Africa Focus

More than 20 million Nigerians on Monday went into lockdown in sub-Saharan Africa's biggest city Lagos and the capital Abuja, as the continent struggles to curb the spread of coronavirus.President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a two-week “cessation of all movements”...

More than 150 organisations and individuals on Monday urged US biotechnology firm Gilead not to enforce exclusivity over a drug that might be used to treat COVID-19 patients.In an open letter, 145 non-governmental organisations, including Doctors Without Borders (MSF)...

Africa is two to three weeks away from the worst of the coronavirus storm and needs an emergency economic stimulus of $100 billion to bolster preventative measures and support its fragile healthcare systems, according to the United Nations Economic...

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...

Researchers this week began validation trials on a Covid-19 diagnostic test that can be done at home and produce results in as little as 10 minutes - all for $1.The plan is to dually manufacture the tests in Senegal...

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.The virus has multiplied across Africa more slowly...

France on Tuesday said it planned to organise financial aid for poor countries, especially in Africa, to help them from becoming future sources of coronavirus contamination."We will have the opportunity to mobilise a real financial package, of help, to...

As an unprecedented lockdown looms in South Africa to contain the spread of the coronavirus, with a country of 57 million people told to stay home starting Friday.Virus cases leapt again to 554 on Tuesday, the most of any...

The first batch of protective and medical equipment donated by Chinese billionaire and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma was flown into the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Sunday, as coronavirus cases in Africa rose above 1,100.The virus has spread more...

Africa’s coronavirus cases rose above 1,000 on Saturday, while Nigeria announced it is closing airports to all incoming international flights for one month in the continent’s most populous country.Meanwhile, two heads of state appeared to defy their own travel...