The United Nations has launched an emergency appeal in Malawi, one of Africa’s poorest nations, for funding to help the country cope with the coronavirus.The U.N. resident coordinator for Malawi, Maria Jose Torres, said $140 million is needed to support the country’s preparedness and response for the next six months.Malawi has so far confirmed 41 infections and three deaths from the coronavirus.
 
Torres said the appeal, made with non-governmental organizations, will target the most vulnerable to the pandemic, about 7.5 million people, nearly half of the country’s population.
 
“The reason why we are making this appeal is we don’t need to have a peak of the crisis in Malawi, at the same time to mitigate the second impacts of the COVID-19. So, any contribution to these appeals are going to be doing these two things; first saving lives, second, to prevent suffering of the most vulnerable,” said Torres.  
 
Last month, Malawi’s government launched a separate appeal for $194 million to fund its National COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plan.
 
According to United Nations data, around 70% of the population in Malawi lives below the international poverty line of $1.90 per day.
 
Torres said women will get special consideration when financial aid is distributed.  
   
“We know that in situation of COVID, where there is loss of income and there are less possibilities of families to cope with the impact, women and girls are normally more exposed to abuse and violence. And we are discussing that with national institutions to make sure that we all play a role and we continue protecting women and girls from violence,” she said.
 
Torres said single-parent households, street children, the elderly and persons with disabilities will also benefit from the emergency intervention.
 
Simon Munde, acting executive director for the Federation of Disability Organizations in Malawi, told VOA the appeal has come at a time when his organization is facing challenges in obtaining personal protective equipment.
 
Munde pointed out that people with disabilities are at greater risk of contracting the coronavirus.
 
“Myself as a person with visual impairment, I will need an assistant to be moving me around town. And that kind of a way it means that the issue of social distancing is compromised already. If it is a person who is deaf, most of the times sign language interpreters they have to face each other,” Munde said.
 
Malawi’s commissioner for disaster management affairs Wilson Moleni said the U.N.’s appeal will complement government efforts to contain the pandemic in the country.
 
