Africa (except North Africa)

NAIROBI, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Kenya’s lower parliamentary chamber wants some 50 lawmakers to be tested for coronavirus amid fears they may have contracted the virus from a member who recently tested positive.

Local media reports say the parliament has submitted the names of MPs and parliamentary staff it wants tested to the health ministry. It wants them placed on mandatory quarantine as well.

ABUJA, March 31 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The US is evacuating its nationals from Nigeria’s commercial hub, Lagos and the capital, Abuja, after the two cities were were placed on a two-week lockdown in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The US embassy has tweeted that multiple emergency flights will leave the two cities this week.

Those to be moved will be contacted directly and the embassy has advised all American nationals in the country to stay put until they are contacted.

MAPUTO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- President of Mozambique Filipe Nyusi on Monday declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19 for 30 days, starting from April 1.

In his speech to the nation, broadcast live on national television and radio, the president said the decision had been sent to the parliament for ratification.

LAGOS (Reuters) - Collapsing oil prices have left African producers facing not only lost revenue when they most need it to tackle coronavirus, but also a fall in hard-won market share they may never regain.

The continent’s producers such as Nigeria, Angola and Algeria cannot compete with the lower costs of erstwhile allies Saudi Arabia and Russia, who are flooding the market with oil.

ABUJA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Nigerian defense authorities on Monday confirmed a senior commander of the terror group Boko Haram was killed during a recent military operation in the northeastern state of Borno.

In a statement made available to Xinhua, the defense media center in Borno said the Boko Haram commander was identified as Abu Usamah who led the terror group in an encounter with troops on March 22.

Usamah died of gunshot wounds following that encounter with troops in Gorgi, a town in the Damboa local government area of Borno, said the statement.

DURBAN, March 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The authorities in the South African city of Durban have freed 14 workers who had been “locked up in a mask-making factory since Monday”, a local government minister said.

They also arrested the owner of the business.

The workers “were forced to manufacture hundreds of masks to meet the demand caused by the outbreak of coronavirus”, KwaZulu-Natal’s tourism and environmental affairs minister Nomusa Dube-Ncube said in a statement.

They were “subjected to inhuman conditions”, she added.

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan pop star and opposition leader Bobi Wine, who released a song urging Africa’s people to wash their hands to stop the spread of the new coronavirus, is criticizing African governments for not maintaining better health care systems for the continent’s 1.3 billion people.

In his new song, “Corona Virus Alert,” Wine and collaborator Nubian Li highlight prevention measures against the virus, which now has been reported in at least 46 of Africa’s 54 countries.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Police fired tear gas at a crowd of Kenyan ferry commuters as the country’s first day of a coronavirus curfew slid into chaos. Elsewhere, officers were captured in mobile phone footage whacking people with batons.

Virus prevention measures have taken a violent turn in parts of Africa as countries impose lockdowns and curfews or seal off major cities. Health experts say the virus’ spread, though still at an early stage, resembles the arc seen in Europe, adding to widespread anxiety. Cases across Africa were set to climb above 4,000 late Saturday.

WINDHOEK, March 28 (Xinhua) -- The number of reported Hepatitis E cases in Namibia are on the decrease, statistics released by the Ministry of Health on Saturday show.

A total of 74 Hepatitis E (HEV) cases were reported countrywide between February 24 and March 8, compared to 102 cases reported during the previous two weeks.

The ministry of health declared an outbreak of Hepatitis E on December 14, 2017 in the capital Windhoek. The outbreak then spread to other regions around April 2018, eventually involving a total of ten regions.

ADDIS ABABA, March 28 (NNN-XINHUA) — The death toll from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the African continent has reached 83 as confirmed positives cases surpassed 3,243 as of Friday, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The Africa CDC, specialized agency of the 55-member African Union (AU), in its latest situation update said the cases were spread across 46 African countries.