Four government ministers are among the latest cases of coronavirus
in Burkina Faso where two new deaths were reported by the country’s
health emergency response operations centre on Saturday.
According to
press releases issued by their respective departments, the ministers of
foreign affairs, interior, education, and mines and quarries have all
tested positive for COVID-19.
“Two deaths (have been) recorded
today, bringing the number of deaths since the start of the epidemic to
three,” the report from the operations centre known as Corus said.
“Twenty-four
(new) cases were confirmed on March 20, including 19 in Ouagadougou,
two in Bobo-Dioulasso, two in Boromo and one in Dedougou.”
Burkina Faso now has a total of 64 confirmed cases (29 women and 35 men), according to the report.
A
poor and landlocked country in West Africa, with a population of 20
million, Burkina Faso recorded the first death linked to the coronavirus
in sub-Saharan Africa on Wednesday.
Five cases of recovery, including the first infected couple, were also recorded, according to the Corus.
Burkina
Faso announced on Friday evening the closure of its land and air
borders and the introduction of a curfew starting on March 21, to fight
against the coronavirus epidemic.
Latest global developments
Here are the latest developments in the coronavirus crisis:
China: no domestic cases for third day
China
reports no new local cases for a third consecutive day, but confirms
the highest one-day tally yet in infections from abroad, with another 41
cases.
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More than 11,000 dead globally
At least 11,737
deaths have been recorded since the virus first emerged in December,
according to an AFP tally compiled at 1230 GMT on Saturday based on
official sources.
There have been more than 277,106 infections reported in 164 countries and territories.
Italy has recorded 4,032 deaths out of 47,021 cases, with 5,129 recoveries.
China has 81,008 cases, including 3,255 fatalities and 71,740 people recovered.
The worst affected countries after Italy and China are Iran with 1,556 deaths, Spain with 1,326 deaths, and France with 450 deaths.
Nearly one billion people confined to homes
An
estimated 900 million people are now confined to their homes in 35
countries around the world — including 600 million hemmed in by
obligatory government lockdown orders — according to an AFP tally.
Colombia will impose obligatory confinement on Tuesday evening.
The same will begin across Tunisia on Sunday.
In the US, seven US states have issued orders to stay home — California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and Nevada.
In total, one in five people in the US are affected by stay-at-home orders.
Toughening measures
Switzerland,
which has so far not followed other countries in ordering full
confinement, announces it will ban all gatherings of more than five
people, and that anyone standing closer than two metres to others risks a
fine.
Haiti, Dominican Republic, Jordan and Burkina Faso introduce curfews.
Borders closing
Cuba, which is largely dependent on its tourism revenue, will close its borders to non-residents on Tuesday, for 30 days.
The Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso close their borders as of this weekend.
Brazil will close its borders as of Monday to all visitors from Europe, Australia and several Asian countries.
Businesses hit
Smartphone
shipments take a historic plunge in February, the industry tracker
Strategy Analytics says, dropping to 61.8 million, a 38 percent dip from
the same month a year earlier.
Air Canada and Air Transat announce they will temporarily lay off some 7,000 staff.
Boeing announces it will suspend its dividend until further notice and that its chief executive and chairman will forgo pay until the end of the year.
Guatemala announces a partial halt to industrial production as of Monday but says this will not affect food and pharmaceutical sectors.