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Kenya’s Heath Ministry says 45 new coronavirus cases have been reported in a single day as the nation takes steps to stop the infection from spreading.Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe released the figures Tuesday at a news conference in Nairobi. He noted the increase marked a big jump in the eight weeks since the first case came to their attention.“This of course is the highest number recorded in 24 hours, ever since the first case on the 12th of March. Out of this number 29 are from Nairobi, 11 are from Mombasa while five are from Wajir and one is a foreign national from Somalia. The five from Wajir have a history of recent travel to Mogadishu,” he said.Kenya shares a border with Somalia, which at last count had 756 recorded cases and 35 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracking site.Kenya’s Ministry of Health recently announced that it had identified Eastleigh and Kawangware, two of Nairobi’s most densely populated neighborhoods, as coronavirus hotspots, as they had recorded cases of community transmission in these areas.A woman reacts as a health worker takes a swab during coronavirus testing in the Kawangware neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya, May 2, 2020.Parts of Mombasa, such as the Old Town area, were also declared hotspots after several residents with no history of travel tested positive for the coronavirus.The health ministry on Friday began mass testing in the specified areas. The government, however, said Monday that not enough people are coming out for the free testing and warned this poses a threat to efforts to stop the spread of the infection.“The 29 cases that we have from Nairobi are all from Eastleigh; that means that as we speak, there are 63 cases within the Eastleigh area alone. That tells you then that there is community spread happening within Nairobi specifically in the area of Eastleigh. This comes out as a result of mass testing in that area within the last 24 hours. Kawangware continues also to be an area of concern and there are 24 in that area and then in Mombasa. In Old Town alone we have 39 cases,” said Kagwe.Cases have now been found in at least 25 of Kenya’s 47 counties.While some countries are relaxing coronavirus restrictions, Kenya’s government has maintained measures designed to stop the spread of the virus.Passengers walk through a disinfectant tunnel before boarding the commuter train at the main railway station as a measure to contain the spread of the COVID-19, in Nairobi, Kenya, May 4, 2020.Authorities continue to enforce a nationwide nighttime curfew and restrictions on public gatherings and transportation.Most Kenyans, however, rely on a daily wage in markets or through manual labor, and most are still going to work, despite the dangers of the virus.The Johns Hopkins University tracking site says Kenya currently has close to 500 confirmed cases with 24 deaths. Kenyan health officials say to date, 182 people have recovered from the infection.  
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Nigeria has eased some coronavirus lockdown measures to reduce damage to the economy.  The move Monday followed weeks of a nationwide shutdown that hurt millions of businesses.  Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja on warnings by critics that easing restrictions could lead to more damage to public health.
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Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio says he is healthy and determined to fight the COVID-19 pandemic after announcing on twitter he tested negative for the virus following a 15-day self-isolation. Bio self-quarantined from home after a bodyguard tested positive for the virus. Although Sierra Leone’s three-day nationwide lockdown ends Tuesday, Bio said he is directing the military to enhance security at international airports and border crossings in line with public health initiatives. Sierra Leone has confirmed 178 coronavirus cases and nine deaths. 
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Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio says he is healthy and determined to fight the COVID-19 pandemic after announcing on twitter he tested negative for the virus following a 15-day self-isolation. Bio self-quarantined from home after a bodyguard tested positive for the virus. Although Sierra Leone’s three-day nationwide lockdown ends Tuesday, Bio said he is directing the military to enhance security at international airports and border crossings in line with public health initiatives. Sierra Leone has confirmed 178 coronavirus cases and nine deaths. 
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Nigeria has eased some coronavirus lockdown measures to reduce damage to the economy.  The move Monday followed weeks of a nationwide shutdown that hurt millions of businesses.  Timothy Obiezu reports from Abuja on warnings by critics that easing restrictions could lead to more damage to public health.
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A prominent Madagascar journalist detained a month ago after criticizing President Andry Rajoelina’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic was released on Monday.Arphine Rahelisoa, who heads the pro-opposition newspaper Valisoa, was charged on April 4 with “inciting hatred” after running a blog that notably said “COVID-19, lockdown, Andry Rajoelina, killer.”The charges against Rahelisoa, the only journalist detained in Madagascar, have not been dropped. She could face a prison term of between one and five years.”I thank everyone for thinking of me,” Rahelisoa said as she left a detention center in Antananarivo on Monday.”I was treated well in prison because I was a journalist,” added Rahelisoa, who had previously filed three unsuccessful requests for release.President Rajoelina had promised her release on television on Sunday.”I am going to take steps for the release of journalists who are currently in prison, and I urge journalists to exercise freedom within the scope of the law,” he said.Amnesty International had taken up Rahelisoa’s case, urging the authorities to release her and guarantee freedom of expression. UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organization, has designated May 3 as World Press Freedom Day.The communications ministry said Sunday it was an “abuse of… freedom” to fail to take into account the exceptional situation facing Madagascar and this “should in no way be put forward as freedom of the press.”Rajoelina placed the country’s three biggest cities on lockdown for several weeks in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus, measures that have since been lifted.One of the world’s poorest countries, Madagascar has had 151 cases of coronavirus, but no fatalities, according to official figures. 
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Kenya is offering free testing for the coronavirus in densely populated, high-risk areas of Nairobi but the Ministry of Health says that so far, it’s been a low turnout. The testing, which kicked off Friday and continues this week, has uncovered dozens of new positive cases.On Monday morning, 25-year-old Martin Wakwayika was one of the hundreds in Eastleigh, a neighborhood in Nairobi’s central business district, who turned up at a temporary Ministry of Health stand to get tested for the coronavirus.Having recorded more than 50 coronavirus cases, Eastleigh is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Nairobi that Kenya’s Ministry of Health warned might be a coronavirus hotspot.The ministry on Friday began mass testing in the targeted areas, with hundreds of residents like Wakweyika volunteering themselves for testing.“I went to get tested to know if I was OK,” Eastleigh said. “I have two children in the house and I am always out working, so I had to know if I am OK.”A man walks through smoke generated by Nairobi municipality worker in an effort to fight against the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the Kawangware neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya, May 2, 2020.Another hotspot where dozens more positive cases were confirmed in the past week is the neighborhood of Kawangware.Hundreds queued for testing at a primary school in the area on Monday, but thousands more such as Connie Mwana chose to stay home. “When you get to those quarantine facilities, the chances of contracting COVID-19 are high, because of the way people are staying in the facilities. For example sanitation is not good, people are sharing washrooms, picking individuals and taking them by force to these quarantine facilities has made people fear,” she said.A patient sits in a ward for those who have tested positive for the new coronavirus, at the infectious disease unit of Kenyatta National Hospital, in Nairobi, Kenya, May 1, 2020.Mwana said she cannot risk exposing her kids to quarantine if she was to test positive.She hopes if she has the virus, it may pass as a flu without her noticing.But thinking like that will allow the virus to spread, said ministry official Rashid Aman at a news conference Sunday.“The outcome of the testing so far has shown a low turnout in some of these areas. In the last two days, the testing teams have tested 803 against a target of 2,000 in Kawangware, 494 in Eastleigh against a target of 3,000. I want to remind Kenyans that there are countries that people beg to be tested yet their governments are unable to do so. As of now the Ministry of Health has acquired the testing capacity to undertake targeted testing, but the willingness of the people to be tested is low,” he said.Part of the problem may be that those who are found positive are charged for the tests, and have to send two weeks in quarantine at a government facility.The cost of quarantine, which is also charged to the patient, is $20 per day, much more than the daily wage of most people in the slum areas where the mass tests are being conducted.In an effort to encouraging more testing, the Ministry of Health on Monday said the government will cover the fees of patients who show they cannot afford the cost.On Monday, Kenya recorded 25 new cases of the coronavirus, raising the number of confirmed cases in the country to 490. 
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Cameroon’s military says it killed at least 22 separatist fighters in a week of raids on seven rebel camps in the country’s troubled western regions.  Villagers, however, say the military killed at least 13 civilians in the raids, which involved hundreds of troops.   The commander in Cameroon’s English-speaking Northwest region said more than 300 troops were involved in successful raids this past week on rebel Ambazonian camps.   General Valere Nka spoke via a messaging application Monday from the town of Bafut, where he was praising troops on behalf of Cameroon’s President Paul Biya.”A good number of Ambazonians were neutralized and we have [recovered] 50 guns, pistols, ammunitions, motorcycles and even a Fortuna car, two horses and so on,” he said.Nka said troops on Thursday and Friday killed 15 rebels in Bafut, including an infamous fighter calling himself “General Aladji,” who in 2018 kidnapped dozens of schoolchildren.  He said Cameroonian troops killed seven other rebels during raids on camps in several villages and the town of Bamenda with no civilian casualties. But villagers disputed that claim and said at least 13 civilians were killed in the clashes.   Thirty-two-year-old Oumarou Tanda said seven civilians were found dead after the military left his village of Bangolan.  Speaking through a messaging app from the village, he said three of those killed were fellow Muslims with whom he was praying on Friday when the military opened fire.”The military men that are Muslims went into the mosque to pray,” he said.  “The Amba boys break in [attacked the troops].  So instead of the military to shoot the Ambas, they instead turned and be shooting but the civilians.  Now in the village we do not know who we are counting on, because we were counting on the military but now the military are shooting but us.” Tanda said his village had welcomed the military in hopes that they would prevent rebel attacks and abductions. In the northwest town of Tatum, farmer Innocent Ngumulah said crossfire during raids in three neighboring villages killed six people, including teenagers.  He told VOA that villagers had expected the army to protect them from the rebels.
“It is rather unfortunate. They had been hoping that the military will come in and solve their problems so that this killing left and right will come to an end. They regret that they are now like orphans.  They are tired. They want peace and that the rule of law should reign,” he said. The separatists on social media blamed Cameroon’s military for the civilian casualties, acknowledged their own losses in the raids, and claimed responsibility for an unclear number of military deaths.   Cameroon’s military denied suffering any losses and said only a few of its troops were wounded.   Cameroon’s anglophone rebels have since 2017 been fighting to carve out an English-speaking state from Cameroon’s French-speaking majority.  The rebels and Cameroon’s military routinely accuse each other of atrocities against civilians, which rights groups have documented on both sides.  The United Nations says the fighting in the English-speaking  regions has cost more than 3,000 lives and displaced more than half a million people.     
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Coronavirus test kits used in Tanzania were dismissed as faulty by President John Magufuli on Sunday, because he said they had returned positive results on samples taken from a goat and a pawpaw.Magufuli, whose government has already drawn criticism for being secretive about the coronavirus outbreak and has previously asked Tanzanians to pray the coronavirus away, said the kits had “technical errors”.
 
