Coronavirus updates As it happens (2020-10-25)

Nov 6, 2020

Accessing Loan, Chemicals In COVID-19 Was Difficult – Hohoe Best Farmer

Mr Emmanuel Ababio, the Hohoe Municipal Best Farmer, on Friday said access to agricultural incentives including loans and chemicals were difficult for farmers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said although there were loans available, the interest rates were high, hence the need to fall on family and friends to sustain production.

Nov 6, 2020

Ghana’s COVID-19 Active Cases Hit 947

Some 145 new cases have been reported.

This has increased the active cases to 947.

Nov 6, 2020

Tourism still going strong in Turkey, despite coronavirus pandemic

Despite the global ravages caused by Covid-19, Turkey's Culture and Tourism Ministry last week announced that, since the end of the local lockdown, the country had welcomed some 9.46 million visitors from various parts of the world, including many European countries.

The Turkish government lifted the national health lockdown in June 2020 and started international flight operations immediately, putting major precautions in place.

Nov 6, 2020

In Equatorial Guinea, Covid rules are a blessing to crowded classes

The economics teacher has to shout above the noise from a scene of educational chaos -- no fewer than 70 students are jammed into the classroom, asking questions, chatting to each other or moving around.

Yet, it could be argued, these are relatively better times for state educators in the impoverished central west African state of Equatorial Guinea.

In Malabo, the capital, public high schools typically have between 80 and as many as 105 students per class. By Samuel OBIANG (AFP)

Nov 6, 2020

With almost 60.000 new cases, France reports new Covid-19 record

Nearly 60,000 new Covid-19 cases were reported in the last 24 hours in France, almosst 20,000 more than on Wednesday, while Denmark shuts down over a mutation of the illness.

According to public health authorities, the number reached this level because of "problems in reporting test results." On Wednesday, France reported some 40,500 cases.

Nov 5, 2020

Covid-19 Second Wave Would Be A Stronger, Powerful War To Conquer — Apostle Kadmiel E.H. Agbalenyoh

A nation that immediately forgets the existence of its enemy would be fought back and destroyed because of its forgetfulness that reinforcement is possible.

Covid-19 after putting the entire world at a standstill especially in the economic development and mounting pressure on health providers while claiming billions of lives has resurfaced after some months when most people taught the pandemic has died down.

Nov 5, 2020

Monitoring Covid-19 progression in Paris through wastewater analysis

Laurent Moulin and his team at the Paris water department are playing an important role in tracing the progression of Covid-19 in the French capital, by analysing hundreds of wastewater samples from the Paris region.

“By analysing these samples, we can get a global picture of the Covid-19 disease,” Moulin, Paris water director of research, told RFI.

Nov 5, 2020

Covid-19 Resurrects, Ghana's Active Cases Rise Sharply Again To 877 From 620

The number of active COVID-19 cases in Ghana has rise from 620 to 877.

This was after some 132 new cases have been recorded.

Nov 5, 2020

Renewed Covid curbs for England, Italy as US sets grim daily record

England's 56 million people joined much of western Europe in a second coronavirus lockdown on Thursday, as the United States set a daily record with close to 100,000 new infections.

European governments are struggling to contain a fresh wave of the pandemic, which has now infected more than 11 million across the continent.

Nov 4, 2020

Covid-19: Ghana Records 132 New Cases

Ghana has recorded 132 new cases.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) confirmed in its latest report.

Nov 4, 2020

Kenya extends Covid curfew as numbers rise

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday announced that a night-time curfew would be extended until January 3 and political rallies barred for 60 days to help brake a rebound in coronavirus infections.

"We have experienced a reversal," Kenyatta said in a nationwide address after speaking to leading figures in the fighting against Covid-19, including regional governors.

Nairobi authorities launched free coronavirus tests in the sprawling slum of Kibera last month. By TONY KARUMBA (AFP)

Nov 4, 2020

French government promises another €20bn in fourth revision of Covid budget

France's governement was set to propose an additional 20 billion euros in Covid relief funds as part of its fourth revised budget of 2020 on Wednesday. Most of the new funds were to aid small companies and workers through four weeks of a new confinement announced by President Emmanuel Macron.

The new funds would join 470 billion euros of coronavirus relief funds the French government has already put on the table for businesses, employees and households affected by the Covid-19 lockdown and other restrictive health measures.

REUTERS - CHARLES PLATIAU

Nov 4, 2020

French writers and musicians defend culture in the face of Covid lockdown

Some of France's most well-known writers and musicians have come forward to defend the right for small shops selling cultural items to remain open during the second Covid-19 lockdown, insisting that educating oneself is an essential need, especially in times of crisis.

Since Friday, independent bookstores and music shops have been shuttered as part of the second lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19, as per the decision announced by President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday last week.

REUTERS/Anders Wiklund/TT News Agency

Nov 3, 2020

Hospitalised Algeria president has Covid-19: presidency

Algeria's President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has the Covid-19 illness, his office said Tuesday, ending days of speculation after he was hospitalised in Germany following cases of the virus among his staff.

Tebboune, who is 74 and a heavy smoker, "continues to receive treatment in a specialised German hospital after catching the Covid-19 illness," his office said in a statement.

Abdelmadjid Tebboune came to power last December in a presidential election marred by record low turnout. By RYAD KRAMDI (AFP/File)

Nov 3, 2020

COVID-19: Ghana Not On The Verge Of Second Wave – GHS

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) has downplayed suggestions of a looming second wave of COVID-19 infections in the country.

According to the Director of GHS, Dr Patrick Kumah-Aboagye, available data does not support the suggestions.

Nov 2, 2020

French police trainees caught partying after Covid curfew hours

French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin says police cadets involved in an illicit party on Wednesday evening will be excluded from the police force.

The secret party took place in the grounds of the police college in Nimes before France entered its second national lockdown on Friday but during the preceding period when Nimes and many other areas of the country were under curfew.

Nov 2, 2020

Charlie Hebdo trial delayed after two more defendants test positive for Covid-19

The trial of those accused of complicity in the 2015 Charlie Hebdo terror attack has been delayed for at least a week after two more defendants tested positive for coronavirus.

Fourteen people are on trial, accused of having helped the killers of 12 victims in the attack on satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, a female police officer a day later, and four hostages at a Jewish supermarket.

Nov 2, 2020

COVID-19: Ghana's Active Cases Increase Sharply To 620

Some 66 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded.

This takes the number of active cases to 620, according to the Ghana Health Service latest report.

Nov 2, 2020

Chaos across Europe as Covid death toll spirals out of control

Germany on Monday led a tightening of coronavirus restrictions across Europe, as reconfinement regulations trigger frustration and anger.

To curb the spike in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, Chancellor Angela Merkel has ordered a round of shutdowns from Monday until the end of the month.

REUTERS - BENOIT TESSIER

Nov 2, 2020

Over 1million People Exposed To COVID-19 In Accra, Kasoa – Report

West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP) in collaboration with their colleagues at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) has indicated in a report that about 20 percent of people living within Accra and Kasoa may have been exposed to COVID-19.

The scientists said they found out that many more were infected by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, than that number of confirmed cases reported by the Ghana Health Service.