Several African countries have imposed limited access to their territories by suspending some air links with nations most hit by the coronavirus epidemic.
If geopolitical and economic issues dissuade African states from taking drastic measures to fight the coronavirus pandemic, the Maghreb has already started to apply certain restrictions. This is the case of Morocco that has decided to suspend, until further notice, all international passenger flights to and from its territory. The Kingdom confirmed on Monday, its 29th Covid-19 case.
Algeria will also suspend from Thursday, March 19, according to its Prime Minister Abdelaziz Djerada, all links with European countries. Algiers also announces the suspension of flights with six African capitals: Abidjan, Bamako, Dakar, Niamey, Nouakchott and Ouagadougou.
Mauritania does not want to be outdone, despite the fact I has only case of coronavirus. It announces the suspension, from Tuesday, of all tourist flights entering its territory, in an affort to prevent any importation of the virus.
In sub-Saharan Africa, Senegal with 27 cases positive for Covid-19 including two cured, will suspend from next Wednesday its air links with France, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Portugal “for a 30-day period.”
In Africa, these measures concern Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, the Senegalese Minister of Tourism and Air Transport Alioune Sarr told reporters on Monday, explaining that cargo flights and medical evacuation flights were not targeted.
Quarantine and semi-quarantine
Already on Saturday, President Macky Sall announced the ban on cruise ships and the strengthening of the country’s border surveillance mechanism. For its part, Burundi has already thought of such a mechanism, even though it has identified no case yet. All passengers from China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, Germany, France, Japan and Spain will be quarantined.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Chad and Liberia also plan two-week isolation restrictions for people from abroad.
In Kenya, President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced that his government was suspending all movement from countries where at least one case of Covid-19 contamination has been confirmed.
He said Kenyan citizens and foreign nationals with permanent residence permits will be allowed to return to the country, provided they are placed in quarantine.
As of Tuesday, March 17, Ghana will ban entry to its territory of anyone having been to a country where more than 200 cases of infection have been documented, with the exception of Ghanaian citizens.
In South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a state of national disaster and initiated a series of measures, including the ban on travel to and from countries like Italy, Germany, China and the United States.
To date, nearly 175,000 cases of Covid-19, a disease that broke out in November in China, have been confirmed worldwide. Nearly 78,000 patients were cured and more than 6,700 people have died since then.
ODL/id/cgd/fss/abj/APA