The COVID-19 testing kits had been imported from abroad, Magufuli said during an event in Chato in the north west of Tanzania, although he did not give further details.
 
The president said he had instructed Tanzanian security forces to check the quality of the kits. They had randomly obtained several non-human samples, including from a pawpaw, a goat and a sheep, but had assigned them human names and ages.
 
These samples were then submitted to Tanzania’s laboratory to test for the coronavirus, with the lab technicians left deliberately unaware of their origins.
 
Samples from the pawpaw and the goat tested positive for COVID-19, the president said, adding this meant it was likely that some people were being tested positive when in fact they were not infected by the coronavirus.
 
“There is something happening. I said before we should not accept that every aid is meant to be good for this nation,” Magufuli said, adding the kits should be investigated.
 
As of Sunday, Tanzania had recorded 480 cases of COVID-19 and 17 deaths but unlike most other African countries, Dar es Salaam sometimes goes for days without offering updates, with the last bulletin on cases on Wednesday.
 
Magufuli also said that he was sending a plane to collect a cure being promoted by Madagascar’s president. The herbal mix has not yet undergone internationally recognised scientific testing.
 
“I’m communicating with Madagascar,” he said during a speech, adding: “They have got a medicine. We will send a flight there and the medicine will be brought in the country so that Tanzanians too can benefit.”
 
