Browsing: Coronavirus

The World Bank Group gave $12 billion to help countries that are dealing with the health and economic effects of the global outbreak of coronavirus.

As coronavirus reaches more than 60 countries in the world, World bank’s financing is designed to help it’s member countries take constructive action to respond and reduce the tragic effects caused by the virus where possible.

Through this new package, the World Bank Group will help developing countries strengthen health systems, by bettering access to health services to protect people from the virus, strengthening the virus surveillance, improving the public health interventions and to reduce the impact on economies by working with the private sector.

To support country-based responses, World Bank’s financial package will be globally coordinated with financing drawn from across International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), International Development Association (IDA) and International Finance Corporation (IFC).

Through the coronavirus support package, initial crisis …

 The Tanzanian Ministry of Health has announced the presence of the first case of the coronavirus on Monday, March 16.

The case was found in Northern part of Tanzania, on a female Tanzanian patient, 46-year-old, who arrived in the country on March from Belgium onboard RwandAir plane and landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) on March 15.

The patient also visited Sweden and Denmark between March 3 and 13, before her return to Tanzania.

Despite Tanzania being prepared with thermal scanners installed in all airports, the patient passed the health checks undetected, as her body temperature was at the normal level, hence—the condition was not detected

According to the minister of health Ummy Mwalimu, the patient was sceptical of her health even after being cleared.

“From what she told me on the phone, while in Belgium, she lived in a home where the owner had suffered from the coronavirus,” the …

At least 27 African states have so far been affected by the Covid-19 coronavirus with nearly 350 people diagnosed with the virus across the continent.

As the virus continues on its upward trajectory in Africa, concerted efforts are seeking to arrest its spread with support coming from different entities. The latest announcement of support is by Alibaba Founder Jack Ma who has pledged to donate medical supplies including masks, testing kits and medical use protective suits and face shields to all the 54 African countries.

In the statement posted on his Twitter account, Ma said that Africa can be one step ahead of the coronavirus which has already been classified a pandemic by the WHO.

Read: Coronavirus shakes economies, world forced to change perspective on Africa

Through his Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation, Ma has already donated medical supplies to other countries hardest hit by the virus, including Japan, …

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Economies around the world are taking a beating from Corvid-19 as aspects of their production and consumption take a nosedive.

With countries now dependent on each other for trade, sources of raw materials and labour, the coronavirus is bringing an end the approach to doing business globally as we know it. With much more connections through travel, the virus has found a way of stymying growth in several countries- including China, the epicentre of the outbreak- and many others which are still finding ways and means of addressing the challenge.

The worst-hit at this stage are those that depend on goods and services from China.

See: Intra-regional trade could create 2 million new jobs for East Africa

And while Africa is still largely safe from the ravages of the virus, many countries are already feeling the heat since they cannot procure goods from China following the lockdown and …

It is now a fact that the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is a pandemic according to World Health Organization (WHO), and just from that stand-point, the tourism sector is not safe from the pandemic pinch.

The world is on its heels, nations are now rolling a series of aviation restrictions to curb the virus outbreak, limiting numerous economic and societal operations over space and time—which also have ripple effects on the continent’s tourism sphere.

Currently, more than 4,900 people have died and over 132,000 have been infected globally, according to the WHO.

In Africa—the virus has recently brought two death (in Egypt and Algeria) and serious cases in several nations, including Ethiopia, Morocco, Senegal, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Africa, Togo, and Kenya.

According to WHO, there are now more than 100 cases recorded in 11 countries in Africa, Egypt having more than half of the …

Economists define a recession as a subdued growth that lasts at least six months and goes for another 18 months while depression can last up to a decade. The global economy was already heading to a recession even before the outbreak and spread of COVID-19.

What has followed is global market players and governments pumping millions of dollars to contain the spread of the virus that has Wuhan city and its epicenter. The US and Europe have already announced setting up of special kitty to treat, contain and mitigate the effects of the virus both as a disease as well as the economic heat that comes with the disease.

China, the second-largest economy in the world and Italy- Europe’s third-largest economy and 8th globally- have been severely affected by cities like Rome remaining ghost-towns as economic and commercial activities come to a halt. There is a growing fear that the …

Anastacia Mukami sells fruits and vegetables at the Kiambu town market, a few kilometers north of Nairobi, Kenya’s capital. Within a month, the price of cloves of garlic has almost doubled, currently selling at 35 shillings up from 15 shillings. This, she says has led to a reduction in the number of cloves she sells in a day as the supply from China becomes more scarce.

Just like the rest of the world, Kenya is reliant on garlic shipped from China, and with the Asian giant facing near lockdown, the supply to traders like Mukami is dwindling and the economic effects of goods from China is starting to be felt across the African continent. The Directorate of Horticulture says that Kenya imports over 50 percent of garlic from China, and some more from Tanzania.

It is not just garlic sellers that are facing a bleak and uncertain future. The eastern …

The world is on its heels as the coronavirus (COVID-19) has taken superpowers and developing nations hostage, limiting aerial movements, limiting large congregations, and drawing billions into containment plans. With all that in the fold, what has Tanzania installed to contain the virus outbreak ripples?

It is crucial to say China and Tanzania relations are historic, dating back to the 1960s. Prior to the virus outbreak, China and Tanzania had vibrant trading interactions, with bilateral trade volume reaching $3.976 billion according to the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania.

Both China and Tanzania (Ministry of Industries and Trade) have confessed to a serious downturn in trade following the coronavirus outbreak.

Meanwhile, Tanzania’s Ministry of Health Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children, assured the nation that, Tanzania has no case of coronavirus and it is taking serious measures to keep the situation that way.

However, taking the health landscape into account, still—Tanzania lags …

When Nigeria announced its first positive coronavirus infection African countries are now on guard as this has been a wake-up call for nations to strength their surveillance as well as disease containment.

The first case of the coronavirus was confirmed on February 25, via an Italian carrier who works in Nigeria and flew into the nation’s commercial city, Lagos.

According to information from BBC, Nigerian authorities commented that the “patient zero” is who is being treated in a hospital within the city, is stable and with no serious symptoms.

On the larger scale, Egypt and Algeria have also confirmed cases of the virus, while Kenya—whose authorities were debating on flights cancellation to China have given a court order to suspend flights from China, on February 28.

On a global scale, more than 2,800 people have died and more than 83,000 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in more than 50 …

South African rand has taken a steady stance on Monday, after China intervened to soothe the virus tension and combat the outbreak economic backlash, via its rate cut approach, according to information from Reuters.

Reuters reported that, China’s central bank cut the interest rate on its medium-term lending on Monday as policymakers sought to cushion the drag on business from the outbreak that has immensely disrupted activity.

As of 0245 EAT, the rand was standing at 0.55 per cent firmer at 14.8966, adding to gains from Friday’s session spurred by largely positive reception of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation speech promising faster economic reformer.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported the rand slipped to 14.6570 per dollar on Monday 28 January, its weakest since Dec. 12, with the selloff largely driven by investors dumping emerging-market assets.

Further, the rand and other emerging market currencies had weakened amid investor fears …