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Africa/Global: Coronavirus Updates
AfricaFocus Bulletin
March 16, 2020 (2020-03-16)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
On March 15, President Ramaphosa of South Africa declared
coronavirus to be a national disaster, and a Science magazine report
from Cape Town called the virus a “ticking timebomb” for the African
continent. African countries gained a window of opportunity in which
to hold off the onslaught, thanks to their relative isolation from
international air traffic and their smart preparations based on
experience with Ebola. But it appears this window may now be
closing.
To date, most of the cases in Africa have been imported from Europe,
as illustrated by the map below from March 11. The World Health
Organization and African countries have been expanding testing
capacity over the last few weeks, and travel restrictions are now
being enacted, particularly on Europe, North America, and other
highly affected areas. But it is increasingly likely that community
transmission is beginning, as happened several weeks ago in the
United States.
The most important personal advice which I am hearing repeatedly
from well-informed Facebook friends in Italy, Mozambique, and the
United States is to take the need for social distancing seriously.
In other words, stay at home as much as possible and minimize the
chances for the virus to spread.
For a clear explanation, visit https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/03/13/what-is-social-distancing/
AfricaFocus readers are concentrated in North America, Africa, and
Europe, and most of you are probably receiving good information from
local health authorities. This very short bulletin from AfricaFocus
suggests additional sources that I have found useful, with
particular reference to the situation in Africa.
Additional updates may be posted on the AfricaFocus Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/AfricaFocus/
For regularly updated and reliable data, you can visit the WHO Africa portal at
https://www.afro.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus-covid-19
A custom Google News search for articles in the 7 days preceding your search is available at https://tinyurl.com/corona-africa
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on health, visit
http://www.africafocus.org/intro-health.php
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Map data as of March 11, 2020
Coronavirus Updates – Global and General Background
For general background one of the most usable sites is https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/, the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center. Among useful pages on that site are an infographic with basic facts and an explanation of social distancing.
Much additional information can be found on the website of the World Health Organization (https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus) and the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html).
For regularly updated statistical data on cases around the world, there are two sites which provide good visualizations of the situation. https://ncov2019.live/data was launched by a 17-year old student in Seattle, Washington, the earliest location of large-scale transmission of the virus in the United States.
https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html provides more fine-grained data.
A very useful explanation of how the virus spread in South Korea is available from Reuters.
Coronavirus Updates – Africa-specific Information
The Africa office of the World Health Organization regulates updates data on coronavirus on the continent, including situation reports, news articles, and a map-based dashboard. The link to the website is https://www.afro.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus-covid-19
For articles on coronavirus in Africa in the last 7 days (from the time of your search), you can use this customized Google News search: https://tinyurl.com/corona-africa
The most helpful detailed single article I have found is this Science magazine report from Cape Town dated March 15: ‘A ticking time bomb’: Scientists worry about coronavirus spread in Africa.
A few additional articles I have found of particular interest in recent days:
March 16 – Latest update from BBC
March 16 – Coronavirus testing in Africa, including development of new UK-Senegal rapid test.
March 15 – President Ramaphosa declares national disaster, including school closings and travel bans from highly-infected countries including the United States.
March 15 – African countries imposing travel restrictions from affected countries outside Africa.
March 15 - Many of Africa's cases have been brought by Europeans.
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic publication
providing reposted commentary and analysis on African issues, with
a particular focus on U.S. and international policies. AfricaFocus
Bulletin is edited by William Minter.
AfricaFocus Bulletin can be reached at africafocus@igc.org. Please
write to this address to suggest material for inclusion. For more
information about reposted material, please contact directly the
original source mentioned. For a full archive and other resources,
see http://www.africafocus.org
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