COVID-19 infections and fatalities reported across Africa have been relatively low compared with the United States, parts of Asia and Europe. But Africa also has extremely low levels of testing, with rates of only around 500 per million people.
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Idir, an Algerian singer who gave voice to the Berber and Kabyle cultures, has died in Paris. He was 70.Saturday’s death of the singer, whose real name was Hamid Cheriet, was confirmed on a post on his official Facebook page that read “we regret to announce the passing of our father (to all), Idir. Rest in peace.”French media report that he died from pulmonary disease after being hospitalized on Friday.Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune paid tribute to him on Twitter, saying that “with his passing, Algeria has lost one of its monuments,” and referred to him as “an icon of Algerian art.”Idir was a national treasure in his native Algeria.Born on Oct. 25, 1949 in Ait Lahcene, near the Kabylie capital of Tizi Ouzou and part of French Algeria at the time, he studied to be a geologist, but his life took a twist in 1973 when he was called up as a last-minute replacement on the radio to sing “A Vava Inouva.” It was a lullaby with the “rich oral traditions” of the Berber culture and became a beloved song in the country.Idir moved to France in 1975, after finishing military service, where he recorded his first album, also titled “A Vava Inouva,” and a series of popular North African-style songs in the same decade.The style of his music, with lone vocals and acoustic guitar, championed the sounds of Kabyle music, and as such he was widely considered an ambassador of the Kabyle culture.The Berber-speaking Kabyle people are a sub-group of North and West Africa’s wider Berber ethnic population. In Algeria, the Kabyles are a minority that have historically been repressed by the central government and are indigenous to the north of the country, spanning the Atlas Mountains. Many Kabyle settled in France following the Algerian civil war. 
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Journalists in Somalia routinely face many difficulties but this year, under the stress of the spread of COVID-19, they say feel even more threatened by intimidation and arrest by what they call hostile leaders. Cautiously celebrating World Press Freedom Day, a number of Somali journalists and journalists’ rights activists shared their experiences with the VOA Somali service. “Somalia has always been a hostile environment for journalists but this year the situation was extreme as authorities stepped up their intimidation of journalists and specially this time when our country faces the spread of the novel coronavirus,” said Mohamed Ibrahim Moalimu, secretary general of the Federation of Somali Journalists.   Moalimu says three journalists were arbitrarily detained in different parts of Somalia. Two of them were accused of various crimes, and a local radio station was barred from broadcasting in a local dialect since mid-April 2020.   FILE – Somali journalists are seen during a stake-out on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia, July 25, 2019.“Facing jail and threats in a time of pandemic, when journalists are struggling with changing roles and behaviors to maintain their service to the public interest is not acceptable,” said Moalimu.   Journalists in Somalia say they go to extreme lengths to report on sensitive and controversial issues in the public interest.    Luqman Mohamed Farah is a journalist who works with Bulsho TV, a private outlet based in Hargeisa Somaliland.    “Authorities are not friendly with the media and they do not provide the information journalists need and that forces some journalists to report stories from non-government sources and because of that they face arrests and intimidations,” said Farah. Burhan Diini Farah, the director of Kulmiye radio, a private VOA affiliate radio station based in Mogadishu says getting information from the authorities has been a challenge. “Nowadays, the government’s top leaders do not hold press conferences, where they can take questions. they pre-record videos and audio messages and distribute via government media. So, it is a kind of indirectly normalizing a government censorship,” Farah said. Somali government authorities often deny such accusations and instead accuse journalists of impartiality and providing misinformation. “I categorically deny that government security agencies arrest journalists for reasons relating to stifling them and silencing them and I can tell you that there are ongoing efforts to train and develop journalists to give the journalists an environment where journalists can work freely without fear”  said Somalia’s director of the Ministry of Information, Abduraham Yusuf (Al-dala).FILE – Somalia’s President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo addresses lawmakers in the capital Mogadishu, Feb. 8, 2017.Somali President Mohamed Abdullah Farmajo tweeted “Congrats to Somali journalists on World Press Freedom Day. Journalism is noble profession & Penal Code of 1964 will be reformed to ensure it is not used against journos. My administration fully supports the de-criminalization of journalism & free expression through legal reform.” The penal code, which came into force in 1964, includes a number of vague and overly broad crimes, including criminal defamation, offending the honor and prestige of the head of state,  insulting a public officer or institution and contempt against the nation, state or flag. Somalia is categorized as one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, as they face threats from authorities, armed private individuals, and the al-Shabab terrorist group. In its latest World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders ranked Somalia 163 out of 180 nations. “Pressure on journalists can come from many quarters, especially as much of the country is controlled by non-state entities or by autonomous regional governments that either do not or only barely recognize the central government’s authority,” Reporters Without Borders said. Some journalists leave the country and prefer live in exile.  Abdulkadir Omar Abdulle is one of them. In July 2012 two suspected al-Shabab gunmen shot him in the leg and the chest He was working as Universal Somali TV anchor at the time but went on to work and live in Nairobi Kenya. “That was a painful and shocking experience and still it rings in my ears and hurts my heart.” Abdulle told VOA Somali. “They fired about seven bullets at me, two of them hit me in the stomach and one in the leg, thanks to Allah I survived, but still I live with the trauma.” After few years, Abdulle went back to Mogadishu to continue his profession, but again received threatening phone calls about the way he talked about the attack.  This led him to return to Nairobi. Khadar Akulle, Khadar Hared and Hassan Kafi have contributed this report.  
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Cameroonian journalists are marking World Press Freedom Day with protests against abuse from the government as well as from rebels fighting for an independent English-speaking state. “The separatists think that we have not been doing much to project their independence ideology, and that is why our reporters in the field are targeted. I have not gone out of Yaoundé [to the English-speaking North-West and South-West regions] since 2017 that [when] the crisis metamorphosed into an armed conflict because they have openly called to tell me that I am a target. We receive calls from top government officials who say we are a newspaper that is working for the separatists,” he said.Cameroon’s government did not issue a statement on for World Press Freedom Day, as there were no public ceremonies due to COVID-19. However, the government has always maintained that there is press freedom in Cameroon and journalists are only arrested when they act unprofessionally.Jude Viban, president of the Cameroon Association of English Speaking Journalists said the government should decriminalize media offenses and make sure abuses against the rights of journalists by government officials and separatist fighters are stopped.”What we are doing is to inform, and we do so for the interest of the population, so a handful of people should not attack the press. When stories are not told because journalists are under attack, the population would not be informed, which, of course, is their right to be informed in a democracy like ours,” said Viban.Reporters Without Borders says press freedom continues its long decline in Cameroon, and reporters continue to be subjected to threats, attacks, intimidation and arrests after President Paul Biya’s reelection for a seventh term in October 2018. 
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Cameroonians have been flooding into the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Douala, where Archbishop Samuel Kleda claims he has found an herbal cure for COVID-19.The popularity of the archbishop’s alleged cure has prompted some authorities to try to make the treatment more widely available, even though medical experts have urged extreme caution about its use.Paul Nyaga, curate of St. Paul’s Parish of the Douala Archdiocese, said through a messaging application that since information circulated a week ago that Kleda could treat COVID-19, many have been rushing to his parish for help.He said the parish had been overwhelmed by the number of people coming from Yaounde, Bafoussam and Douala with test results showing that they were COVID-19-positive and saying they did not have access to treatment. He said he told them to go to Catholic hospitals in the archdiocese, where they would be treated when there were additional supplies of the archbishop’s herbal remedy.Among the hundreds asking for help was hairdresser Clementine Eya, 27, who also spoke via a messaging application from Douala.She said she had no money to pay for the hospital treatment of her elder sister, who tested COVID-19-positive in Douala and wanted to see the archbishop because she had been told his treatment was efficient and free.Several dozen treatedKleda told state media CRTV on April 25 that he had treated several dozen people, including eight medical staff members, for conditions affecting their respiratory systems, just like the coronavirus does.Kleda, speaking via a messaging application from Douala, said he could confirm that his 30 years of medicinal plant research experience, especially on herbal treatment, had enabled him to find a cure for COVID-19.He said he was very happy because everyone who had taken the herbal remedy had been cured of COVID-19.  He added that that his goal as a servant of God was to help poor and suffering people, and that was why he gave away the cure, which he named Essential Oils, free of charge.Last week, the Cameroonian government sent a team of researchers and doctors to determine the validity of Kleda’s claimed cure. Public Health Minister Malachie Manaouda said the government’s support would be determined by the outcome of the investigation. He said if Kleda was proven to be right, the government would make it more widely available for COVID-19 patients.The Cameroon Medical Council and the Cameroon Academy of Sciences have both called for research to determine the efficiency of Essential Oils.Advice: Rely on hospitalsDieudonne Kameni of the Cameroon Medical Council said that for now, COVID-19 patients should count only on treatment at authorized government hospitals.He said by telephone from Douala that medical practice has rules, regulations and professional  ethics that must be observed before drugs can be used in patients, but that the archbishop’s collection of herbs was still at a preclinical testing stage and could not be scientifically called a cure for COVID-19. He said he was asking patients to go to hospitals, which for now were the only sure places COVID-19 could be treated.Kleda said he would continue administering the treatment to patients who sought help from him while waiting for scientists to complete their findings. Many patients have, however, complained of the difficulty of obtaining Essential Oils because of high demand.Cameroon has been hit harder by the coronavirus than any other country in Central Africa. As of Saturday afternoon EDT, the country had recorded 2,077 confirmed cases, with 64 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University statistics.
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Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa has extended the country’s lockdown by two weeks to contain the coronavirus, while working people complain that they can’t make a living. Mnangagwa’s response to them – it’s better for the economy to suffer than for the pandemic to kill people.  In a televised nationwide address, Mnangagwa said more people in Zimbabwe were getting infected by the coronavirus, and he feared the situation would get out control, hence a further extension of the lockdown, which began March 30.  “From the upward trajectory of infections it is evident that our country is yet to reach its peak [of the number of infection].… I appeal to all stakeholders to continue to appreciate and recognize that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic presents a continuously evolving health situation that requires extreme caution on the part of government in order to protect everyone in the entire nation. We would rather err on the side of caution and not on the side of recklessness.  Let’s all play our part,” Mnangagwa said.His words referred in part to protective practices to fight the spread of the coronavirus. In the address, Mnangagwa said all citizens were now supposed to wear face masks outside their homes.  
 
