JOHANNESBURG, March 19 (Reuters) &#8211; South African authorities announced on Thursday they would erect a fence along its border with Zimbabwe to prevent illegal immigrants from entering and spreading the coronavirus. 



President Ramaphosa has already ordered 35 out of 53 land entry points closed. 



“This measure will &#8230; not be effective if the fences at the border are not secure, which in many places, they are not,” Public Works Minister Patricia de Lille said in a statement. 



The planned fence is to be erected on either side of the Beitbridge Land Port of Entry, in order to “ensure that no undocumented or infected persons cross into the country.” 



“All 40 kilometres (25 miles) of fence will be finished within one month. Local labour will be sourced by the contractor,” she added.



South Africa has long sought to reduce illegal immigration from Zimbabwe, which it sees as a threat to local jobs in a country with unemployment of around 30 percent. 



Countries around the world have been cancelling flights, banning travel from certain countries and tightening controls at borders in order to prevent the virus’s spread. 



Ministers announced other measures aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus while limiting the impact of its side effects such as panic buying in supermarkets.



(Reporting by Tim Cocks; editing by David Evans)



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S.Africa to erect 40km fence on Zimbabwe border as coronavirus measure

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s biggest supermarket Shoprite will limit purchases of some food products and medicines, it said on Thursday, as frantic shoppers stripped shelves to prepare for possible isolation during the coronavirus outbreak. 



As the spread of the infection triggers panic buying across the world, South African retailers are saying they are working with their suppliers to ensure a consistent supply of products like meat and canned food, and medicine. 



Countries across Africa reporting their first coronavirus cases have seen a rush on shops, with customers piling trolleys with wipes, sanitizer, and staples like rice and long-life milk. 



To ensure more people have access to everyday essentials, Shoprite said it is now rationing the sale of toilet paper, tissues, wipes, liquid soap, hand sanitizer as well as some tinned foods, cereals, antiseptic disinfectant liquids, medicines and vitamins. 



On Wednesday, Woolworths said it is introducing a limit of only three items per product and per customer on every grocery line, while Massmart’s Makro has also restricted purchases of essential items like rice, frozen chicken and toilet paper. 



“Unfortunately many consumers have not yet heeded to the call to refrain from stockpiling, therefore rationing the sale of certain products has become necessary,” Shoprite said in a statement. 



Shoprite said it has also allocated special till points for pensioners and vulnerable people including those with disabilities at its Shoprite and Checkers supermarkets. 



“The group appeals to senior citizens to shop outside of peak travel times and when stores are quieter to minimise exposure,” it said. 



(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla, Editing by William Maclean)



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Panic buying forces South African supermarkets to ration food

PRETORIA, March 19 (Reuters) &#8211; The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) cut its main lending rate by 100 basis points to 5.25% on Thursday in a unanimous decision, citing a dire local and global economic outlook due to the deepening impact of the coronavirus pandemic.



The cut, which helped drag the rand from levels near its lowest ever, was twice as large as the half-percentage-point predicted by a Reuters poll last week. Only one of the 22 analysts polled had forecast the aggressive 100 bps move.



The SARB has not cut in increments larger than 25 bps since 2012.



“The technical recession of the latter half of 2019 contributed to the lower economic growth forecast,” SARB Governor Lesetja Kganyago told a news conference in the capital Pretoria. 



“Additionally, COVID-19 and existing constraints such as load-shedding (by power utility Eskom) imply significant downside risk to the growth outlook,” Kganyago said.



Africa’s most developed economy slipped into its second recession in two years in 2019 as agriculture, transport and construction activity contracted, with an unreliable power supply the main impediment to growth.



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://in.reuters.com/article/safrica-economy-rates-idUSL8N2BC69K">https://in.reuters.com/article/safrica-economy-rates-idUSL8N2BC69K</a> and is republished with its permission.

SARB delivers 100 bps rate cut to fight coronavirus fallout

By Cooper Inveen



FREETOWN (Reuters) &#8211; Shoppers threaded their way between stalls hawking everything from watches to pigs’ feet in Sierra Leone’s capital on Wednesday, two days after the government banned large gatherings to combat the coronavirus but exempted markets such as this.



Buyers and sellers at the Abacha market say they can’t afford to stay away anyway. They depend on it for their daily food and wages. 



