Report by Kevin Stankiewicz



Key Points



<ul><li>Mark Cuban said Wednesday he’s been “dipping his toes” into the market during its recent stretch of coronavirus-driven volatility.</li></ul>



<ul><li>“I’ve been putting in 1% [to] 1.5% to work on every down day,” Cuban said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”</li></ul>



<ul><li>The billionaire entrepreneur said he’s mostly been buying the ETF that tracks the S&amp;P 500 and shares of&nbsp;Live Nation.</li></ul>



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<iframe loading="lazy" title="Mark Cuban says he&#039;s been &#039;dipping his toes&#039; into the market amid coronavirus-driven volatility" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pNPmZ7pF2Iw?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>
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<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/id/10000348">Mark Cuban</a> said Wednesday he’s been “dipping my toes” into the market during its recent stretch of coronavirus-driven volatility.



“I’ve been putting in 1% [to] 1.5% to work on every down day,” Cuban said on CNBC’s “<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/squawk-box-us/">Squawk Box</a>.”&nbsp;



The billionaire entrepreneur said he’s mostly been buying the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=SPY">SPDR S&amp;P 500 ETF Trust</a>, the exchange-traded fund that tracks the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=.SPX">S&amp;P 500 index.</a>



He said he’s also buying shares of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=LYV">Live Nation</a>,&nbsp;and that he’s&nbsp;sold&nbsp;some of his put and call options because “the premiums are just incredible. It’s stunning the premiums that are in place right now.”



Cuban said he thought the market had settled into a trading range of up 5% one day to down 5% the next. “I’m not quite sure why,” he added.



“It felt like for a while we had active management doing all the work and trying to figure things out and now over the last three days it feels like we’re starting to get more algorithmic trading coming into the market,” Cuban said.&nbsp;



“I’ll act accordingly,” he added.



The “Shark Tank” investor’s comments come as U.S. stock futures were pointing to a significant loss at Wednesday’s open on Wall Street, one day after the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=.DJI">Dow Jones Industrial Average</a> rebounded more than 1,000 points.



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/12/billionaire-investor-mark-cuban-adds-to-his-twitter-stake-as-stock-market-craters.html">Last Thursday,</a> Cuban told CNBC he added to his stake in <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=TWTR">Twitter.</a>&nbsp;“I’m a long-term holder there. I owned shares going into this decline. I don’t know what’s going to happen or when, but I think long-term we’ll be okay.”



He also said then that he bought shares in Live Nation earlier last week.



This article was first published on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/18/mark-cuban-reveals-what-hes-been-buying-in-coronavirus-market-swings.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/18/mark-cuban-reveals-what-hes-been-buying-in-coronavirus-market-swings.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Billionaire Mark Cuban reveals what he’s been buying in the coronavirus stock market swings

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

Report by Elliot Smith



Key Points



<ul><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><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.



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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.



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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)



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN2151M0-OZATP">https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN2151M0-OZATP</a> and is republished with its permission.

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

Report by William Feuer



Key Points



<ul><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><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>



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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.

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

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..

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

Report by Clement Uwiringiyimana



KIGALI (Reuters) &#8211; Alarmed consumers thronged markets across Africa on Tuesday, many in masks and gloves, to stock up as the coronavirus spread on the world’s poorest continent.



Food prices rose in some parts, though at least one country, Rwanda, sought to control costs of staple foods. 



“It is as if people are preparing for war,” said an astonished shopkeeper as Rwandans clamoured for rice, cooking oil, sugar and flour at a market in the capital Kigali. 



“Prices have gone up &#8211; but still they buy.” 



Initially spared as the coronavirus battered China and then spread out, Africa has seen a rush of cases this month and governments are taking drastic measures to curb its spread. At least 30 African nations have now reported more than 400 cases. 



For many poorer Africans focused on surviving day-to-day, panic-buying was a privilege they could not join in with. 



The Rwandan shopkeeper, who declined to give his name fearing a visit from inspectors, said Tanzanian rice in his market had risen from 27,000 francs ($29) to 30,000 francs per 25 kg bag while Pakistani rice was up from 22,000 francs to 28,000 francs. 



Speaking as shoppers in masks and gloves picked over items, he blamed wholesalers for the increases. 



The trade ministry in Rwanda, which has seven confirmed coronavirus cases, fixed prices late on Monday for 17 food items including rice, sugar and cooking oil. But it did not specify punishments for price-gouging. 