But some Zimbabweans, like Edmore Hangamwe, an informal trader, says the lockdown, which will now end mid-May, will bring hunger to his home if he stops selling vegetables at a popular market in Harare.  He says lockdowns only work in the developed world.“But in this third world we are in Zimbabwe, it’s unfortunate. I am dancing with death. I cannot be home. I have two children to look after. In the developed world, governments are paying [subsidies to the unemployed]. We just pray to the Lord that we’re going to get a vaccine or something that [won’t allow the virus to] spread all over southern Africa,” Hangamwe said.
Mnangagwa said his government would be releasing more funds to take care of the vulnerable, something Harare has been saying since the beginning of Zimbabwe’s lockdown. The 77-year-old Zimbabwean leader said funds also would be released to ensure the country’s health delivery system remains functional.Meanwhile, there is a call for an increased government effort to fight the disease.  Dr. Tapiwa Mungofa, of the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors Association, says coronavirus testing should be intensified and that more equipment is needed.  “Our worries are with the supplies. So far, the PPEs [personal protective equipment] that we have are mostly from donations.  And, of course, we won’t know if the people who donated will keep donating. We are worried [about] what will happen if it runs out. We have heard reports that the government has started a procurement process of all PPEs available in the country. We won’t know how much we will get from that,” Mungofa said.Zimbabwe’s health delivery system collapsed years ago, and it has largely been relying on international aid organizations, such as USAID, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the European Union. 
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Kenyan Health Ministry staff began mass coronavirus tests in a low-income neighborhood of Nairobi Friday.
   
Kawangware, where voluntary testing rolled out, is an area where social distancing can be a challenge, according to Ministry of Health official Lydia Mudeyo.  
 
“The social distancing in this area is difficult and therefore it is advisable for the government and the ministry as a whole to take the initiative of educating the common mwananchi [referring to an ordinary citizen] on how to do the hand washing and the social distancing and that is why we decided, first of all, to do the mass testing in this area so that it can advise us on the outbreak in this area,” Mudeyp said.
 
If they test negative, residents of Kawangware hope they stand a better chance of finding jobs in the impoverished African country.
 
“I am very happy because I know my status now and my family will be safe and also when I go to look for work elsewhere, since I am a hotelier, I know things will be good,” Monica Wairimu, a Kawangware resident who was among those tested.
 
Wairimu said that due to the coronavirus outbreak, her business has drastically declined and as the COVID-19 hit the country, she was selling a quarter of what she used to.
   
Africa has now more than 40,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported. There have been more than 1,600 deaths across the continent.
 
