KENYANS WORRIED WITH HOSPITALS ABILITY TO HANDLE COVID-19 PATIENTS

By Nasibo Kabale, NAIROBI Kenya

The ability of Kenya’s healthcare system to handle the surge in coronavirus cases is much weaker than many believe.

The Ministry of Health has already announced that the country is likely to have 10,000 coronavirus cases by the end of April.

As confirmed cases continue to increase, there are 59 by Tuesday, one of the biggest issues doctors could face is finding space to treat patients requiring medical assistance.

Whether Kenya has enough hospital beds to treat all those who could become infected is questionable. Available data on hospital capacity suggests the country does not.

Kenya also has a shortage of inpatient beds with the national average for inpatient bed density at 13.3 beds per 10,000 population. This is below the World Health Organisation (WHO) target of 25 and the global average for lower middle-income countries of 18.

Data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) show that although there has been a remarkable expansion of healthcare infrastructure by counties, the number of facilities and workforce remain inadequate to cater for demand by a steadily rising population in need of such services.

Healthcare infrastructure has seen expansion and improvement with an increase in the number of facilities from 8,616 before devolution in 2013 to 11,324 in 2017. This has increased the national average facility density from 19 to 24 per 100,000 people.

About 80 per cent of the facilities are at Level Two (dispensaries) and Three (health centres), which focus on primary healthcare, while 20 per cent of the facilities fall in Levels Four and Five.

These comprise secondary health facilities and provide specialised services, while Level Six facilities are highly-specialised referral hospitals and provide healthcare, teaching, and training and research services. On average, in the last four years, the density has been 22 health facilities per 100,000 people.

On the other hand, Kenya Harmonized Health Facility Assessment 2018/19 indicates that the mean availability of standard precaution for infection prevention items is at 65 per cent.

Only 12 per cent of health facilities had all items for standard precaution for infection prevention such as disposable syringes, disinfectant, safe final disposal of sharps, safe disposal of infectious waste, alcohol based sanitisers, appropriate storage of infectious waste.

The report shows that on average, health facilities had 55 per cent of basic amenities available with only six per cent of the facilities having all basic amenities.

Efficient delivery of health services requires skilled personnel in adequate numbers. These include doctors, clinical officers, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory personnel, and specialists at different levels of care. In addition to healthcare caregivers, other supportive staff cadres include the managerial staff, records officers, and cleaners.

Understanding their numbers are therefore critical in planning for resource allocation, expansion of human resource capacity and identifying gaps. - Daily Nation

BURUNDI CONFIRMS FIRST 2 CASES OF COVID-19

By Our Correspondent, BUJUMBURA Burundi

The tiny East African nation of Burundi confirmed its first coronavirus cases, the Health minister Thadée Ndikumana, announced late Tuesday.

Both men were Burundian. One, 56, had recently returned from neighbouring Rwanda and the other, 42, had recently returned from Dubai.

 “Both are Burundian nationals who had travelled to Rwanda and Dubai respectively and are being hospitalised at Bumerec hospital in Bujumbura,” the health minister told a news conference.

He, however, did not announce the day they arrived in the country saying it might jeopardise contact tracing efforts.

“We cannot provide the dates as investigations are ongoing,” said Dr Ndikumana.

As neighbouring countries of Rwanda, DR Congo and Tanzania reported cases of coronavirus, Burundi suspended all flights to and from Melchior Ndadaye International Airport and started screening returnees and visitors from countries affected by Covid-19.

Belgian and French schools and the French Cultural Centre have suspended all their activities in the country for at least 15 days over coronavirus fears.

The decision came after a 29-year-old French national who had travelled to Rwanda from March 5 to 9 revealed that she was in contact with a colleague during her stay in Kigali who tested positive for coronavirus.

Last week, Tanzania’s Health Minister Ummy Ally Malimu announced that one of the new recorded cases in the country was a truck driver who was found at Kagera, a region bordering Burundi.

The driver reportedly entered Tanzania through Kabanga, a common border between Burundi and Tanzania.

