by Jama Abdillahi | Mar 30, 2020 | Okategoriserade
Factbox: Latest on the spread of the coronavirus around the world Source: Reuters, 30 March 2020 (Reuters) – Countries affected by the novel coronavirus entered another week of strict quarantine and several nations introduced new economic stimulus to aid citizens and companies hit by the pandemic. DEATHS, INFECTIONS * Nearly 738,500 people have been infected across the world and about 35,000 have died, according to a Reuters tally. * For an interactive graphic tracking the global spread, open tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser. * U.S.-focused tracker with state-by-state and county map, open tmsnrt.rs/2w7hX9T EUROPE * Italy’s measures do not seem to be working and it should change its strategy by setting up centres to separate people with suspected symptoms from their families, a prominent Italian scientist said on Monday. In the last three days, new infections have continued at between 5,000 and 6,000 per day. * The British prime minister’s senior adviser, Dominic Cummings is self-isolating with symptoms just days after the British leader himself tested positive. * France used army helicopters to transport patients from eastern France to hospitals in Germany and Switzerland as the country battled to free up space in life-support units. * The Russian prime minister asked regional governors to consider Moscow-style restrictions a day after the capital announced a partial lockdown, ordering residents to stay home. * Cyprus imposed a curfew, extending a broad lockdown introduced two weeks ago after a weekend spike in recorded cases. * Germany hopes to launch a Singapore-style smartphone app within weeks to help trace infections. * Hungary’s prime minister has secured open-ended emergency powers to fight the outbreak. * Slovenia imposed...
by Jama Abdillahi | Mar 30, 2020 | Okategoriserade
Somalia sending 20 doctors to help Italy fight virus Source: Anadolu Agency, Saturday March 28, 2020 Somalia is sending over 20 doctors to help fight coronavirus in Italy, the country where the virus has claimed the most lives. Ismail Mukhtar Orongo, a Somali government spokesman, told Anadolu Agency over the phone on Friday that the doctors are volunteers from Somali National University in the capital Mogadishu. “Twenty volunteer doctors from National University in Mogadishu are registered at Italy’s Embassy and will go to Italy to help the country’s fight against coronavirus,” he said. They are being sent in response to a call by Italy’s government for help, and they are now ready and waiting for their charter flight to Italy, he added. On Thursday, Italy’s Civil Protection reported 712 new deaths, bringing the country’s death toll from the virus to date to 8,215. Meanwhile, Somalia on Friday confirmed the third case of coronavirus in the Horn of Africa nation. According to the UN assistance mission in Somalia, a UN commercial contractor tested positive for coronavirus on Friday. After first appearing in Wuhan, China, in December, the virus, has spread to at least 176 countries and regions, according to data compiled by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University. The data shows more than 553,200 cases have been reported worldwide, with the death toll over 25,000, and more than 127,500...
by Jama Abdillahi | Mar 30, 2020 | Okategoriserade
Shabaab leaders split over funds control Source: Daily Nation, Kenya, Saturday March 28, 2020 Infighting among the top leadership of Somali-based militia Al-Shabaab over finances is threatening to split the group, an intelligence report seen by the Nation shows Late last month, the group’s leader Ahmed Diriye, aka Abu Ubeyda, attempted to expel head of finance and intelligence operations Mahad Karate and head of external operations Bashir Qorgab as the three fight over control of resources. Intelligence reports show that Karate’s and Qorgab’s clans resisted the expulsion. Two weeks later, Qorgab, who the United States said was the mastermind of the Manda Bay base attack, was killed in a US drone attack alongside his wife. After his death, Gen Stephen Townsend, the head of Africom, in a statement, confirmed that the two were killed in Saakow, about 150 kilometres north of Jilib, the headquarters of the militant group. “Since January 5, the US Africa Command and our partners have pursued those responsible for the attack on US and Kenyan forces at Manda Bay,” Gen Townsend said. Now, the intelligence report seen by the Nation shows that Qorgab’s death has exacerbated wrangles and suspicions within Shabaab ranks. CREDIBILITY LOST In early March, the intelligence report said Diriye ordered the assassination of another key Karate crony, Muse Maalim Muawiye, the head of intelligence in Banadir, who was lured to Buale and executed in early March. “Ubeyda is accusing Karate of hoarding all the money collected from forced taxation on farmers, herders and businessmen in Mogadishu and other Shabaab-controlled areas. On the other hand, Karate argues that his clan, the Hawiye, are...
by Jama Abdillahi | Mar 30, 2020 | Okategoriserade
AU closes its Mogadishu base camp in light of COVID-19 Source: Hiiraan Online, Monday March 30, 2020 MOGADISHU (HOL) – The African Union Mission in Somalia has announced a 30 days lockdown of its base camp in Mogadishu and suspended all construction works within the facility in response to the fight against the COVID-19 disease. The Mission said in a statement Saturday there will be ‘enhanced restricted into the Base Camp in Mogadishu and movement into and within the Base camp for a period of 30-days’ effective today midnight.“The implementation of these instructions will entail suspension of all construction work, movement of resupply vehicles and business activities within the Base Camp, such as shops at Marine, Movcon, Sector 1 main kitchen and car wash area,” the statement read in part. The announcement comes two days after the UN in Somalia announced one of its contractors who was under quarantine had tested positive for COVID-19 adding to three the number of recorded cases in Somalia. The AMISOM Base Camp houses the headquarters of the AU force in Somalia and other shared facilities with the...
by Jama Abdillahi | Mar 26, 2020 | Okategoriserade
Africa’s window to curb coronavirus “narrowing every day”: WHO Source: Reuters, NAIROBI (Reuters) 26 March 2020– About half of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa still have a “narrowing” opportunity to curb the spread of coronavirus in the local population, a World Health Organisation regional official said on Thursday. FILE PHOTO: A worker disinfects shopping trolleys as customers shop in the Naivas Supermarket, to stock their homes amid concerns about the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Nairobi, Kenya March 23, 2020. REUTERS/Njeri Mwangi//File Photo The virus has multiplied across Africa more slowly than in Asia or Europe, but more than 40 nations on the continent have now reported a total of 2,850 with 73 fatalities, according to a Reuters tally. On Thursday, Kenya confirmed the death of its first patient over coronavirus, government spokesman Cyrus Oguna told Reuters. “It has been a very dramatic evolution,” Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Africa head, told a media teleconference earlier on Thursday. Governments across the region needed to invest their efforts in aggressively tracing all those people who have been in contact with imported cases, in order to isolate them and prevent transmission of the disease locally. “Countries need to work on this containment while preparing for a possible, broader expansion of the virus,” she said. The effort needs to be accompanied by public education campaigns to ensure people are maintaining physical distances, something that could help limit the spread of the virus, and should complement other measures like halting passenger flights. South Africa has ordered a lockdown of its population for three weeks while Kenya has imposed a night-time curfew to prevent...