A growing number of African countries are announcing increasingly restrictive measures to try to halt the spread of the virus, which has infected more than 200,000 people globally and killed nearly 9,000. They have shut borders, closed schools and universities and barred large public gatherings. 



On Wednesday, Uganda banned religious gatherings and weddings, despite not having a single coronavirus case. South Africa strongly encouraged restaurants and bars to provide take-out services only. 



Sierra Leone, despite not having a reported infection, banned gatherings of more than 100 people on Monday. Markets that draw thousands of people were exempt. 



“We don’t have this virus here yet, so why should we stop?” said Abacha soap vendor Adama Jalloh, as a baby dozed against the back of her traditional print dress. 



“Even during Ebola time we were able to sell,” she said, referring to a deadly outbreak that killed thousands in West Africa in 2013-16. 



Africa was slower to feel the impact than Asia or Europe, but 31 African nations have now recorded cases, with 13 reported deaths. The World Health Organization on Wednesday advised African countries to avoid mass gatherings and “wake up” to the growing threat. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">PATIENTS ON THE RUN </h3>



On Wednesday, Kenya &#8211; which has seven cases &#8211; announced that anyone entering the country who fails to observe the required 14 days of self-isolation would be arrested. But there’s no system for monitoring new arrivals, and some flout the rules. 



A Kenyan legislator who turned up in parliament this week was forced out by cries of “quarantine! quarantine!” after another lawmaker pointed out he’d recently arrived from London. 



In South Africa, which has 116 cases &#8211; more than any other sub-Saharan nation &#8211; a family that tested positive for the virus refused to go into quarantine this week, forcing officials to get a court order. 



“Patients who are tested positive for the COVID-19 virus are required to stay (in quarantine). Not for their safety, but also for the safety of others,” said Kwara Kekana, spokeswoman for the Gauteng provincial health department. 



Some Africans find the measures draconian. 



In western Ivory Coast, which has only six coronavirus cases and no deaths, some people thought it was a bit much when the government told them to keep one metre apart and wash their hands rigorously. 



“People are exaggerating a bit. The disease hasn’t really spread far here, and they’re scaring us by telling us not to greet and to wear masks,” said Namory Doumbia, a 28-year-old chauffeur. 



Bans on large gatherings are sometimes selectively applied, confusing citizens. Senegal, a mostly Muslim West African country, cancelled religious festivals five days ago, but initially spared Islamic prayers. 



“We cannot forbid religious gatherings,” said Mbackiou Faye, a representative of Senegal’s powerful Mouride Muslim brotherhood. “It is with our prayers and our incantations that God answers them and spares us from diseases.” 



Late on Wednesday, Senegal &#8211; which has 36 cases &#8211; ordered both churches and mosques closed. But they remained open in other nations like Burkina Faso, where hundreds prayed together side-by-side in one of the capital’s largest mosques. 



Both Kenya and South Africa have directed public minibuses that provide transport to millions of people to provide passengers with hand sanitizers. Checks by Reuters revealed that few had done so. 



Passengers at a busy minibus rank in Johannesburg’s financial centre said they lived too far from their jobs to walk, and there was no other transportation. 



“I don’t feel safe in the (minibus) taxi,” said 29-year-old Lerato Sibandi, who needed to travel to her retail job. “But I don’t have a choice.” 



(Reporting by Tumelo Modiba in Johannesburg, Humphrey Malalo, Omar Mohammed and George Obulutsa in Nairobi, Hereward Holland in Kinshasa, Christophe Van Der Perre in Dakar,and Loucoumane Coulibaly in Abidjan; Writing by Tanisha Heiberg and Katharine Houreld; Editing by Alexandra Zavis and Nick Macfie)



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN2160WG-OZATP">https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN2160WG-OZATP</a> and is republished with its permission.

Clarification on COVID-19 “hotspots” as SA moves to level 3 lockdown

Africa talks tough against coronavirus but many wonder why

ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria is looking at reducing its budget by 1.5 trillion naira ($4.90 billion) as the global spread of the coronavirus takes a massive toll on Africa’s largest economy and one of the continent’s biggest oil producers, the finance minister said on Wednesday. 



Roughly 90% of the Nigerian government’s foreign exchange earnings come from sales of oil, prices of which have taken a beating amid lower Chinese demand and a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia. 



Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed last week said the 2020 budget would have to be cut. The spending plan, which was calculated assuming crude production of 2.18 million barrels a day at a price of $57 per barrel, was passed in December. 



“We are working on a worst-case scenario of an oil benchmark of $30 per barrel and a production of 2.1 million (barrels a day),” Ahmed told reporters at a briefing after a regular Cabinet meeting. 



International benchmark Brent crude on Wednesday reached a 16-year low of about $25 a barrel, dragged down by concerns about the impact of the coronavirus on the global economy, a collapse in oil demand and a supply glut. [O/R] 



Nigeria is still struggling to shake off a 2016 recession, which was caused by the oil price collapse of late 2014, with economic growth currently at around 2%. 



The West African country, which has deep trade ties with China, has also felt the impact of the coronavirus due to disrupted supply chains. 



($1 = 306.0000 naira) 



(Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Paul Carsten; Editing by Alexis Akwagyiram and Leslie Adler)



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKBN2160YK-OZABS">https://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKBN2160YK-OZABS</a> and is republished with its permission.

Nigeria eyes $4.9 bln budget cut amid coronavirus

JOHANNESBURG, March 19 (Reuters) &#8211; South African retailer Massmart said on Thursday it had decided to close all of its non-performing stores, as cash-strapped consumers battle with high unemployment, modest wage increases and higher average fuel and utility prices. 



The company said management will cease trading of the affected 23 Dion Wired Stores on March 19, and will decide whether to cease trade in relation to the 11 affected non-performing Masscash stores.



(Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/massmart-closures-idUSL8N2BC0T7">https://www.reuters.com/article/massmart-closures-idUSL8N2BC0T7</a> and is republished with its permission.

South Africa’s Massmart to close non-performing stores

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; Mauritius has confirmed its first three cases of coronavirus, its government said in a statement on Thursday. 



“It concerns three Mauritian nationals who have travelled back to Mauritius recently aged 21, 25 and 59 years respectively. Two have worked on cruise ships and one is from the United Kingdom,” the government said in a statement on its website. 



(Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Sandra Maler)



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN2160YB-OZATP">https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN2160YB-OZATP</a> and is republished with its permission.

Mauritius confirms first three cases of coronavirus

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s rand fell to a more than four year low, stocks sunk back to 2013 levels and bond yields spiked on Wednesday, as a wave of stimulus from governments around the world failed to quell panic about the coronavirus pandemic.



At 12:54 GMT, the rand &lt;ZAR=D3 traded at 16.9800 per dollar, 2.41% weaker than its previous close, while stocks lost the majority of the gains clawed back since Monday, when the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) suffered its biggest ever daily fall. 



Markets globally were stumbling again as cases of coronavirus continued to rise and countries took increasingly draconian measures to stem the increase, with a flight from riskier assets being felt across emerging markets. 



“The rand is not alone in its losses &#8230; unfortunately the rand being as liquid as it is, it’s being caught up in the foray,” said Quinten Bertenshaw, director at ETM Trading. 



“Anybody that’s looking to hedge out any EM (emerging market) risk at the moment will be doing it in the rand.” 



The ongoing rout in South African markets means there is mounting pressure on the South African Reserve Bank ahead of a key interest rate decision on Thursday, when it is expected to cut rates in a bid to shore up an already ailing economy. 



Numerous other central banks and governments around the world have stepped in to provide large-scale support measures to businesses and consumers hurt by the coronavirus fallout. 



While Bertenshaw said a 100 basis point interest rate cut was a possibility, he added it would have to come alongside a “concerted fiscal effort” from the government, though it might not have the room in its budget to do what is required to keep the economy afloat. 



South Africa tipped into recession in the final quarter of last year, and the pandemic is expected to make matters worse by hitting tourist arrivals and commodity exports to major trading partner China. 



Both the JSE’s blue-chip top-40 index and the broader all-share index were down by around 7.5%. Many financial firms suffered, with the banking index down 12.17%. 



Other firms that bore the brunt of the declines on the blue-chip index were Impala Platinum Holdings, down 36%, and petrochemicals company Sasol. 



In fixed income, the yield on the 10-year government bond due in 2030 jumped by 75.5 basis points to 11.5%. 