The news means there are now only five remaining African countries that have not confirmed the presence of the virus in their territory: Comoros, Lesotho, Malawi, Sao Tome & Principe, and South Sudan. - Africa

STUDY SHOWS MIDDLE-AGE COVID-19 MORTALITY RISK

Paris, FRANCE

Middle-aged people, and not just the elderly, have a dramatically higher risk of dying or developing serious illness from COVID-19, new research from Britain showed Tuesday.

The findings came in a new comprehensive analysis of virus cases in mainland China.

Researchers from Britain analysed more than 3,600 confirmed COVID-19 cases as well as data from hundreds of passengers repatriated from the outbreak city of Wuhan.

They found that age was a key determining factor in serious infections, with nearly one in five over-80s requiring hospitalisation, compared to around 1 percent among people under 30.

Taking into account estimates of the number of cases that may not have been clinically confirmed — that is, mild or asymptomatic infections — the data showed the hospitalisation rate of patients in their fifties was 8.2 percent.

The study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, estimated that the mortality rate from confirmed COVID-19 cases in mainland China was 1.38 percent.

If unconfirmed cases were taken into account, the death rate dropped to 0.66 percent.

The authors of the research said that while this was significantly lower than previous estimates, COVID-19 is still several times deadlier than previous pandemic viruses, such as H1N1.

“Our estimates can be applied to any country to inform decisions around the best containment policies for COVID-19,” said Azra Ghani, a study co-author from Imperial College London.

“There might be outlying cases that get a lot of media attention, but our analysis very clearly shows that at aged 50 and over, hospitalisation is much more likely than in those under 50, and a greater proportion of cases are likely to be fatal.”

Billions of people have been confined to their homes around the world as governments desperately try to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.

As of 1900 GMT Monday the virus had killed 36,374 people out of 757,940 cases globally.

That would mean 4.8 percent of all confirmed COVID-19 infections have proven deadly.

But experts stress that without widespread testing it is impossible to know how many people may have become infected and recovered.

This means the true mortality rate is likely much lower, in line with The Lancet study and previous research from China.

The Lancet study showed that 18.4 percent of patients in their 80s were hospitalised in China.

This compared to 4.3 percent for 40 to 49-year-olds and roughly 1 percent for people in their 20s.

According to their modelling, the authors estimate that 50-80 percent of the global population could contract COVID-19 — but that came with several caveats, as modelling can’t account for behavioural changes such as hand washing and social distancing.

Devi Sridhar, professor and chair of Global Public Health, at the University of Edinburgh’s Medical School, said that the assumption that most people would become infected was leading governments, including in Britain, to abandon measures that could help slow the pandemic.

She tweeted on Tuesday that the models “resulted in the UK giving up on containment too early & assuming everyone will get it.

“Planning & preparing for unprecedented testing & using big data/apps for tracing were taken off the table. In my view, we went down the wrong path,” she said.

SECURITY FORCES USE VIOLENT TACTICS TO ENFORCE AFRICA'S CORONAVIRUS SHUTDOWNS

Johannesburg, SOUTH AFRICA

Soldiers tower over youngsters in South Africa's Soweto township, forcing them to do push-ups and roll on the floor as punishment for not adhering to a lockdown meant to halt the spread of coronavirus.

Soldiers on patrol walk past a resident as they enforce a 21 day nationwide lockdown, aimed at limiting the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Eldorado Park, South Africa, March 30, 2020.

Caught on camera and circulated on social media, they added to a string of videos purporting to show violence by security forces deployed to enforce curfew and confinement across Africa.

Rubber bullets, tear gas and whips have been used to maintain social distancing in shopping queues and to discipline citizens caught outside their homes without valid reason.

"It seems to be the only way in which authorities know how to deal with the populace, through violence and humiliation," said Amnesty International's Shenilla Mohamed, executive director for South Africa, adding that abuse had also been reported from Zimbabwe, Kenya and Nigeria.

South African police are investigating the deaths of three citizens allegedly killed by patrols for defying the lockdown, which came into force last Friday.

"That's almost the same amount of people that have died from coronavirus," noted Mohamed, referring to the nation’s latest death toll of five.

One person was allegedly shot by police on his way home from a bar -- a direct breach of regulations prohibiting the sale of alcohol during the 21-day shutdown.

Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has condemned the reported heavyhandedness and vowed to withdraw soldiers caught abusing their powers.

