AFRICA

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | As the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread globally with positive cases going to the highs of 1.9 million people, over 117 million children in 37 countries may miss out on receiving life-saving measles vaccine as measles immunization campaigns in 24 countries have already been …

Tripoli, Libya | AFP |  Forces backing Libya’s unity government captured two coastal cities west of Tripoli on Monday in a new blow to military commander Khalifa Haftar a year after he launched an offensive on the capital. They also routed his forces from three smaller cities, sparking rocket attacks on …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP |  Saudi Arabia has deported nearly 3,000 Ethiopian migrants in recent days, despite concerns that such operations could hasten the spread of the coronavirus, the United Nations says. Since mid-March, the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) has registered 2,870 Ethiopian returnees, all but 100 of …

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | Swarms of locusts in Ethiopia have damaged 200,000 hectares (half a million acres) of cropland and driven around a million people to require emergency food aid, the United Nations said Monday. The findings from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which recently concluded a …

Abuja, Nigeria | AFP | President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to Nigerians to stay at home to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but the government has still not said whether it will extend a two-week confinement order on three states that ends Monday. Residents in Lagos, Ogun and the capital Abuja have been confined …

Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Sub-Saharan Africa has not been as badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic as some other parts of the world, but the economy is being pummelled. Here’s a look at the main issues. – Perfect storm recession – For the first time in 25 years sub-Saharan …

Algiers, Algeria | AFP |  Algeria faces economic and social turmoil if crude prices continue to collapse, experts have warned, with the oil-dependent country reeling from a year of popular protests, political turmoil and now, coronavirus. The North African country is an example of how hydrocarbon economies are likely to face …

Casablanca, Morocco | AFP |  A small van zips through the streets of Casablanca to deliver food to single mothers, as economic paralysis caused by the coronavirus crisis puts pressure on Morocco’s poor. “We have to be quick,” says Bouchra, a coordinator from NGO INSAF who is supervising the day’s rounds. …

Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | When Africa’s first case of coronavirus was detected in Egypt in February, the rest of the continent prepared for the brunt of a pandemic that has engulfed Europe and spread to the United States, infecting more than 1.6 million worldwide. Health experts warned of the …

Beijing, China | AFP | Africans in southern China’s largest city say they have become targets of suspicion and subjected to forced evictions, arbitrary quarantines and mass coronavirus testing as the country steps up its fight against imported infections. China says it has largely curbed its COVID-19 outbreak but a recent …