At the same Nyarugenge market complex in Kigali, 52-year-old shopper Beatrice was exasperated by the price rises. 



She has no job and a child to provide for. 



“I am here to buy rice but I can’t afford it,” she said, noting forlornly that rice had gone up even higher to 32,000 francs per bag by the time she was there. 



“You can’t see your children go hungry. I will buy it anyway,” she said. “We don’t know when this coronavirus will stop. If I had enough money, I would buy a lot more food.” 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">SUPERMARKET SAYS SORRY </h3>



Kenya, a relative economic powerhouse in East Africa, also saw a rush on shops after reporting its first coronavirus case on Friday. Within minutes, shoppers at the upscale Carrefour supermarket near the United Nations complex in Nairobi began piling trolleys with wipes, sanitizer, and staples like rice and long-life milk. 



Tusky’s, another Kenyan supermarket, urged customers not to panic and this week launched a home delivery service. 



Like Rwanda, Kenya stepped in to try and curb price rises. 



Its Competition Authority ordered another chain, Cleanshelf Supermarkets, to refund customers for overpricing hand sanitizers. The firm blamed it on action of one staff member. 



“The recent experience is unjustifiable and we are very sorry,” said Veronica Wambui, head of sales and marketing, in a statement the company posted on Twitter. 



From South Africa to Senegal, long lines snaked outside stores as families stocked up on essential health and food items from disinfectants to pasta. 



Anna, the manager at Auchan supermarket in Dakar’s upmarket Mermoz area, told Reuters sales had doubled since last weekend. Hand sanitizer had run out and suppliers were struggling to fulfil orders, she said. 



“The most sold items are pasta &#8211; people have taken everything!” she said, adding that prices had remained the same there, though many desperate shoppers were not even checking. 



($1 = 943.7830 Rwandan francs) 



(Additional reporting by George Obulutsa and Katharine Houreld in Nairobi and Juliette Jabkhiro in Dakar; Writing by Elias Biryabarema and Katharine Houreld; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN21421N-OZATP">https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN21421N-OZATP</a> and is republished with its permission.

“Preparing for war”: Africans scramble for groceries

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Central banks and finance ministers around the world have been scrambling for a solution to curb fears over covid-19 and prevent a deep global recession. What coronomics should our own country be following as the South African Reserve Bank starts its two-day monetary policy committee meeting tomorrow? Economist, Duma Gqubule and Isaah Mhlanga, Chief Economist at Alexander Forbes join CNBC Africa to give insight.

COVID-19: What will SARB do?

ABUJA (Reuters) &#8211; Nigeria will postpone all non-critical government spending and wait for better market conditions for a planned $3.3 billion eurobond offering due to the turmoil caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the finance minister said on Monday.



Minister Zainab Ahmed told journalists in Abuja that Africa’s largest economy will prioritize “major capital expenditures.” 



“Any expenditures that are not critical we must defer to do it at a later time when things become more normal,” she said. 



An oil price crash caused by the toxic mix of a coronavirus-induced slump in demand and the collapse of a supply-cutting deal between OPEC and other oil producers such as Russia, has forced Nigeria to revise its budget and alter its spending plans. 



The 10.59 trillion naira ($34.6 billion) budget included a benchmark of oil prices at $57 per barrel. On Monday, Brent crude slumped to roughly $30 per barrel. 



Ahmed also said the virus-induced market turmoil would impact external borrowing, including for the eurobond it planned to issue to partly fund its 2020 budget deficit. 



“We are not going out immediately because the market indication is not in favour of external borrowing at this time. Even if we get the approvals we will defer it and watch the market and go out only when the timing is right.” 



Borrowing costs for many riskier emerging markets have risen sharply in recent days, with all of Nigeria’s dollar-bonds now yielding between 12%-14% compared with yields of less than 3% on shorter-dated issues in mid-February. 



Last month, the Debt Management Office said it expected to appoint advisers for the eurobond issue through an open competitive bid process and expected to complete an approval process for the sale swiftly. 



 ($1 = 306.0000 naira) 



(Reporting by Camillus Eboh, additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in London, writing by Libby George, editing by Hugh Lawson)



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKBN214196-OZABS">https://af.reuters.com/article/investingNews/idAFKBN214196-OZABS</a> and is republished with its permission.