To date coronavirus has infected more than 5,690 people in Africa and killed at least 195, according to an AFP tally.

The pandemic has been slow to reach the continent, despite an acceleration in recent weeks, and numbers remain relatively low compared to other parts of the world.

This motorist was beaten by police officers for violating the night curfew declared to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Dozens of African governments have made use of the extra time to roll out curfews and shutdowns earlier than their worse-hit counterparts in the West.

But such measures are difficult to enact in countries where most people live in poverty and work informally, often in packed urban slums with little access to sanitation.

"If we take measures which starve everybody, they will quickly end up being defied," said Benin's President Patrica Talon on Sunday, adding that his country lacked the means to enforce public confinement.

As governments have struggled to keep citizens indoors, their security forces have been quick to fall back on intimidation tactics, raising widespread concern.

"It is unacceptable to see such inhuman and degrading treatment against the population," tweeted Nicolas Simard, Canada's ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo, in response to a video of masked policemen beating a young man to the ground in the capital Kinshasa, which went into lockdown last week.

"This is uncalled for and inappropriate," tweeted Mombasa governor Hassan Joho after police charged hundreds of commuters waiting for a ferry in Kenya’s port city.

Clad in riot gear, they fired tear gas at the crowd before the start of a dusk-to-dawn curfew, forcing people to the ground and whipping them.

The Mombasa Law Society denounced the police intervention as "excessive" and "detestable".

Uganda's army meanwhile apologised for a "high-handed" response after security forces violently cleared the streets in the capital Kampala, causing an outcry.

In a separate incident, two men were hospitalised after being shot by police for violating a restriction on public transport.

Footage from Senegal surfaced last week showing policemen beating people found outside after a night curfew.

In one video, officials force three young men to do squats after they were caught exercising at night.

"No torture, no inhuman degrading treatment and no excessive use of force," pleaded Amnesty International's former West and Central Africa director Alioune Tine.

Police eventually assured that all "excessive interventions" had been punished.

Yet the risk of a beating has done little to stop citizens across the continent from pursuing their daily activities.

The need to make a living trumps both fears of catching the deadly virus and encountering the police, prompting law enforcement officers to step up their show of force.

More than 1,100 people have been arrested for lockdown violations in South Africa, while Ivory Coast has detained 450 for failing to respect curfew.

Ivorian Human Rights Movement (MIDH) chief Doumbia Yacouba said many of the detainees had been beaten and mistreated.

"It is unacceptable and it adds to the psychosis created by coronavirus," he said.

Further cause for concern emerged when Kenyan police called for an inquiry into the death of a 13-year old boy felled by a bullet allegedly fired by police as they cleared a slum area last week.

In South Africa, three young children were wounded when security officials allegedly opened fire against a man.

Human Rights Watch has called for urgent investigations into all abuse allegations and "disproportionate" use of force.

ETHIOPIA POSTPONES AUGUST ELECTION DUE TO CORONAVIRUS

By Dawit Endeshaw, ADDIS ABABA Ethiopia

Ethiopia has postponed parliamentary elections scheduled for August due to the coronavirus outbreak, the electoral board said on Tuesday, a move endorsed by some key opposition parties.

The vote had been regarded as an important test of the reformist agenda of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in what was once one of the continent’s most repressive nations.

“Due to the pandemic we were forced to suspend our activities,” said an Amharic-language statement from the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia. The board will announce a new timeline once the pandemic has subsided, it said.

The Horn of Africa nation has 25 confirmed cases of coronavirus so far.

Ethiopia is Africa’s second-most populous nation with 105 million citizens. Abiy promised to liberalise the state-run economy and oversaw reforms that freed thousands of political prisoners, journalists and opposition activists.

Previous elections in Ethiopia, a parliamentary democracy, have been marred by allegations of rigging and intimidation.

Abiy has promised to hold free and fair elections and has been positioning himself as a unity candidate whose reforms could replace repression as the glue holding Ethiopia’s often fractious federal regions together.

But his party would have faced a stiff challenge from many newly resurgent regional, ethnically based parties.

Representatives of some of the regional parties - the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the National Movement of Amhara (NAMA) - said they would not oppose the delay.

