8, April 2020
France’s coronavirus death toll passes 10,000 after steep rise at nursing homes 0
France officially registered more than 10,000 deaths from coronavirus infections on Tuesday, becoming the fourth country to go beyond that threshold after Italy, Spain and the United States.
The total death toll from Covid-19 rose to 10,328 from 8,911 on Monday, Jérôme Salomon, head of the public health authority, told a press conference, warning that “the epidemic is continuing its progression.”
Salomon said 7,091 fatalities have been recorded at French hospitals since March 1. A further 3,237 people have died at care homes for the elderly, he added, giving a much higher figure than reported on Monday.
He stressed that the latter count was still partial, with some nursing homes yet to report.
More than 30,000 people were being treated in hospitals around the country, with 7,131 in intensive care, Salomon added.
“We are in the ascending phase of the epidemic, even if it is slowing a bit,” he warned. “We have not yet reached the peak.”
The death toll of 10,328 included 597 fatalities in hospital in the last 24 hours, according to a government update .
Paris bans daytime jogging
Earlier on Tuesday, Paris officials said they would ban lone daytime jogging as people continue to flout anti-coronavirus lockdown rules.
“Every excursion avoided aids the fight against the epidemic,” Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and police chief Didier Lallement said in a statement announcing the partial jogging ban.
Paris bans daytime jogging in bid to slow spread of coronavirus
Paris and other cities have already closed public parks and gardens as part of the nationwide lockdown that requires people to carry a document justifying any excursion from the home.
Addressing parliament, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the unwinding of the lockdown, which at this stage is supposed to run until April 15, would not “happen overnight”.
The lockdown “is difficult for many French people, I am fully aware of this. But it is essential if we do not wish to find ourselves in an even worse situation than the one we are experiencing today”, he said.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)
8, April 2020
CPDM crime syndicate sweeps coronavirus elections in Southern Cameroons 0
Cameroon’s ruling party has swept all 13 seats in parliamentary by-elections held late last month in the conflict-wracked anglophone west of the country, the constitutional council announced Tuesday.
Long-ruling President Paul Biya’s Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM) won all 13 seats at stake in 11 constituencies in the North-West and South-West regions of the central African country.
The CPDM “ran the table” in 10 North-West districts and one in the South-West, state broadcaster CRTV reported.
The wins reinforced the party’s massive majority in the 180-member parliament to 152 seats.
The two anglophone regions have been rocked by deadly violence as armed separatists campaign for independence from the rest of Cameroon, which is majority French-speaking.
The conflict has killed more than 3,000 people and displaced nearly 700,000 in less than three years, according to humanitarian organisations.
Separatist fighters had called on people in the two regions to boycott nationwide municipal and legislative elections on February 9, issuing threats to anyone who planned to vote.
Several NGOs including Amnesty International reported multiple clashes between the separatists and the army ahead of the polling, though only one incident — in the North-West region — was reported on election day itself.
The constitutional council said on February 25 that the vote would have to be rerun in several parts of the two anglophone regions.
The opposition Social Democratic Front, dominated by anglophones, contested the results of the by-elections, but the constitutional court rejected their demand for another re-run.
Source: AFP