Nigeria to delay non-critical spending, defer Eurobond sale

Key Points



<ul><li>Over the last 48 hours, three biotech companies, in particular, have been thrust into the spotlight for their promise: BioNTech, CureVac and Moderna.</li></ul>



<ul><li>All three of these firms specialize in messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics.</li></ul>



<ul><li>These mRNA molecules are used to instruct the body to produce its own immune response to fight a range of different diseases.</li></ul>



The race is on to develop an immunization against COVID-19.&nbsp;



Dozens of companies and public labs around the world are working to develop a vaccine to prevent the spread of the flu-like virus. Over the last 48 hours, three biotech companies, in particular, have been thrust into the spotlight for their promise: BioNTech, CureVac and Moderna.



All three of these firms specialize in messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics. These mRNA molecules are used to instruct the body to produce its own immune response to fight a range of different diseases. This type of vaccine can potentially be developed and produced more quickly than traditional vaccines.



Moderna is a Massachusetts-based biotech company working with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). It kicked off its first trial Monday in Seattle, Washington.&nbsp;



This is called a “phase one” study and is being conducted by the NIH. Moderna is also preparing for a potential “phase two” study that it would conduct itself. Moderna shares rose 27% in Monday’s trading session.



BioNTech, meanwhile, is a German biotech company which recently announced two strategic partnerships to advance development of a vaccine. It formed a collaboration with Fosun Pharma to advance efforts in China, and with Pfizer to do the same outside China.&nbsp;



Berenberg bank analysts say they are impressed with the company’s efforts to rapidly enter into an alliance with a top pharma company in China and they view it as an important validation of BioNTech’s mRNA technology platform.&nbsp;



“BioNTech appears best positioned in the COVID-19 race owing to its diversified mRNA platform, delivery information and manufacturing capacity,” Berenberg said in a research note.



CureVac is an unlisted German company which aims to start testing an experimental vaccine on humans this summer. After reportedly getting caught in the political crossfire between Germany and the U.S., the European Commission pledged 80 billion euros of financial support to help them get a product out in Europe.&nbsp;



On Monday, CureVac noted it “is working on expanding its manufacturing capacities to be able to provide up to billions of doses for outbreak situations like Covid-19.”



As evidenced by these companies, partnerships are key to developing and manufacturing vaccines for the public. Both public-private partnerships as well as partnerships between the traditional pharmaceutical giants and smaller biotech players can be critical to getting these vaccines from trial to market.&nbsp;



However, the jury is still out on what type of therapeutic approach will work best. Barclays pharmaceutical research team noted that while mRNA vaccines remain unproven, they are likely to dominate the shorter-term headlines given faster development timelines and rapid early progress.&nbsp;



Ultimately, the Barclays team believes these novel vaccines are likely to be superseded by more conventional approaches over time.



(Report by Julianna Tatelbaum)



This article was first published on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/17/hopes-of-a-coronavirus-vaccine-mount-as-three-key-biotech-players-make-progress.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/17/hopes-of-a-coronavirus-vaccine-mount-as-three-key-biotech-players-make-progress.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

Hopes of a coronavirus vaccine mount as three key biotech players make progress

NAIROBI/ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) &#8211; More African nations confirmed their first cases of the coronavirus and shut borders amid fears of the disease’s impact on fragile health systems, as Chinese billionaire and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma pledged to donate over 1 million testing kits to the continent.



Thirty African countries &#8211; more than half the continent &#8211; are now treating nearly 400 patients with coronavirus, after Tanzania, Liberia, Benin and Somalia said they registered their first cases. 



Africa had until recently been spared the rapid spread of COVID-19, which has infected at least 180,000 people worldwide and caused over 7,000 deaths. But health experts are concerned the continent’s often dilapidated health infrastructure will struggle to cope as cases mount. 



“We cannot ignore the potential risk to Africa and assume this continent of 1.3 billion people will blissfully escape the crisis. The world cannot afford the unthinkable consequences of a COVID-19 pandemic in Africa,” Ma’s foundation said in a statement. 



The foundation will send 1.1	million testing kits, 6 million masks and 60,000 protective suits and face shields to Ethiopia for distribution to Africa’s 54 nations, it said. 



Earlier on Monday, the World Bank said it had committed $60 million to Kenya to help the East African nation battle the outbreak. 



Some countries on the continent, such as conflict-hit Somalia, depend on donors to support basic public health facilities. 



Somalian Health Minister Fawziya Abikar Nur said the ministry had quarantined and tested four Somalis who came from China last week, and one had tested positive for the respiratory disease. International flights to Somalia were suspended for two weeks, the aviation minister said. 