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After a steep jump in confirmed COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, Sudan’s transitional government has imposed a nationwide lockdown to try to stop the spread of virus.  Health officials blame the rising number of confirmed cases on citizens who refuse to follow preventative directives issued by authorities. Sudan’s High-Level Task Force for COVID-19 now says anyone who violates the directives will be punished.  In the past 24 hours, the government reported 67 new cases, raising the total to 442 confirmed cases, according to Professor Sadiq Tawor, a member of Sudan’s Sovereign Council, who leads the task force.  Tawor says the death toll stands at 31 after three more people died Thursday. Thirty-nine patients have fully recovered.  Thirteen of Sudan’s 18 states have confirmed at least one case of coronavirus. The government had no other option but to impose a total lockdown, according to Tawor. “This measure is taken as one of our solid responsibility toward the safety of our citizens, to protect them from the carelessness of opportunists, who are trying to gain and benefit despite the ongoing pandemic,” Tawor told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus. FILE PHOTO: Sudan’s Minister of Health Akram Ali Altom speaks during a Reuters interview amid concerns about the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Khartoum, Sudan, April 11, 2020.Last week, the government banned all travel from Khartoum to other parts of the country and vice versa, but drivers continue to smuggle people from Khartoum to other states, according to Health Minister Akram Ali Altom.   Tawor said such behavior has contributed to the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases. “The majority of infection cases came through smuggling of individuals through some neighboring countries, those who travel from Khartoum to other states. Some got it through social transmissions, which are a clear violation of the health directives,” Tawor told VOA.  From now on, Tawor said people who violate the travel ban could be sent to jail. “Punishments under the health emergency act include imprisonment, quarantine, fine, and confiscation of assets, such as cars which are used to smuggle travelers between states,” Tawor told VOA. Osman Hadadi, a resident of Khartoum’s east Sahafa neighborhood, supports the lockdown. He thinks the government should go a step further by punishing people who violate restrictions on social gatherings. “Our traditions in Sudan have contributed a lot to the spread of the virus. The social life of our people is so much connected and there are some practices that they need to drop. Otherwise, this virus will kill a lot of our citizens,” Hadadi told South Sudan in Focus. Luka Lawrence Ndenge, a South Sudanese who resides in Khartoum’s Eastern Nile district, also supports the nationwide lockdown but says it could hurt certain groups of people. “It’s a wise decision but it has an impact on the nation itself especially on those who depend on daily work to run their lives. It will be difficult for them to run their lives because they depend on daily income,” Ndenge said. Minister Ali Altom said Wednesday the country would run out of medical supplies within a few weeks to fight the pandemic unless it received more supplies from international aid agencies. 
 
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No region in the world is spared from the devastating health and economic consequences of COVID-19.  Among those most affected are the forcibly displaced, including more than 25 million refugees, most of whom are being sheltered in some of the world’s poorest countries.The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) warns the more than 70 million people forcibly displaced by conflict and violence throughout the world are facing unprecedented hardships due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
 
For example, the UNHCR says it has been receiving desperate appeals for financial aid from hundreds of thousands of refugees across the Middle East and North Africa, who have been unable to work since lockdowns came into force in March.
 
It says more than 5.6 million Syrians who have taken refuge in neighboring countries, as well as six million people forcibly displaced within Syria are in urgent need of money, health care and necessities.   
 
UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic says an alarming number of refugees in Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq and Jordan have lost their livelihoods because of the pandemic.  He says many refugees are forced to skip meals, while others are threatened with evictions because they cannot pay the rent.
 
“Groups at particular risk include female heads of households, unaccompanied and separated children, elderly people, LGBTI persons.  Their situations can be improved through emergency assistance, notably through cash grants.  Across this region, many are at risk of losing shelters and they are running out of means to support themselves,” he said.
 
Mahecic notes millions of Afghan refugees, including those in Iran and Pakistan, are facing a similar situation.  He notes Afghanistan itself is facing the prospect of having its medical and social services overwhelmed due to the spread of COVID-19. This, as an increasing number of Afghans return home.
 
Elsewhere in the world, the UNHCR spokesman says the numbers of homeless and destitute Venezuelans throughout Latin America are increasing as jobs dry up because of COVID-19 lockdown measures.
 
“Some are now resorting to survival sex, begging or hawking on the streets. Others are at risk of being prey to smugglers and illegal armed groups.  With growing fears of social unrest, xenophobia and discrimination across the region are also on the rise,” Mahecic said.
 
The UNHCR reports it is working to provide emergency aid, including cash-based assistance and shelter across all major refugee operations.  It notes the coronavirus crisis is worsening existing dire humanitarian needs globally.  It says an infusion of cash is urgently needed to support these crucial aid operations.
 
