Domestic Politics
South Africa will ease its national lockdown from level five to level four on Friday. Under the new rules, there will be a curfew in place from 8pm to 5am, people will be able to exercise outside of curfew hours, public transport will operate at 70% maximum capacity, 40% of the country’s workforce will be brought back online, restaurants will be allowed to deliver food, certain retail stores will be reopened, and wearing face masks will be made compulsory. [Mail & Guardian]
Zambia’s President, Edgar Lungu, has courted intense criticism after he allowed churches in the country to reopen. Medical experts and the opposition, Multi-party Democracy (MMD), insist that, although Zambia has less than 100 COVID-19 cases, such decisions risk an exponential rise in the infection rate. Encouragingly, several religious leaders have urged citizens not to attend church. [Africa Feeds]
Elections campaigns in Burundi have begun ahead of the May 20 presidential election. There are reports that members of the main opposition party, the National Congress for Freedom (CNL) have been threatened, attacked, arrested, and even killed. President Pierre Nkurunziza is controversially running for a third term. [Amnesty International]
International Relations
Cuba is sending 200 medical personnel to assist South Africa with its fight against COVID-19. Cuba has sent doctors to well over 20 countries all across the globe. South Africa has 4546 coronavirus cases, with 1473 recoveries, and 87 deaths. [eNCA]
The United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region, Huang Xia, said that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has impeded the scheduling of follow-up meetings to oversee the progress on disarmament of militia groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda. [The East African]
Health
After two volunteers–from the 800 people recruited–underwent the Oxford University-led COVID-19 vaccine trial, reports have emerged that scientists are considering testing the vaccine in Kenya if the current trial doesn’t yield “quick early results” in the UK. [Africa Feeds]
The African continent now has 27,385 coronavirus cases across 52 countries, with 8,172 recoveries, and 1,297 deaths. The two virus-free countries in the continent are Lesotho and Comoros. [Africa News]
Business & Finance
The lockdown in India has severely restricted shipments by its tea producers. Thus, tea traders and sellers in Kenya are benefitting from increased demand for, and prices and sales of, locally-produced tea. [News Zetu]
Image Source: CGTN
Sub-Saharan Africa in Review: April 27, 2020
Read more about the latest events from sub-Saharan Africa.
April 27, 2020