“For now, our priority is how to overcome the pandemic,” said Yesuf Ebrahim, NAMA’s spokesman. Opposition parties and the government must discuss what will happen when parliament’s term ends in September, Yesuf said.

Dawud Ibsa, OLF’s chairman, told Reuters that his party was ready for further discussions.

But Jawar Mohammed, a prominent activist from Abiy’s Oromo ethnic group, warned that the opposition must be consulted during the next steps. Jawar has evolved from Abiy’s ally to one of his fiercest critics; an unsuccessful attempt to arrest him in October caused protests that led to 78 deaths.

“The ruling party cannot and should not make unilateral decisions,” he said.

William Davison, the International Crisis Group think tank’s senior analyst for Ethiopia, said the election postponement could be used to strengthen Ethiopian democracy.

“A start would be the ruling party discussing with opponents critical topics such as the conditions for a fair election, transitional justice and reconciliation, and the federation’s major political fault lines,” he said.

The openness fostered by Abiy when he became premier in 2018 won him plaudits at home and abroad. But it also fanned the embers of long-repressed rivalries between ethnic groups as regional strongmen sought to mobilise local voting blocs.

The resulting clashes, along with natural disasters, forced more than 2 million people to flee their homes, according to the United Nations, although some have now returned.

CORONA UPDATE TODAY - 1/4/2020

Coronavirus Cases:

859,431

View by country

Deaths:

42,335

Recovered:

178,322

ACTIVE CASES

638,774

Currently Infected Patients

605,938 (95%)

in Mild Condition

32,836 (5%)

Serious or Critical

Show Graph

CLOSED CASES

220,657

Cases which had an outcome:

178,322 (81%)

Recovered / Discharged

42,335 (19%)

Deaths

Show Graph

BOTSWANA DECLARES EMERGENCY, CONFIRMS FIRST 3 CASES OF COVID-19

Gaborone, BOTSWANA

Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi said on Tuesday that the government would declare a state of public emergency for the purpose of taking appropriate and stringent measures to address the risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mokgweetsi Masisi, Botswana’s president.

In his statement on the declaration of the state of the public emergency in Botswana regarding the COVID-19 outbreak in Gaborone, Botswana’s capital city, Masisi said it has become apparent that urgent and necessary steps need to be taken to protect “our country and its people from this deadly virus.”

The threat to Botswana, which announced three confirmed cases on March 30, has escalated considerably in view of the fact that the southern African country’s neighboring countries have seen a rapid rise in confirmed cases, some of which have resulted in fatalities, he said.

“In terms of the powers vested in me under Section 17 (1) of the Constitution, I, Dr. Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi, President of the Republic of Botswana do hereby declare that a state of public emergency shall exist from midnight on April 2, 2020 until further notice,” he said.

Whilst the state of public emergency is in place, Masisi said there shall also be “extreme social distancing commencing on April 2, 2020 at midnight for a period of 28 days” because it is in the best interest of the nation.

“This decision was by no means taken lightly,” said Masisi, who addressed the nation via a live broadcast through the state television (Botswana Television) since he is still placed under a 14-day self-isolation which started on March 21.

According to Masisi, all individuals across the country will be expected to adhere to a more severe form of social distancing and movement out of the home is only for those performing essential services and transporting essential goods during this period of extreme lockdown.

Those involved will be permitted to travel using the COVID-19 Travel Permit that will be issued by the government.

Masisi said the measures are taken to limit the spread of the diseases that are transmitted among humans.

TANZANIA REPORTS FIRST DEATH FROM COVID-19

The Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, seniors and Children, Ummy Mwalimu

By Our Correspondent, DODOMA Tanzania

Tanzania government said Tuesday a male patient who tested positive for the novel coronavirus and who was suffering from other undisclosed disease has passed away, marking the country’s first confirmed death from the disease.   

The 49-year-old Tanzanian national, who was being treated at Mloganzila medical facility in Dar es Salaam, was among the country’s 19 confirmed cases.  

The Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, seniors and Children, Ummy Mwalimu, said he died Tuesday morning in the covid-19 treatment centre.

“I regret to announce the first death of COVID-19 patient in Tanzania, which occurred today at dawn at our Mloganzila medical facility.” The Minister confirmed.

She said that the current report shows that the country has 19 confirmed COVID-19 cases, one death and one recovered patient.