 
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A festive atmosphere has enlivened South Africa’s streets as the country marks the Workers’ Day public holiday and also has begun easing its strict lockdown conditions.
From Johannesburg to Cape Town and other areas across the country thousands of people, most with mandated face masks and keeping some distance, promenaded outside. For the first time in five weeks, people were permitted to leave their homes for exercise between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. The regulations impose a night curfew prohibiting movement of most residents from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m.
South Africa has reported the most cases of COVID-19 in Africa with more than 5,600 confirmed and 83 deaths.
As South Africa eased down one notch to Level 4 restrictions, many people will be able to return to work in small batches and many businesses will resume limited operations. Many mines, factories and agricultural businesses can resume operations in phases, starting with only a third of employees allowed to return to work to be sure that they maintain safe conditions.
Public transport, including trains and buses, will begin operating with restricted numbers of passengers. Personal cars are restricted to three people per vehicle.
Even with the easing, South Africa’s lockdown remains strict, with no sales of liquor and cigarettes permitted, which some have criticized as puritanical. However health officials warn that smoking might exacerbate respiratory problems experienced with COVID-19. The ban on sales of alcohol has reduced brawls and traffic accidents, according to police.
Ordinarily South Africa marks Workers’ Day with rallies by trade unions and political parties, but these are not possible because of the lockdown regulations.
“We want to take this opportunity to pay special dedication to our frontline health workers who are confronting this virus on daily basis in this difficult time,” said Jacob Khawe, secretary in Gauteng province of the ruling party, the African National Congress.
According to officials, schools should reopen in phases starting June 1 with the first batch being Grade 7 and Grade 12 pupils, the oldest classes in primary and secondary schools, respectively. But teachers’ unions have protested, saying schools should not be reopened until safe conditions can be assured.
There is still no date as to when higher education institution will open, with the sector increasingly looking towards online learning.
The country has been on a nationwide lockdown since March 27, halting most economic activities in the country as it sought to limit people’s movements to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Minibus taxis and buses will be allowed to operate at 70% capacity for extended hours until 8 p.m., with all passengers required to wear masks and the vehicles required to be sanitized after every load.
Masks and social distancing will be required in trains, which were completely halted during the first lockdown.
Restaurants and fast food outlets, which have been closed throughout the first five weeks of the lockdown, will only be allowed to sell takeaways by delivery.
Many restrictions remain in place, however, including the ban on domestic and international travel.
South Africa will only reduce restrictions by moving to Level 3 when it achieves target rates of infection, said Health minister Zweli Mkhize without specifying the rates.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has emphasized that his government is balancing the need to curb the spread of the virus with pressure to minimize economic hardships, especially to South Africa’s most vulnerable poor.
Ramaphosa has rolled out a $26 billion socio-economic relief package for the country.
Community screening and testing is increasing. Community health workers have already screened more than 3.6 million people and conducted more than 200,000 tests. Officials say they will be on the lookout for hot spot areas of high concentrations of cases where they will target isolation measures.
South Africa’s Western Cape province, which includes the city of Cape Town, has the highest number of cases with more than 2,340.  
The economic hub of Gauteng province, which includes the largest city, Johannesburg, has more than 1,440 cases.
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Ten Egyptian army members including an officer were killed or wounded on Thursday when a bomb exploded in an armored vehicle south of Bir al-Abd city in the Northern Sinai region, a military spokesman said in a statement.He did not specify how many had been killed in the attack, which not immediately claimed by any group. Militants loyal to Islamic State are active in the strategic border region.Egypt has been fighting Islamist insurgents who have killed hundreds of police and soldiers in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula since the ousting of Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 following mass protests against his rule.Militants have also carried out attacks elsewhere in the country.An Egyptian policeman and seven suspected militants were killed on April 14 in an exchange of gunfire after the ministry of interior received information about potential Easter attacks against Coptic Christians, the ministry said, adding that three other policemen had also been wounded.The military and police launched a major campaign against militant groups in 2018, focusing on the Sinai Peninsula as well as southern areas and the border with Libya. 
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A court in Uganda this week rejected bail for 19 members of the LGBT community who were arrested for gathering in public in violation of the coronavirus lockdown. Police arrested the men last month at a shelter for sexual minorities. Their lawyer argues the men, who range in age from 19 to 32, were targeted because of their sexual orientation.   Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists in Uganda have expressed concern over what they say is a deliberate violation of their community members’ rights.  On March 29, police arrested 23 members of an LGBT shelter, the Children of the Sun Foundation, in the town of Kyengera, 10 kilometers southwest of Kampala. Four of the men were released on medical grounds, while the others were presented to court and remanded to prison.  On the day of the arrest, the local mayor was videotaped asking the men who their parents were and hitting one of them on the hands with a huge cane. The men were also made to face the camera to reveal their faces.
On Tuesday, Adrian Juuko, a lawyer for activist group Sexual Minorities Uganda, petitioned the High Court in Kampala for an emergency bail application, as the lower court that would hear the case was not operating.
 