(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Emma Rumney; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel and Mark Potter)



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South African rand, stocks sink as coronavirus pummels markets again

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; Kenyan banks will allow personal borrowers who get into difficulties due to the new coronavirus pandemic to extend their loans for up to a year, the central bank governor said on Wednesday. 



The East African nation has four confirmed cases of the COVID-19 and the government has imposed measures aimed at reducing its spreads including banning public gatherings and closing schools indefinitely. 



“We don’t want this health crisis to become a financial crisis,” Patrick Njoroge, the governor, told a televised news conference. 



Small and medium enterprises who encounter difficulties will also be allowed to restructure their bank loans at no cost, he added. 



(Reporting by Duncan Miriri and George Obulutsa, editing by Louise Heavens)



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKBN21512O-OZABS">https://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKBN21512O-OZABS</a> and is republished with its permission.

Kenyan banks to offer relief to distressed borrowers -central bank

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South African retail sales rose 1.2% year on year in January following a revised decline of 0.5% in December, Statistics South Africa said on Wednesday. 



On a month-on-month basis sales were up 0.9%. They rose 1.0% in the three months to the end of January compared with the same period last year, the statistics body said. 



(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Edmund Blair)



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South Africa’s retail sales up 1.2% year on year in January

Report by Elliot Smith



Key Points



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The pound fell 1.5% on the session to hit $1.1873, its lowest level since an overnight flash crash in October 2016 and below the levels seen in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>Fears over the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and radical monetary policy action from the U.S. Federal Reserve are exerting downward pressure.</li></ul>



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=GBP=">Sterling</a> slid below $1.19 on Wednesday to hit its lowest point since October 2016 as liquidity concerns sent the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=.DXY">dollar</a> surging and hammered currencies around the world.&nbsp;



The pound fell 1.5% on the session to hit $1.1873, its lowest level since an overnight flash crash in October 2016 and below the levels seen in the aftermath of the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/brexit/">Brexit</a> referendum.



Fears over the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and radical monetary policy action from the U.S. Federal Reserve are exerting further downward pressure over the past two weeks as investors flock to the surety of the dollar.



<figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="What is a pandemic? | CNBC Explains" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D6otsr7v5Gc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



The greenback surge has sent currencies around the world tumbling, as the world’s most liquid currency notched new multi-year highs against both the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=AUD=">Australian</a> and New Zealand dollars, while the Norwegian crown hit an all-time low against the U.S. currency.



The dollar index on Wednesday advanced to 100, its highest level since April 2017.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Sterling rebound?</h2>



The main reason for dollar demand is liquidity concerns amid the volatility arising from the pandemic. In such volatile circumstances, companies and investors need dollars to settle transactions, according to UBS strategists Dean Turner and Thomas Flury.



UBS suggested in a note Monday that sterling is now trading at a more-than-20% discount versus the dollar, but Turner and Flury projected a rebound once the global economy stabilizes.



“As the Fed and other central banks coordinate to provide dollar liquidity across the globe through tools such as swap lines, we expect those concerns to dissipate, which can then lead to a rebound that can be as violent as the fall in recent days,” Turner and Flury added.



<figure class="wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Bank of England has limited space to cut interest rates: Currency strategist | Street Signs Asia" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l4RDiaV8iGg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div></figure>



This article was first published on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/18/sterling-falls-to-levels-not-seen-since-2016-as-dollar-strength-hammers-global-currencies.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/18/sterling-falls-to-levels-not-seen-since-2016-as-dollar-strength-hammers-global-currencies.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Sterling falls to levels not seen since 2016 as dollar strength hammers global currencies

LUSAKA (Reuters) &#8211; Zambia’s health ministry on Wednesday confirmed its first two cases of COVID-19. 



“The patients are a Zambian couple that travelled to France on a 10-day holiday,” Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya said. 



