Coronavirus updates As it happens (2020-04-16)
Apr 16, 2020
Sweden passes temporary law to curb Covid-19
Sweden's parliament passed a new law on Thursday that gives the government temporary extra powers to bypass parliament to adopt emergency measures to curb Covid-19.
“It is important that the government has access to more tools in the fight against the coronavirus if they should prove necessary,” said Social Democrat MP Kristina Nilsson in parliament during the debate.
Apr 16, 2020
Podcast: French flour shortages, coronavirus in the banlieue, Notre Dame in lockdown
Where has all the flour gone? The French appear to have taken to baking during the Covid-19 lockdown, upsetting supply chains. Also, how the pandemic has highlighted inequalities in French healthcare. And reflecting on Notre Dame, a year after the fire.
French people are starting to bake, a lot - unheard of in a country which counts a boulangerie in every town and on nearly every street corner in big cities. But as the coronavirus makes people wary of buying bread they are buying flour, instead, to make their own. We look at how confinement measures have disrupted flour supply chains and shifted people's approach to daily bread in the land of baguettes. (Listen @0'00)
Apr 16, 2020
IOM calls for halt of Ethiopia repatriations amid Covid-19 concerns
The UN's International Organisation on Migration (IOM) has called for a temporary suspension of repatriation flights to Ethiopia after many of a group of around 5,000 returned from abroad without going through any prior Covid-19 health screenings.
The organisation called for the measures to be put in to place so that the Ethiopian authorities could safely repatriate them.
Apr 16, 2020
UK rules out Brexit deal extension despite coronavirus chaos
The British government has dismissed the idea of extending the deadline for reaching a deal on Britain's future relationship with the European Union, despite delays in talks due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, suggested in an interview with the BBC released on Thursday that it would be sensible for the UK and EU to agree an extension to the Brexit negotiating period.
Apr 16, 2020
Covid-19 strategy propels South Korea's leader to record poll victory
South Korea's ruling party has won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections, with President Moon Jae-In's Democratic Party securing a record absolute majority in the National Assembly. The vote, dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, was the largest victory since democracy was established in 1987.
Turnout, at 66.2 percent, was also the highest at parliamentary elections for 28 years.
Apr 16, 2020
UK to extend Covid-19 lockdown as US looks to ease restrictions
The British government is set to extend the Covid-19 preventative lockdown for another three weeks, as the death toll on Thursday jumped by 861 to 13,729. Meanwhile, the United States is planning to announce measures to ease the lockdown despite the biggest jump in infections in five days and consecutive days of record fatalities.
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock warned that the numbers continue to rise. “Whilst we've had a flattening of the number of cases, that hasn't started to come down yet. And as far as I'm concerned that is still far too high,” Hancock said Thursday.
Apr 16, 2020
5 Bodies Scatter On Kumasi Streets
Five bodies have been found on the streets in Kumasi in the Ashanti region.
It is unclear the cause of their demise. It comes in the wake of Ghana’s fight against the global pandemic covid-19.
Apr 16, 2020
Coronavirus risks forcing South Africa to make health trade-offs it can ill afford
South Africa's health authorities are testing, quarantining and treating individuals who have been exposed to the new coronavirus . And the country is in lockdown in an attempt to slow the spread .
Much has been said about balancing the economic trade-offs with the lives the country needs to save versus the social and economic costs of doing so. Less discussed are the trade-offs being made within health care as services are focused on COVID-19.
Apr 16, 2020
Mauritius heads into coronavirus storm with strong social welfare buffers
The global economic costs of the COVID-19 pandemic will be massive, with the International Monetary Fund forecasting the worst global recession since the 1929 Great Depression . In Africa, the epidemic is gaining momentum . The continent is bracing itself for an unprecedented sanitary and economic crisis.
The World Bank estimates that the continent's pace of economic growth may drop from 2.4% in 2019 to -2.1% to -5.1% in 2020, the first recession in 25 years. The continent could face a balance of payments shortfall in excess of $100 billion in 2020. A balance of payments records a nation's transactions with the rest of the world. These transactions include imports and exports as well as capital inflows and outflows.
Apr 16, 2020
What COVID-19 reveals about Ghana's justice system and what needs to change
Next to the health and economic sectors, the legal and justice sectors of countries have been prominent in the unfolding of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The justice sector moderates all other sectors of national life and is as active in peacetime as in times of war or emergency. But I would argue that in Ghana, the justice sector is not ready for this crucial role.