozens of military health practitioners have been deployed to help combat the coronavirus pandemic in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

(Photo: Michael Sheehan / AFP)

Nigerian lockdown enforcement "deadlier than the disease"

South Africa deploys military medics to coronavirus hot spot

Dozens of military medics were deployed on Sunday to help combat the coronavirus pandemic in South Africa's third-most affected province, where there has been a surge in infections.

The deployment to East Cape province comes a day after South Africa recorded more than 10,800 new Covid-19 cases, its biggest single-day jump during the pandemic, taking the cumulative infections to 187,977.

Forty-seven defence force medical personnel landed in the Eastern Cape city of Port Elizabeth to help shore up the health service, which is buckling under the rising number of cases.

Worries about taking a tuberculosis step back

Covid-19 has obvious impact on Malawi ceremony

Malawi’s new President Lazarus Chakwera on Saturday ordered his inauguration ceremony be scaled down amid a surge of coronavirus cases, dampening excitement around his election win.

Chakwera was sworn in last Sunday for a five-year term, hours after unseating Peter Mutharika in a re-run election, and this Monday the country is holding a formal celebration.

Mining companies on the Congo agenda

Age relation to Covid-19 infection

Limping KQ hopes to survive pandemic with more sackings

The carrier on Friday wrote to its employees informing them that the company would over the coming months undertake a “rightsizing exercise” to enable it steer through the tough times.

How fake news impacts the Covid-19 battle

“We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic,”’ said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organisation, in February. “Fake news spreads faster and more easily than this virus, and is just as dangerous.”

Robots use UV rays to kill virus that causes Covid-19

But before a vaccine is ready, many tech experts have pooled their resources and knowledge together to find solutions to at least destroy the Sars-CoV-2 virus which causes Covid-19.

Prominent among them is Amazon which launched a robot which claims to eliminate the virus using ultaviolet rays. The robot was unveiled in May this year across retail businesses, airports and hospitals to which require frequent cleaning.

'Smoke that thunders': first 'made-in-Zimbabwe' luxury cigars

"Though I am not a smoker, I noticed a preponderance of cigar lounges across the United States and decided I'd try to corner some of that market," said Mafundikwa, 54, who worked for an American airline. 

Rajaa Al Jeddawi dies after suffering from coronavirus

How Covid-19 affects street workers

Malawi President sends out message

Malawi’s new president, Lazarus Chakwera, has told an address to the nation that they "have a situation" amid rising coronavirus figures, with Reuters reporting that cases have more than doubled in the past fortnight.

Catch up

Here are some of the stories related to coronavirus that have been making the headlines over the last 24 hours:

- Ghana's president self-isolates after close person tests positive for coronavirus

- Rwanda announces it will reopen airports on 1 August

- South Africa's central bank says it thinks the economy shrank by almost a third during the Covid-19 pandemic

- Nigeria CDC forced to deny claims it offers 'dream interpretation' services

- 2.7 million Kenyans may be exposed to Covid-19, study shows

Africa Covid-19 update: 08:00 WAT on Sunday 5 July (09:00 CEST) 

According to the latest figures published by John Hopkins University, 11,271,021 cases have been detected worldwide, with 530,858 deaths and 6,064,394 people recovered.

South Africa: 187,977 cases / 3,026 deaths

Nigeria: 28,167 cases / 634 deaths

Ghana: 19,388 / 117 deaths

Coronavirus live Africa updates: welcome

Hello and welcome to our live, Africa-focused coverage of the coronavirus crisis, which has already registered more than 11.2 million cases and over 530,000 deaths worldwide, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.