“COVID-19 was used as an excuse to get them remanded to prison. And COVID is still being used as an excuse not to bring them to court. If you look at the letter that was given to us by the prison authorities, they said that, we cannot allow lawyers to access the prison because of the current lockdown due to COVID-19. Now, no one was demanding for physical access; they could have given us access through the telephone. So, that was just an excuse. They are not doing what they are supposed to do, and in the process, they are violating rights,” Juuko said.The defendants have been charged with conducting an act likely to cause the spread of an infectious disease, namely COVID-19, which is caused by the coronavirus.Patrick Onyango, the deputy spokesperson for the Kampala police, said officers made the arrests after local residents complained about the gathering.   “They were not being targeted because they are gay. It was the community that saw that these people are violating the presidential directives, and informed police. And these were more than 10; they were 23 in number. So, police had to act according to the directive and according to the law,” Onyango said.Ugandan authorities have outlawed any gathering of more than five people in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus, and police have been enforcing the rules, arresting more than 400 people last week for alleged violations.On Monday, the U.N. human rights office said in a statement that any emergency response linked to COVID-19 must be proportionate, necessary and non-discriminatory. They said that in Uganda, authorities are using their emergency powers to act arbitrarily.Frank Mugisha, executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, said many LGBT shelters have had to change their policies because of the crackdowns. The shelters sometimes house youths who have been kicked out of their homes by their families.  “We’ve only had violations towards LGBT persons especially towards the shelters from local councils and law enforcers in those areas. People have had even to shift or reduce the number of people who were staying in certain shelters because of the law enforcers,” Mugisha said.The 19 men will remain in jail until a court hearing on May 12, unless the High Court grants them bail before then. 
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The head of Lesotho’s ruling party turned down Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s demands for immunity from prosecution in connection with the shooting death of his former wife in the southern African kingdom.The decision by the leader of the All Basotho Convention (ABC) party is the latest in a week of setbacks for the 80-year-old embattled leader, who is facing pressure to resign before the end of July, as he promised.Earlier this week, a magistrate ruled that Lesotho’s high court will decide if Thabane can claim immunity from a charge that he murdered his former wife.Also this week, the Senate modified the constitution, limiting the prime minister’s powers to dissolve parliament and call fresh elections.A leader of the opposition party, the Democratic Congress (DC), Motlalentoa Letsosa, told the French News Agency (AFP ) that Thabane has run out of options and the only thing that’s left for him is to leave.Thabane recently rejected an offer by Lesotho’s coalition government and South African mediators to step down with a dignified retirement.Police charged Thabane’s wife, first lady Maesaiah Thabane, with the murder of his previous wife, Lipolelo Thabane, outside her home in Maseru, Lesotho’s capital, just before his June 2017 inauguration.
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The U.S. government’s recent executive order to suspend the issuance of Lawful Permanent Resident permits (green cards) has left international students at U.S. colleges and universities uncertain about their enrollment and future plans.Though the decision does not directly affect student visas, it left open the option to review nonimmigrant programs “within 30 days of the effective date of this proclamation” and could recommend “other measures to stimulate the United States economy” (during the COVID-19 crisis).Student visas are under the nonimmigrant visa category issued to foreign nationals seeking to enter the United States on a temporary basis.Athiyah Azum, a journalism student at the University of Maryland who graduates in May, said she applied for Optional Practical Training (OPT) but is worried her paperwork will not be processed before her visa expires.“When I apply for jobs, it’s very much like putting on my cover letter, ‘You don’t have to sponsor me.’ I have work authorization that should be kicking [in] by June 1, just because I’m banking on it,” she told VOA.OPT legally allows college graduates with student visas to stay in the United States and work in their field of study for up to three years.Azum, a former intern at VOA, explained that though the executive order does not affect students like her, it adds to the anxiety.“I get the news alert that [President Donald] Trump is going to come up with an executive order to temporarily ban immigration, I’m just, like, ‘What do I do? … Can I stay? What’s going to happen?’ ” she said.According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency responsible for administering the nation’s legal immigration system, offices will reopen on June 4, but the USCIS staff has continued to perform duties that do not involve face-to-face contact with the public.’Absolute unmitigated disaster’For more than a month, the U.S. government has stopped processing all nonimmigrant visas, flights have been canceled, immigration offices are closed and schools are hosting their classes online.Rebecca Hamlin, graduate admissions chair at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said concerns have been ongoing about international students since no one can apply to enter the country, even students already accepted at U.S. institutions.“We’ve been having calls about this and conversations about this for the past month, about whether or not the students that we had admitted for fall 2020 are going to be able to come. And so far, we just don’t know the answer,” she said.Hamlin said having an executive order covering nonimmigrant visas is an “absolute unmitigated disaster for higher education in this country.”The higher education industry in the U.S. faced documented evidence of daunting competition from other countries in 2018 that offer lower tuition, immigration pathways and less controversy for international students.Online publication Inside Higher Ed reports an estimated 15 percent drop in overall student enrollment in the next academic year, including a 25 percent decline in international student enrollment. The findings could mean a loss of $23 billion in revenue.TheChronicle of Higher Education reports that even though colleges are taking steps to offset deep revenue losses, universities have furloughed hundreds of employees and announced revenue hits of more than $100 million. Small campuses may suffer the most or not recover at all from the financial challenges of COVID-19.According to the Institute of International Education’s (IIE) annual Open Doors report, there were 1.1 million international students (5.5 percent of all students) among 19.8 million total students in institutions of higher education in the U.S. for the 2018-19 school year.China sent the most students — 369,548, or 33.7 percent of all foreign students. India sent 202,014, the second-largest number, or 18.4 percent of all foreign students.“One of the unfortunate aspects of this is that we can’t even offer a remote option for students whose student visa has not been processed in time,” Hamlin said. “Because even though they would not be physically trying to enter the United States, if they were taking classes remotely from their home country, they can’t be an officially enrolled student and take classes for a grade until their student visa has been processed.”After OPTAzum hopes the work the USCIS staff is doing during the COVID-19 crisis means her OPT application will be finalized by June.“After OPT, I’m really hoping I will work as much as I can to make sure that I am continually employed under OPT. Then, after gaining work experience, I’m able to apply for an H-1B next year,” she said.An H-1B visa allows for temporary employment among nonimmigrants. Immigration lawyers say becoming an H-1B holder is a natural progression for international students.Rosanna Berardi, an immigration lawyer from Buffalo, New York, said most of her clients who applied for H-1B visas were international students.“They are really going to be shut out, because if you’re not able to get an H-1B after your student status expires, you have to return to your home country,” she said.According to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), students who are not able to keep their visa status have 60 days to return to their home country.“Some have been here for six years,” Berardi said. “They did their bachelor’s degree and then a master’s program. … These are people that I love being in immigration because they’re just chasing the American dream. They’re doing it lawfully, respectfully. They’re paying the government their fees. They’re paying their taxes.” 
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Guinea-Bissau’s Prime Minister Nuno Gomes Nabiam has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, as have three members of his cabinet, the health ministry said Wednesday.Nabiam, Interior Minister Botche Cande and two other ministers were diagnosed Tuesday and have been quarantined at a hotel in the capital, Bissau, Health Minister Antonio Deuna told journalists.He did not provide details of the officials’ condition or treatment, but warned the country’s rate of infection could rise.The West African nation has so far confirmed more than 70 cases and one death, that of a senior police commissioner.
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