(Reporting by Chris Mfula; Editing by Alex Richardson)



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Zambia’s health ministry confirms first two cases of COVID-19

Report by William Feuer



Key Points



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>COVID-19 cases surpassed 200,000 worldwide on Wednesday as the new coronavirus continues to spread outside of China, the original epicenter of the outbreak.</li></ul>



<ul class="wp-block-list"><li>The total number of cases now stands at 201,436 as of 7:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, according to data compiled by John Hopkins.</li></ul>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1110" height="624" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Coronavirus-cases-top-200000-globally-1110x624.png" alt="" class="wp-image-363907" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Coronavirus-cases-top-200000-globally-1110x624.png 1110w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Coronavirus-cases-top-200000-globally-300x169.png 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Coronavirus-cases-top-200000-globally-820x461.png 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Coronavirus-cases-top-200000-globally-768x432.png 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Coronavirus-cases-top-200000-globally-1536x864.png 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Coronavirus-cases-top-200000-globally-696x391.png 696w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Coronavirus-cases-top-200000-globally-1068x601.png 1068w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Coronavirus-cases-top-200000-globally-747x420.png 747w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Coronavirus-cases-top-200000-globally.png 1910w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px" /></figure>



COVID-19 cases surpassed 200,000 worldwide on Wednesday as the new coronavirus continues to spread outside of China, the original epicenter of the outbreak.



The total number of cases now stands at 201,436&nbsp;as of 7:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday, according to data compiled by John Hopkins. The virus emerged in Wuhan, China in December. It has since spread to most countries around the world, according to the World Health Organization.



Almost half of all cases in the world are in China, but the virus, known as COVID-19, has quickly spread across borders. Last week, the WHO declared that Europe had become the new epicenter of the virus.



“More cases are now being reported [in Europe] every day than were reported in China at the height of its epidemic,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.



Italy, where officials have implemented a nationwide lockdown, has reported more than 31,000 cases, according to JHU, and over 2,500 deaths. The virus has infected more than 16,000 people in Iran, JHU’s data shows, and over 13,000 in Spain.



On Jan. 20, four countries, China, Thailand, Japan and South Korea, had reported a total of 282 cases, most of which were in China, according to the WHO.



The WHO <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/11/who-declares-the-coronavirus-outbreak-a-global-pandemic.html">declared the virus a global pandemic last week</a>.



“In the past two weeks the number of cases outside China has increased thirteenfold and the number of affected countries has tripled,” Tedros said. “In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cases, the number of deaths and the number of affected countries to climb even higher.”



The WHO has criticized responses by some countries for failing to communicate clearly with their population, not taking proactive containment measures and not committing politically to combat the virus.&nbsp;



“Some countries are struggling with a lack of capacity. Some countries are struggling with a lack of resources. Some countries are struggling with a lack of resolve,” Tedros said after declaring the virus a pandemic.



To curb the spread of the virus, governments across the world are closing schools, restricting travel and ordering people to remain in their homes.&nbsp;<a href="https://europa.eu/european-union/about-eu/countries_en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">European leaders</a>&nbsp;agreed Tuesday to close the European Union’s external borders for 30 days. Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump declared a similar travel ban on most European countries.



Italian officials locked down the entire country earlier this month, banning public gatherings, shuttering schools and closing businesses.



This article was first published on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/18/worldwide-coronavirus-cases-top-200000-for-the-first-time.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/18/worldwide-coronavirus-cases-top-200000-for-the-first-time.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Worldwide coronavirus cases top 200,000 for the first time

(Reuters) &#8211; The World Health Organization has warned of the risk that COVID-19 could overwhelm strained public health systems in sub-Saharan Africa. Here is a selection of measures countries are taking to prepare for the virus and limit its spread.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">SOUTH AFRICA </h3>



With more cases than any other country in sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa is barring entry to foreign travellers&nbsp;coming from or transiting through&nbsp;high-risk countries including Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland, the United States, the United Kingdom and China, according to an advisory issue by the foreign ministry on Tuesday. 



Travellers who arrived from these countries since mid-February must report for testing. Those arriving from medium-risk countries – Portugal, Hong Kong and Singapore – will undergo high intensity screening. 



South Africans are advised to cancel or postpone all non-essential foreign travel.&nbsp;The government has also ordered schools to close early for the Easter break and will prohibit gatherings of more than 100 people. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">NIGERIA </h3>



Africa’s most populous nation has stepped up surveillance and is preparing for the possibility of an influx of patients. 



Lagos, the biggest city with some 20 million people, could handle 2,000 cases, said Bamidele Mutiu, who heads a regional biosafety team. To do this, they would need to use two camps previously housing people displaced by violence, he said. 