After first appearing in Wuhan, China last December, the novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, has spread to at least 177 countries and territories, according to data compiled by U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University.

More than 787,269 cases have been reported worldwide, with the death toll over 37,846 and more than 165,935 recoveries. - Africa

TANZANIA WANTS CONFISCATION OF FOREIGNERS’ PROPERTY WORTH 16 BILLION SHILLINGS

By Faustin Kapama, Dar es Salaam TANZANIA

The Tanzania’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) yesterday asked the Corruption and Economic Crimes Division of the High Court to confiscate as government property worth 16-billion shillings ($6.89 million), proceeds of a pyramid scheme operated by two foreigners.

The foreigners, according to the application for forfeiture orders, are Manon Elisabeth Hubenthal, a resident of Greven in Germany and Frank Robert Ricketts, who resides in Blackwats, in the United Kingdom.

Both are directors and shareholders of IMS Marketing Tanzania Limited. The application has been supported by two affidavits of State Attorney Estazia Wilson and Investigator Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Fadhili, detailing how the foreigners were involved in the crimes of conducting the pyramid scheme and money laundering.

In the submissions to support the application, DPP Biswalo Mganga, who was assisted by Principal State Attorneys Shadrack Kimario and Christopher Msigwa told Judge Elinaza Luvanda that the forfeiture order was necessary to prevent offenders from benefiting from the proceeds of crimes.

According to the prosecution, it was sad to note that several people, including government officials and religious leaders, were involved in the pyramid scheme and invested some millions of money to enrich themselves, but to the detriment of the country’s economy.

“You can imagine one religious leader took 100m/-offerings and sow such money in the pyramid scheme.

We believe that if the forfeiture order is granted, these government and religious leaders will stop from engaging in these dirty games. It will deter others from committing similar crimes,” the DPP said.

Expounding, the prosecution asked the High Court to confiscate two bank accounts with a total sum of $1,351,597.79 and another account with €5,377,306.56, both held in the name of IMS Marketing Tanzania Limited at Bank of Africa (BOA), Bank Limited.

Relying on any other prayer for any other order the court could deem fit and just to grant, the DPP also asked the Court to order BOA Bank Limited to pay interests for the money for having remained in possession of such huge money since January 19, 2018.

The judge is set to deliver the ruling on April 3, 2020. It was submitted that on January 19, 2014, the two foreigners came to Tanzania and registered IMS Marketing Tanzania Limited, a company which was given by Kinondoni Municipal Council a business licence of operating marketing services business.

The prosecution submitted that neither the dealing in crypto currency nor collection of funds from members of the public is among the purposes of the business for which the company was registered as per the Memorandum and Articles of Association.

On diverse dates, the two foreigners opened the bank accounts after registering the company, which it was established later that it had relations with IMS International Marketing Services of Singapore.

Such a Singaporean company, the prosecution further charged, had a close link and part of Onecoin Limited, a company founded in April 2014 in Gibraltar and had offices in Bulgaria, the United Arabs Emirates (UAE) and Hong Kong.

“IMS Marketing Tanzania Limited, IMS International Marketing Services and Onecoin Limited are operating a pyramid scheme that is a predicate offence of money laundering,” the prosecution submitted.

It was alleged further that the operations of Onecoin Limited and subsidiary companies in various jurisdictions had been stopped and their bank accounts frozen for its complicity in money laundering offences arising from a scheme that was the same as pyramid scheme.

Following such a stoppage of operations, Onecoin Limited advertised on her Facebook account and online website that members should pay their trade packages and deposits through the bank accounts maintained at BOA Bank.

On different dates, 16,720,858,579.47 was received from three bank accounts. Such amount comprises $1,351,597.79 in two USD accounts and another €5,377,306.56 the Euro account.

Considering such evidence, the DPP filed an economic case against the two at the Kisutu Resident Magistrates’ Court in Dar es Salaam on three charges of conspiracy to commit an offence, money laundering and unlawful operating a pyramid scheme.

Since the accused were at large, the prosecution applied and obtained an arrest warrant against them.

The arrest warrant was published, but they could not show up. It was at that point in time when the DPP filed the application for forfeiture orders before the High Court. – Daily News