The Minister of Public Health has ordered the closure of the controversial Marie O Clinic in Bali Douala, following numerous scandals of financial extortion and poor treatment of patients. In an order sent to the SDO for Wouri, Minister Manaouda Malachie says the polyclinic Marie O has been operating in gross violation to the ministerial decision identifying health units, equipped to treat COVID-19 cases.
Cameroon has recorded a 772 billion FCFA economic and financial loss as the result of the coronavirus pandemic. The statistics were revealed by finance Minister, Louis Paul Motaze during a joint press conference in Yaounde Wednesday May 13th, 2020.
The Minister of Public Health, Dr Manaouda Malachie says the government has started testing the COVID-19 treatment discovered by Archbishop Samuel Kleda of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Douala. During a press conference in Yaounde Wednesday May 13, 2020, the Minister said the product is being tested by the National Laboratory for the Certification of pharmaceutical products. The test, he said is to ensure that the products are not toxic
Some members of a family have been arrested by forces of law and order in Douala, for exhuming the corpse of their father from the cemetery in Newbell Douala. Their father died of Coronavirus and was buried immediately in strict conditions to burry COVID-19 victims in Cameroon, but family members under the pretext of performing traditional rites on his body as done in his West Region of origin, dug up his dead body. In an attempt to take off with his body on a vehicle, when they were intercepted by police elements of Douala II public security police unit. The corpse was later be reburied at the cemetery.
Cameroonians found guilty of the non wearing of face masks will henceforth be fined between 500frs to 2000frs cfa. The decision to empower Mayors to this effects has been taken by the Minister of decentralisation and local development Georges Elanga Obam. In an order to all SDOs in Cameroon, the Minister asked that elements of the forces of law and order be made available to this effect
The Coordinator of Survie Cameroon Survival Initiative (SCSI) and the treasurer of CRM party Penda Ekoka and Alain Fogue respectively were summoned at the judicial police in Yaounde this Friday. They are accused of financial crime. They have condemned the action of the government describing it as intimidation.
Volunteers of Survie Cameroon Survival Initiative have distributed face masks and hand sanitisers to people in Bamenda. They say despite threats from government, serving Cameroonians is their ultimate objective. This week, six of such volunteers were arrested in Yaounde for distributing gifts in Mokolo market.
Over 35 persons have been wounded in a road accident in Mujuka in the Moungo Division of the Littoral Region of Cameroon, along the Douala-Bafoussam highway.
The accident occurred when a 70-seater bus dashed into a valley. The accident has been blamed on the poor state of the road.
Bafia Diocese in the Centre Region of Cameroon has a new Bishop. Bishop Emmanuel Dassi, formerly auxiliary Bishop of Bafoussam was appointed today by Pope Francis. He replaces Bishop Jean Marie Benoit Bala who died in 2017.
Several pot holes at the national road number 5 linking Douala and Bafoussam in the West Region of Cameroon pointed as the major cause of road accidents. Early this morning, at least five people died following an accident on the same road.
Rumours of the death of Cameroon’s President Paul Biya have once more resurfaced. Pictures released today showed him receiving François Louncény Fall, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the UN Regional Office for Central Africa. This is the second time Paul Biya has been seen carrying out official duties since the COVID-19 outbreak in Cameroon two months ago. Some Cameroonians however hold that the images are photoshopped.
Heavy rains in Douala this morning left some residents stranded. The rains that started at 4 AM have left some areas inundated. At Guinness Club New Town Airport, “inhabitants are tied down. There is no way to go out” one of them said earlier today.
Malawi’s electoral commission says presidential elections will not be held on 2 July, as earlier announced. On 3 February, the country’s Constitutional Court ordered a fresh vote be held after annulling last year’s re-election of President Peter Mutharika. The court said the new elections should be held within 150 days of the date of its ruling and that period elapses on 2 July – the date the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) set as election day. But MEC Chair Jane Ansah has said that last Friday’s Supreme Court judgement, which upheld the Constitutional Court’s ruling, clarified that the date for holding fresh elections should be decided by MPs – and that the 150-day period should include the day elections results are announced.
South Africa’s government is facing a backlash over new lockdown regulations detailing what clothes can and cannot be sold in shops. The opposition has compared the rules to Soviet-style bureaucracy. The governing African National Congress (ANC) party is under mounting public pressure to ease lockdown rules despite warnings that infections will only peak in two or three months.
Former Eritrean diplomat Afwerki Abraha has died in the UK after contracting coronavirus, his family say. The respected former liberation fighter, who was 71 years old and had been in intensive care in London for one month, did not have any underlying health issues, they say. “Afwerki Abraha was a man who easily made the transition from a fighter to a professional and a loyal person,” his colleague and senior diplomat Haile Menkerios told the BBC. Before joining the war of independence from Ethiopia, Mr Afwerki had studied political science and qualified as a chemist in Russia.
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed the retired diplomat Ibrahim Gambari as his new chief of staff. The former senior UN official also served in Mr Buhari’s military government in the 1980s. He replaces Abba Kyari, who died last month from coronavirus. While Mr Gambari is hugely experienced, the fact that he is 75 years old has led to some criticism of the appointment. Critics of the 77-year-old president say his own frail heath has had a direct impact on the quality of leadership in Nigeria.
Lesotho has confirmed its first case of coronavirus – becoming the last country in Africa to record the virus. The mountain kingdom is completely surrounded by South Africa, which has 11,350 cases of Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by coronavirus. The single case resulted from tests done on 81 travellers from South Africa and Saudi Arabia, the health ministry said in a statement.
Police in Liberia have arrested a political activist for a Facebook post in which he used inflammatory language to criticise the government’s proposed coronavirus feeding programme. Menipakei Dumoe, a staunch critic of President George Weah, had rejected the idea. He wrote on Facebook on Monday: “We don’t need free bags of rice. I say we the poor in [the capital] Monrovia need AK-47s so that our leaders can take us seriously.” Police say his post amounts to a security threat.
Niger has further relaxed coronavirus restrictions, allowing mosques and churches to reopen from Wednesday. Places of worship had been closed for nearly two months as part of measures to contain the spread of the virus. The authorities say they are reopening them because the situation has improved. But worshippers have to adhere to social-distancing rules, wear face masks and regularly wash their hands. Mosques and churches must also be disinfected before prayer sessions or services.
Foreign news: BBC)