In West Africa, the small and impoverished nation of Liberia announced its first case. Liberia was devastated by a 2014 Ebola epidemic that killed 4,000 people, and its healthcare system has remained underfunded despite promises of investment. 



Benin, considered a relatively stable democracy in the turbulent West African region, also announced its first case. The Health Ministry said the Beninois national was being held in an isolation ward in the capital after returning from Belgium and Burkina Faso on March 11. 



The Health Ministry in the East African nation of Tanzania also confirmed its first case, a Tanzanian woman who had travelled to Denmark, Sweden and Belgium. She had her temperature taken at the airport but had no fever and was allowed to pass, but later felt unwell at her hotel, the ministry said. [L8N2B913C] 



Also on Monday, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Senegal and Cameroon all reported more cases and South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said his nation, which has 62 cases so far, may need to raid other government departments for funds to fight the disease. He did not provide any figures. 



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">CRACKDOWN AS BORDERS CLOSE </h3>



Many African nations, including some without reported cases, have ordered tougher control measures, including bans on public gatherings, halting flights and closing schools and universities. 



In northern Africa, Tunisia said it would suspend international flights and close its land border in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. 



Botswana, in southern Africa, said on Monday it would bar entry to travellers from 18 high-risk countries, including China, Britain, the United States, Iran, France and Italy. 



In West Africa, Senegal said it would suspend flights to and from France, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Portugal, as well as Tunisia and Algeria, for a period of 30 days. 



Ivory Coast said it would bar entry to travellers from countries with over 100 cases, although Ivorian citizens and residents would be allowed to return if they went into quarantine for 14 days. It also closed schools, nightclubs and cinemas and banned gatherings of over 50 people, according to a national security council statement. 



Ethiopia, Africa’s second-largest nation, joined the growing list of countries that closed schools for two weeks, suspended all large gatherings and cancelled all sports events, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office said. 



Government buses will give people free rides to curb overcrowding in the public transport system, a statement said. 



In Central Africa, Congo Republic said it would suspend all flights from high-risk countries from Thursday. Neighbouring Gabon reduced the number of flights from abroad to one a week per airline and ordered restaurants to close, barring takeout and delivery. 



Nigeria’s Health Ministry said the country, Africa’s most populous, had strengthened contact tracing, stockpiled reagents used in test kits and increased testing capacity. 



Also on Monday, Kenyan police raided a clinic alleged to be selling fake coronavirus testing kits. Police detained staff and locked the facility, witnesses told Reuters journalists at the scene, after it had been advertising testing kits online. 



(Reporting by Giulia Paraviciniin Addis Ababa, Adbi Sheikh in Mogadishu, Omar Mohammed, Baz Ratner and David Lewis in Nairobi, Juliette Jabkhiro in Dakar, Clement Uwiringiyiman in Kigali; Olivia Kumwenda in Johannesburg and Elias Biryabarema in Kampala; Diadie Ba in Dakar; Christian Elion in Brazzaville; Loucoumane Coulibaly in Abidjan; Gerauds Wilfried Obangome in Libreville; Writing by George Obulutsa, Katharine Houreld and Alessandra Prentice; Editing by William Maclean, Steve Orlofsky and Peter Cooney)



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN214194-OZATP">https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN214194-OZATP</a> and is republished with its permission.

More African countries confirm first coronavirus cases as Jack Ma pledges aid

Key Points



<ul><li> The Dow and S&amp;P 500 on Monday suffered their worst plunge since the “Black Monday” crash of 1987, Dow futures hit their “limit up” level of 800 point gains on Tuesday as volatility continues to dominate markets.</li></ul>



<ul><li>U.S. retail sales figures for February are due at 8:30 a.m. ET, before industrial and manufacturing production readings at 9:15 a.m.</li></ul>



<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/bonds/">U.S. government debt prices</a> were lower Tuesday morning as investors hope for a bottoming out following Monday’s historic losses on Wall Street.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/US-Treasury.png" alt="" class="wp-image-363394" width="1072" height="549" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/US-Treasury.png 753w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/US-Treasury-300x154.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 1072px) 100vw, 1072px" /></figure>



At around 3:00 a.m. ET, the yield on the benchmark <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=US10Y">10-year Treasury note</a>, which moves inversely to price, was higher at around 0.7843%, while the yield on the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=US30Y">30-year Treasury bond</a> was up slightly at 1.3482%.



