Cameroon has recorded 151 new confirmed coronavirus cases as of Wednesday may 14, 2020. In the daily press briefing in Yaounde, the Ministry of public health said 4 cases have been recorded in the South West, 6 in the North West, 28 in the Littoral, 33 the East and 80 in the Center Regions. The ministry also revealed that 1 new death case was recorded and 14 recovery cases.
The government of Cameroon has reiterated that coronavirus tests are free of charge in Cameroon. Through the Ministry of public health, the government called on the population to report to public health establishments immediately with any signs and symptoms of COVID-19. The population has also been called not to give a franc before being tested of COVID-19.
The Controversial Marie O Polyclinic Clinic in Bali Douala has been closed down by the Senior Divisional Officer for the Wouri Division. This was upon instructions from Cameroon’s Minister of Public health Dr Manaouda Malachie. Marie O Polyclinic is accused among other things of hospitalising coronavirus patients, even when it does not feature among health units preselected to treat COVID-19 patients in Douala. The health unit is also accused of extorting money from patients. According to the Ministry of public health, the proprietor – Dr Roger Ngoula recently served a bill of more than 14 million to a Lebanese national. Shutting down the structures, the SDO for Wouri said the health unit will only run when the Minister so decides.
Union des Population du Cameroun (UPC) has lauded efforts by the government in tackling the spread of coronavirus. Contrary to most opposition parties that think government is not doing enough, the SG Hon. Bapot Lipot says the government is in a good footing.
Cameroon’s Minister of Public Health, Manaouda Malachie has denied social media rumours that a young mother was retained in the hospital to pay delivery bills before being discharged. Dr. Manaouda Malachie in the tweet says, the young mother who had just lost her quadruplets “was held back for proper medical observations”.
After slow backing on the Swiss led initiative to resolve the Anglophone crisis, President Biya has chosen to discuss the way out of the impasse directly with the Swiss President Simonetta Sommaruga. According to the Swiss President, Paul and her discussed the engagement of Switzerland in the process to fine a solution to the Anglophone crisis. The discussions were engaged through the telephone call.
Academic examinations are t to run between July and August 2020 while the tentative date for school resumption is the 1st of June at least for examination classes . For 2020/2021 school year, nursery, primary and secondary schools will open on October 5th while Universities will start on the 15th of October 2020.
The University of Buea says the E-learning process is effective and will still be encouraged even after the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Dean of the faculty of education of the University, the E-Learning laboratory has been equiped to enable an effective process.
Lawyers defending journalist Samuel Wazizi have deposited another habeas corpus application today at the Buea High Court. The journalist has been in detention incommunicado for over 280 days. Journalists in Cameroon are calling for justice for their colleague.
Boys presenting themselves as Ambazonia fighters have set ablaze buckets donated to the people of Mbengwi in the North West Region to help wash their hands and prevent the spread of the pandemic. The act has been condemned by many.
Yonah Diamond, legal counsel at the Wallenberg center for human rights has addressed the dismissal of Barrister Nkongho from the University of Buea. To him, the Barrister is a hero. To him, this is because the lawyer “puts his life on the line to do everything from leading the Anglophone minority rights movement; to documenting mass atrocities in the Anglophone regions; to educating the public at home and abroad”. He also accused the Cameroon government of attempting to stifle freedom of speech.
A search is underway for a lady who escaped from the Bafoussam regional hospital. An inmate at the Bafoussam central prison, the lady in question, 46 year old Ndunamo Kamto Cyrille Ines, penitentiary authorities say was being held under charges of theft for which she was convicted for three years in 2019. Her second crime was fraud for which she was convicted on May 3rd 2020.
Government today announced it was allocating 36 billion FCFA for the reconstruction of the Anglophone regions. This has been received with a lot of criticism with many accusing the government of trying to paint a false picture of the war. In addition to the fact that the war is still ongoing, they say the billions allocated for the reconstruction project are likely to go unaccounted for much like what was set aside for humanitarian missions to the regions.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights says the whereabouts of three opposition officials remains unknown. Movement for Democratic Change MP Joanna Mamombe and youth leaders Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marov were reportedly arrested on Wednesday while they held a demonstration over the government’s Covid-19 response. They were protesting about people allegedly going hungry while a lockdown is in place.
There is a plan for Kenyan troops to leave Somalia by December next year, local newspaper Daily Nation has reported, citing a new book by just retired military chief Samson Mwathethe. The exit plan includes first ensuring the Somali army can take over security from the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom), which is also made up of troops from Uganda, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Burundi. The strategy cites the creation of a buffer zone free of fighters from the al-Shabab militant group along the Kenya-Somalia border. The process will involve “surveillance, trenches, roads and chain-link fences”.
A coalition of mainly African diaspora medics’ associations has said that a proposed public inquiry in the UK into the high number of deaths from coronavirus of people from black and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds must include the voices of frontline health workers. “With BAME more likely to be employed in less senior and lower paid roles as well as less likely to be listened to when they raise concerns, they are at a greater risk of exposure to Covid-19,” says the statement endorsed by the Sudanese Medical Association UK and Ireland, Tanzania UK Healthcare and Ghana Nurses Association UK, among others. It comes in the week when news emerged of the death of railway worker Belly Mujinga, 47, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, after she was spat at by a man who said he had coronavirus.
More than 200 doctors from Cuba have finished their mandatory quarantine in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria, and are ready for deployment. After arriving in the country’s main city, Johannesburg, on 26 April, the team was under a two-week quarantine at a Pretoria hotel, local media report. On Thursday, they issued a statement on the Cuban embassy’s website declaring they had ended their quarantine and are ready to embark on the “difficult task”.
Worried about disregard for social distancing guidelines, Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos, is running a Twitter poll to decide if a lockdown relaxed last week should be brought back. There have been more than 70,000 votes so far in the poll, which closes on Friday. Support for the return of the lockdown is leading, with 49% of votes cast, while those against are on 39% and 10% are neutral. Twitter polls are unstructured – anyone, including those not living in Lagos can vote, so the poll may not be a true reflection of what those in the state want.
Eritrean activists have sued the European Union, demanding it stop funding a project which they say uses forced labour.
National service recruits were set to be used and the Foundation Human Rights for Eritreans (FHRE) says conscripts are “trapped for an indefinite period”. The group, which is based in the Netherlands, accused the EU of failing to conduct adequate checks before it provided more than $85m (£70m) to finance a road linking Eritrea with Ethiopia. The European Commission said its actions were guided by the rule of law.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is in the process of evacuating four members of its staff from Burundi after they were told to leave by the government. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s Africa regional head, confirmed the news at a virtual press briefing, but added that she did not know why the authorities “took this action”. Walter Kazadi Mulombo, the WHO boss in Burundi’s main city of Bujumbura, and his three colleagues were declared “personae non gratae” and told to leave by this Friday.
Mauritius has declared victory in the battle against coronavirus, but says it has not yet won the war, the AFP news agency reports quoting the health minister. Health Minister Kailesh Jagutpal is quoted as saying that there are zero active coronavirus cases in the country and no new cases had been reported in 17 days. In total, the island nation has had 332 cases and 10 deaths. It was among the first in Africa to impose a total lockdown.
(Foreign news: BBC)
