Botswana suspends sale of alcohol amid COVID-19 pandemic

 Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy will contract this year after shutdowns disrupted activity and as daily cases of coronavirus are still rising in the region but a recovery is expected next year, a Reuters poll found on Friday.

At the Machakos COVID-19 field hospital about an hour’s drive from the Kenyan capital, workers struggle to put a giant metal tent frame in place to serve as a new ward.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of the threat posed by COVID-19 to health workers across Africa.

Total confirmed coronavirus cases in Africa have passed 750,000, a Reuters tally of government and World Health Organization data showed on Wednesday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) African Region says over 748 000 cases have been confirmed on the African continent - with more than 409-thousand recoveries and over 15 000 deaths.

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has declared renewed COVID-19 lockdown rules, imposing a 12-hour curfew to be effective starting Wednesday from 6pm to 6am local time.

The COVID-19 pandemic has put global emergency preparedness under sharp scrutiny. It’s also placed national health systems’ capacity to predict and respond to major emergencies under the microscope.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) presents huge potential for the advancement of economic development on the continent. The free trade area agreement was supposed to come into effect this month but had to be postponed to 2021 due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

The World Health Organisation African Region (WHO Africa) says Rwanda is using drones in community awareness regarding COVID-19.

The chairman of Kenya’s senate committee overseeing the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis has quit the post after police said he flouted an overnight curfew to enjoy drinks with others in a Nairobi bar.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said on Sunday he had tested positive for COVID-19, and became the first member of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet to contract the new coronavirus.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed further fault lines in the workings of the East African Community (EAC), often perceived as a beacon of regional integration on the continent.

Fifteen new cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases have been registered in Gambia, the highest reported in a single day, bringing to 93 the total number of cases confirmed in the country.

Egypt reported 703 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the Health Ministry said, the lowest figure since late May.

 Kenyan police arrested a prison warden accused of raping a female patient in a COVID-19 isolation facility he was meant to be guarding, a police report said on Friday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) data shows that South Africa now registers the most COVID19-related deaths on the continent, in addition to topping the list of confirmed infections.

South Africa's online trends on Google, Twitter and Facebook since the beginning of the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown reveal SA's concerns,habits and interests.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) says African institutions have identified over 80 potential clinical sites to test coronavirus treatments.

Zimbabwe’s economy is expected to shrink by 4.5% this year owing to the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and a brutal climate change-related drought, the finance minister said on Thursday.

COVID-19 has killed four Kenyan health workers and infected 450, the Health Ministry said on Wednesday, as word emerged of a slew of cases in Kenya’s biggest maternity hospital.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has given copper and cobalt mining companies a month to stop confining workers on site away from their families as part of COVID-19 restrictions and return to normal operations, the labour minister said in an open letter.

Early one evening, Folasade Fadare and her team of four disease hunters piled into a van and headed for Okegun, a rural community down a narrow potholed road in eastern Lagos state.

Two lawmakers in Madagascar have died of COVID-19 and at least 25 members of parliament and of the senate have been infected with the virus since the first case was confirmed on the island in March, President Andry Rajoelina said late on Sunday.

COVID-19 continues to infect millions of people as the death toll mounts. There is currently no cure which means that controlling this disease requires a multi-pronged approach. This includes personal protection such as masks, social distancing and the isolation of infected individuals and their contacts.

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has launched a Consortium for COVID-19 Vaccine Clinical Trial (CONCVACT).

The importance of undertaking clinical trials for a vaccine in Africa has dominated discussions at a webinar about COVID-19 and vaccine development on the continent.

Nigeria's confirmed coronavirus cases passed 30 000 on Wednesday, the country's disease control centre said, as the virus spreads in Africa's most populous country amid an easing of restrictions put in place to curb the disease.

Congo’s deputy health minister has accused cabinet members of receiving kickbacks on government contracts for the coronavirus response while health workers went unpaid for months.

Kenya's Education Ministry's decision to postpone the reopening of basic education to January 2021, or when the COVID-19 infection curve in the country has flattened, has been met with mixed reactions.

When the new coronavirus hit Tanzania in mid-April, President John Magufuli called for three days of national prayer to seek God’s protection from the scourge. Barely a month later, he claimed victory over the disease and invited tourists to return to his East African nation.