Authorities are checking the temperature of anyone who arrives at Nigeria’s airports, ports and land borders. 



Those coming from high-risk countries such as China, Iran, Italy and Spain are asked to self-isolate for 14 days, said Tarik Mohammed, a technical advisor at the Niger Centre for Disease Control. If they develop symptoms, a laboratory team will visit them and collect a sample for testing. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">KENYA </h3>



The East African country is suspending travel from any nation with reported COVID-19 cases. 



Only Kenyan citizens, foreigners with residence permits and United Nations workers will be allowed to come in, provided they proceed on self-quarantine, the government said this week. 



Schools and universities are closing, and public minibuses are providing hand sanitizer. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">ETHIOPIA </h3>



Ethiopian Airlines said on its website that medics stationed at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, a key regional transit hub, carry out continuous health screenings 24/7. 



The government in the Horn of Africa country has closed schools nationwide and offered to transport people on government buses to ease congestion on public transport. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">RWANDA </h3>



The East African country is flooding its capital, Kigali, with portable sinks for hand-washing at bus stops, restaurants, banks and shops. Schools, universities, churches and courts are closed nationwide. Some flights are suspended. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">CAMEROON </h3>



From Wednesday, Cameroon, in central Africa, will close land, air and sea borders indefinitely, the government said in statement on Tuesday. International flights will be grounded, with the exception of cargo planes. Schools and restaurants will shut, and gatherings of more than 50 people are banned. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">LIBERIA </h3>



The West African country is applying lessons learned fighting a devastating Ebola outbreak in 2014-15. 



“We were one of the first countries to start enhanced screening at the airport on Jan. 25,” said&nbsp;Mosoka P. Fallah, acting director general of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia. 



More than 200 people have been trained as field epidemiologists and check for diseases in all 90 districts, said Tolbert Nyenswah, senior research associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the United States and former incident manager for Liberia’s Ebola response. 



“If there is a case of a suspected disease, a sample is sent to a lab and tested.” 



There are hand-washing stations at public places including stores, shops, schools, hospitals, restaurant and government offices. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">SENEGAL </h3>



Has been taking all passengers’ temperatures since Jan. 28 and asks for contact details, so officials can reach them if someone else on the plane tests positive, a spokesman for Dakar airport said. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">GHANA </h3>



Has implemented some of the most stringent measures in West Africa with a mandatory 14 days of quarantine for all people arriving from abroad. Travelers from countries with over 200 cases of coronavirus are barred from entering the country unless they are Ghanaian citizens or residents.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">MAURITANIA </h3>



After confirming its first case on March 13, the West African country closed the international airport, suspended teaching in schools and universities, and banned weekly markets. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">MADAGASCAR </h3>



One of the world’s poorest countries, the island nation has suspended all flights for 30 days, a blow to its tourism industry. 



(Reporting by Africa bureaux)



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN2150U6-OZATP">https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN2150U6-OZATP</a> and is republished with its permission.

FACTBOX: What Africa is doing to fight coronavirus

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South African Airways (SAA) said on Wednesday that it had cancelled 162 international and regional flights until the end of this month due to low demand and restrictions linked to the coronavirus. 



SAA is under a form of bankruptcy protection and battling for its survival. President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday announced travel bans affecting several countries where SAA flies, including the United States, Britain and Germany. 



(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Tim Cocks)



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKBN21512G-OZABS">https://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKBN21512G-OZABS</a> and is republished with its permission.

South African Airways cancels 162 flights due to coronavirus

Report by Josiane Kouagheu, Juliette Jabkhiro and Aaron Ross



YAOUNDE/DAKAR (Reuters) &#8211; When a passenger arriving from Brussels at Cameroon’s Yaounde Nsimalen airport on Saturday was found to have a temperature, health officials say he was whisked to a hospital and diagnosed inside four hours as the country’s fourth case of coronavirus.



The central African country was doing more generalised screening for disease long before China revealed the new virus that has killed around 7,000 people globally. Along with other countries on the continent, it hopes its experience guarding against Ebola and other epidemics will help its health system cope with a pandemic that could quickly overwhelm it. 



“We have cases that were not caught by the measures in France and Italy that were caught here,” Georges Alain Etoundi Mballa, who runs the health ministry’s epidemic response, told Reuters, describing the screening as a “spying network”. 