The <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=.DJI">Dow</a> and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/?symbol=.SPX">S&amp;P 500</a> on Monday suffered their <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/15/traders-await-futures-open-after-fed-cuts-rates-launches-easing-program.html">worst plunge since the “Black Monday” crash</a> of 1987, despite the Federal Reserve’s announcement of an emergency $700 billion quantitative easing program and a further 100 basis point cut to interest rates.



However, Dow futures hit their “limit up” level of 800 point gains on Tuesday as markets look set for another volatile week of trading amid the rapid spread of the <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/17/coronavirus-latest-updates.html">coronavirus pandemic</a>.



Confirmed cases have now surpassed 182,000, with more than 7,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, as governments around the world have begun to close their borders and enforce lockdowns.



In the U.S., 4,661 cases have now been confirmed with 85 deaths, with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio calling for a “wartime mentality” to contain the outbreak.



On the data front, U.S. retail sales figures for February are due at 8:30 a.m. ET, before Redbook data for last week at 8:55 a.m. and February’s industrial and manufacturing production readings at 9:15 a.m.



There are no Treasury auctions scheduled for Tuesday.



(Report by Elliot Smith)



This article was first published on CNBC <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/17/treasury-yields-rise-as-stocks-search-for-modest-recovery-after-mondays-crash.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/17/treasury-yields-rise-as-stocks-search-for-modest-recovery-after-mondays-crash.html</a> and is republished with its permission.

US Treasury yields rise as stocks search for modest recovery after Monday’s crash

NAIROBI/ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) &#8211; Kenyan authorities raided a shop on Monday that was alleged to be selling fake coronavirus testing kits, as the World Health Organisation confirmed there were at least 327 cases on the African continent.



Police detained staff and locked the facility, witnesses told Reuters journalists at the scene, after the shop had been advertising testing kits online. 



In West Africa, the small and impoverished nation of Liberia announced its first case on Monday, meaning that 27 African nations are now treating patients with coronavirus. The disease has killed 6,509 people and infected almost 170,000 people worldwide, according to a Reuters tally. 



Ethiopia, Africa’s second-largest nation, joined the growing list of countries that closed schools for two weeks, suspended all large gatherings and cancelled all sports events, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s office said. 



Free rides will be available on government buses to curb overcrowding in the public transport system, a statement said. 



“The Prime Minister calls upon all to maintain calm and equip themselves with accurate information from the Ministry of Health,” Abiy’s office said. 



Nigeria’s health ministry said the country, Africa’s most populous, had taken additional measures including strengthening contact tracing, stockpiling reagents used in test kits and increasing testing capacity. 



Many African nations, including some without reported cases, have ordered tougher control measures, including bans on public gatherings, halting flights and closing schools and universities.



South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said on Monday that despite having some money available for coronavirus response through the National Disaster fund, the government may need to earmark further funding. 



“As the situation develops we will need to set aside further funding, that means we will have to reduce programmes throughout the government system by reducing the allocated amounts,” Mboweni said at a conference outlining new measures to contain the outbreak. He did not provide any figures. 



The number of cases in Rwanda increased to five on Monday, and Burkina Faso’s health ministry said that eight new coronavirus cases had been confirmed, bringing the total there to 15 since March 9. [nL8N2B90NF] 



(Reporting by Giulia Paravicini, Baz Ratner and David Lewis in Nairobi, Juliette Jabkhiro in Dakar, Clement Uwiringiyiman in Kigali; Olivia Kumwenda in Johannesburg and Elias Biryabarema in Kampala; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Katharine Houreld and Giles Elgood)



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN2131LL-OZATP">https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN2131LL-OZATP</a> and is republished with its permission.

Kenya raids shop selling fake coronavirus kits as Liberia confirms first case

NAIROBI (Reuters) &#8211; The World Bank said on Monday it had committed $60 million to Kenya to help the East African nation battle the coronavirus outbreak that has spread to at least 30 countries on the continent. 



The funding will improve surveillance, laboratory services, isolation units, equipment, supplies and communication to help mitigate the virus in Kenya, the World Bank said on Twitter. 



Kenya, East Africa’s richest economy, has confirmed three cases of the COVID-19 disease thus far. 



(Reporting by Omar Mohammed; editing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Alex Richardson)



This article was first published on Reuters Africa <a href="https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN2132KN-OZATP">https://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFKBN2132KN-OZATP</a> and is republished with its permission.

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