“Epidemics come and go, but we keep on the surveillance.” 



The virus now ravaging Europe has appeared in at least 26 out of 49 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In most of them the recorded cases are still in single figures and have come in from abroad &#8211; notably Europe &#8211; rather than emerging at home. [nL8N2BA5PT] 



The stakes are high &#8211; if the disease gets into Africa’s poorest areas, squalid, cramped conditions could cause it to spread at lightning speed. 



Hospitals are already overburdened with cases of measles, malaria and other deadly infectious diseases, and conflicts have displaced hundreds of thousands of people and destroyed infrastructure. 



Asking patients to self-quarantine at home is not practical in many areas, where families cram into a single room, share a communal tap or latrine, and survive on daily earnings. 



“Africa should brace itself for a serious challenge,” John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said on March 11. “I still believe containment is possible, but only with extensive testing and surveillance.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">EBOLA EXPERIENCE </h3>



In some places that looks all but impossible. 



In South Sudan, devastated by a five-year civil war, the government has just 24 isolation beds, said Dr. Angok Gordon Kuol,&nbsp;incident manager for the outbreak at the Ministry of Health. 



He said public officials were trying to encourage hand-washing, but many in the impoverished East African nation of 12 million people could not afford soap and did not have running water. 



The health ministry in Burkina Faso, which is under siege from jihadist groups linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda, said in a report last week that the country lacked the resources to deal with the outbreak. 



Its border crossings have no sites to isolate suspected cases, and the West African country does not have enough skilled health workers, the report said. “This can result in high mortality rates and an increased risk of spreading the disease.” 



Ebola killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa between 2013 and 2016, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. It devastated communities but provided valuable lessons. 



The Africa CDC, set up by the African Union in 2017, has been working with the World Health Organization (WHO) to strengthen emergency coordination, improve testing and surveillance, and equip treatment centres. 



“We know the fragility of our system, and because of that, when the outbreak was declared, the countries just went into action,” said Mary Stephen, technical officer at the WHO’s Africa office. 



The number of countries with labs able to diagnose COVID-19 in the region increased from two to 39 in just over a month. But that still leaves eight countries without. 



Passengers arriving at major airports have temperatures checked and are asked to fill out travel questionnaires, and in Nigeria, a taskforce meets regularly to evaluate the risks. 



“We will never be caught pants down,” said Bamidele Mutiu, who helped coordinate the West African country’s Ebola response and now runs a biosafety lab in Lagos. 



With three confirmed cases, Africa’s most populous nation is scrambling to increase the number of isolation beds and provide more specialized medical training and equipment at state hospitals. 



“Our health system is not as strong as we’d like it to be,” said Chikwe Ihekweazu, head of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. “It is because we are a bit worried about our capacity to deal with a large outbreak that we are focused so intensively on prevention and early detection.” 



Promoting good hygiene is a key part of that effort. But that is easier said than done. Less than half the population in 34 African countries have basic hand-washing facilities in their homes, according to a 2017 United Nations survey. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">KEEPING CLEAN </h3>



In Senegal’s capital Dakar, announcements ring out through loudspeakers on passing cars urging people to wash their hands. A group of school children in soccer shirts reels off highlights from a recent lesson &#8211; a crash course in preventing COVID-19. 



But in their suburb, Pikine, where more than a million people live, the water is frequently cut off. 



“Cleanliness is important, but here it’s not easy,” said Marcelle Diatta, a 41-year-old mother of four who lives in a two-bedroom apartment with four extended family members. 



Khary Faye Sougou, head nurse at a local health centre in Pikine, where donkey carts jostle with delivery trucks on sandy alleyways, said she was encouraging residents to stockpile bottles of water; but not everyone could afford to do so. 



In Senegal, a West African country that has recorded 27 cases, medical staff said they had received limited protective equipment beyond extra gloves and masks. 



“If we have a case, maybe I’ll go with a mask and my white coat, and after the visit I’ll throw them away,” Sougou said. 



Ousmane Gueye, head of the crisis unit at Senegal’s health ministry, said the government was deploying protective gear to facilities that need it. 



There are ample stocks of masks and gloves and enough beds to accommodate dozens more patients, according to health officials. However, there are no reserves of ventilators, which are in short supply across Africa. 



In South Africa, which has recorded 62 cases of the virus, medical services could be “swamped” if it spreads within the country’s vast shanty towns, Susan Cleary, a health economist at the University of Cape Town, said. 



“Transmission in an informal settlement is a disaster, an absolute disaster,” she said. 



(Additional reporting by Christophe Van der Perre in Dakar, Alexis Akwagyiram and Angela Ukomadu in Lagos, Paul Carsten in Abuja, Omar Mohammed in Nairobi, Giulia Paravicini in Addis Ababa, Wendell Roelf in Cape Town, Joe Bavier in Abidjan and Henry Wilkins in Ouagadougou; Writing by Aaron Ross; editing by Edward McAllister, Alexandra Zavis and Philippa Fletcher)



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN214328-OZATP">https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN214328-OZATP</a> and is republished with its permission.

Armed with lessons from Ebola, Africa braces for coronavirus surge

The following is a media release by the Republic of South Africa&#8217;s Ministry of Health



LATEST CONFIRMED CASES OF COVID-19 



18 March 2020 



We wish to inform all South Africans that as of this morning, 18 March 2020, South Africa now has 116 confirmed cases of COVID-19. This means that there has been an increase of 31 new cases from yesterday’s announcement. 



The details of the cases are as follows: 



GAUTENG: 16 -A 25 year old male who travelled to the UK -A 45 year old male who travelled to Austria -A 52 year old male who travelled to Austria and Italy -A 49 year old female who travelled to Austria and Italy -A 35 year old male who travelled to the UK and Netherlands -A 34 year old female who travelled to the UK -A 30 year old female who travelled to Switzerland and Austria



 -A 36 year old female who travelled to Switzerland and Austria -A 30 year old female who travelled to Italy -A 35 year old male who travelled to Italy -A 34 year old male who travelled to Italy -A 37 year old male who travelled to Finland and France -A 20 year old male with no international travel history -A 3 year old male with no international travel history -A 21 year old female with no international travel history -A 71 year old female with no international travel history 



KWAZULU-NATAL:3 
-A 59 year old male who travelled to Austria and Italy 
-A 54 year old male who travelled to Italy 
-A 55 year old male who travelled to Italy 



MPUMALANGA:2 
-A 64 year old male who travelled to Italy 
-A 56 year old female with no international travel history 



WESTERN CAPE:10 
-A 2 year old male who travelled to New Zealand 
-A 51 year old male who travelled to Egypt an Dubai 
-A 35 year old female who travelled to Switzerland and Dubai 
-A 27 year old female who travelled to Switzerland and Dubai 
-A 60 year old male who travelled to Portugal and the UK 
-A 51 year old male who travelled to the UK 
-A 54 year old female who travelled to Portugal and the UK 
-A 51 year old male who travelled to the UK 
-A 26 year old female who travelled to the UK 
-A 68 year old male with no international travel history. 



Today we have a further increase of 6 local transmission cases. As part of tracking and tracing, we have collated background information on how these patients were infected. We will provide information to the public, so as to give a sense of how these local transmissions occur. We will however not disclose full details as this information is subject to patient confidentiality which we are bound by. 



Dr Zwelini Mkhize Minister of Health Ends..

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article

S.Africa to erect 40km fence on Zimbabwe border as coronavirus measure

Panic buying forces South African supermarkets to ration food

SARB delivers 100 bps rate cut to fight coronavirus fallout

Africa talks tough against coronavirus but many wonder why

Nigeria eyes $4.9 bln budget cut amid coronavirus

South Africa’s Massmart to close non-performing stores

Mauritius confirms first three cases of coronavirus

South African rand, stocks sink as coronavirus pummels markets again

Kenyan banks to offer relief to distressed borrowers -central bank

South Africa’s retail sales up 1.2% year on year in January

Sterling falls to levels not seen since 2016 as dollar strength hammers global currencies

Zambia’s health ministry confirms first two cases of COVID-19

Worldwide coronavirus cases top 200,000 for the first time

FACTBOX: What Africa is doing to fight coronavirus

South African Airways cancels 162 flights due to coronavirus

Armed with lessons from Ebola, Africa braces for coronavirus surge

SA confirms 31 new COVID-19 cases, totalling 116 infected

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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