Cameroon is in stage 2 of the COVID-19 epidemic, with the main objective to curb the spread of the virus in the national territory, health minister Manaouda Malachie said Sunday evening.

“I am afraid that we are to this day, already in a community transmission therefore at stage 2 of the epidemic,” said on twitter the minister answering questions by netizens on the extent of local transmission in Cameroon.

The Central African country announced its first COVID-19 case on March 6, and a month later, counted until Monday morning 658 confirmed cases including nine deaths and 17 cured cases, according to the latest official report.

In epidemiology, stage 1 is where the priority is to stop the introduction of the virus, followed by stage 2 whose objective is to slow down the spread.

The peak of the epidemic is in stage 3 characterized by an active circulation of the virus, and the strategy becomes the mitigation of the effects of the epidemic before it ends at stage 4.

“Although (the number of cases are) growing, the situation remains under control because we are looking for cases and putting them in isolation,” reassured Manaouda via twitter.

Cameroon is currently the second country in sub-Saharan Africa most affected by the new coronavirus after South Africa, which has 1,655 cases, according to official statistics.

In the capital Yaounde, two new care centers are under preparation at the military stadium and in the old building of the Orca supermarket, which should make it possible to increase the reception capacity up to 3,000 beds, according to the health ministry.

Since March 18, a series of barrier measures have been put in place by the Cameroonian government. These include closing of borders, isolation of people at high risk, the restriction of mass gatherings and movement. However, these measures have not been scrupulously respected by the population.

“Some of our compatriots do not make our job easier, thus endangering the lives of others,” said Manaouda, calling on the populations to remain confined as long as possible, and to cover their noses and mouths when leaving their house.

Recently the wearing of a protective mask has become mandatory for all those wishing to approach certain hospitals and public services, like the General Hospital of Yaounde, and government bodies in the Cameroonian region of Southwest.

Source: Xinhuanet

The Bafaw royal palace in the city of Kumba is a plain white bungalow with a corrugated roof, surrounded by a chicken-wire fence. Built at the more affluent end of K-town behind the renowned Metropole Hotel, the house is used by the Bafaw monarch, Nfon V.E.Mukete, whenever business brings him to the city.

It was there late on Monday night that Chief Mukete started his own self-isolation due to the coronavirus and immediately read news of his demise on social media.

Although the Bafaw royal family have yet to reveal a motive for the numerous fake news attack on the King, palace sources now say it is been carried out by supporters of the exiled Southern Cameroons Interim Government led by Vice President Dabney Yerima.  Many Ambazonians feel that the king has betrayed them and drifted towards French Cameroun.

Nfon Mukete is reported to have received numerous death threats since he joined the Senate and supported the one and indivisible Cameroon doctrine of President Biya.

Cameroon Intelligence Report correspondent in Kumba revealed that Chief Mukete is simply respecting government’s instructions that everyone should stay at home and now spends his day in the palace.

His first son, Hon. Abel Mukete who also spoke to our undercover reporter observed that “Pa is currently writing a new book. He is doing extremely fine.”

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Kingsley Betek in Kumba

The coronavirus outbreak in Cameroon, with over 655 confirmed infections, has accelerated a government plan to remove thousands of homeless children from the streets.  About 3,000 street children are to be reunited with their families or receive job training, including orphans and asylum-seekers from the neighboring Central African Republic.

Henri Nyambi Dikosso, director of national solidarity at Cameroon Ministry of Social Affairs is leading a group of social workers and hospital staff removing hundreds of children from streets in the capital Yaoundé this Monday morning. Dikosso says they are making sure they screen against COVID-19, which has been spreading in the central African state.

He says they are taking body temperatures so that the Ministry of Health, which is their partner in the operation to clear children from the streets, can start taking care of suspected COVID-19 cases. He says they are also making sure that street corners where the children lived are disinfected and the children are washed to stop the risk of infections.

Safia Djamila, 17, is among the children who have agreed to leave the streets. She says she has been on her own for three years, living on donations from well-wishers and on leftover food from restaurants. Djamila says she escaped from their family home in the northern town of Mokollo when she lost her mother, and her father brought in another wife who molested her and refused to send her to school.

She says she is leaving the streets because she wants to learn how to cook, sew dresses and do embroidery. She says her dream is to raise money to attend literacy classes so she can read and write. 

Ten years ago, Cameroon said it had counted a thousand street children with ages from 4 years to 17 years in the towns of Yaoundé and Douala. The figures increased to over 10,000 when the separatist crisis broke out in the country’s English speaking north west and south west regions, and Boko Haram terrorism intensified on Cameroons northern border with Nigeria.

Many asylum seekers also came from the troubled Central African Republic.

Cameroon had plans to clear at least 3,000 children from the streets before the end of this year, but the spread of COVID-19, confirmed in 655 of its citizens in about a month, has forced officials to begin removing them from the streets earlier than planned.

Marie-Therese Abena Ondoua, Cameroon minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family says parents in particular and communities in general should save the lives of the children by clearing them off the streets.

She says they are asking parents who want their children back home to assume their responsibilities by assuring that there is family stability and rigor. She says the government will be giving either education or job training to orphans, asylum seekers and those who refuse to be reunited with their families. Ondoua said high levels of poverty, conflict, family disunity and a high rate of divorce, illiteracy, rural exodus and early marriage were responsible for the increasing number of street children.

Source: VOA

Cameroon’s aged president is coming under fire for his absence from the national stage as the central African country faces a burgeoning coronavirus crisis.

A month after the first case of COVID-19 was recorded, 87-year-old Paul Biya has yet to address the nation — a silence that for supporters is a sign of gravitas but for critics one of failure.

According to official figures posted early Monday, Cameroon has 658 cases of the virus, with nine deaths, making it the second most-affected country after South Africa in sub-Saharan Africa.

Cameroon is already waging two violent conflicts, one against Boko Haram jihadists in the north, the other against English-speaking separatists in the west.

The fighters in the new front are doctors and nurses who are woefully lacking in masks and breathing equipment.

In his 37 years in power, Cameroonians have become accustomed to Biya’s long absences, mainly because of poor health, but his silence over the pandemic is raising sharp questions.

He posed for the cameras after talks with the US ambassador on March 11, but did not speak to the press.

Six days later Biya urged Cameroonians on Facebook to “respect” measures taken to combat the virus, but since then there has not been so much as a whisper from a leader who has overseen many crises since he took power in 1982.

– Biya ‘cannot be pinned down’ –

Biya’s track record suggests he is not a major communicator in the best of times, making just three or four appearances a year. But for researcher Stephane Akoa, “In a context like this, the presidential message is important.”

Last week, speculation mounted on social media that Biya could be dead, prompting a formal public denial by Communications Minister Rene-Emmanuel Sadi, who insisted that Biya was “going about his official business as normal”.

But there was no word from the president himself, provoking a sharp attack from main opposition leader Maurice Kamto, the runner-up to Biya in 2018 elections.

On Friday, Kamto demanded that the president address the nation within seven days, otherwise “the people… will inevitably see his failure”.

Biya’s silence “is becoming criminal,” he added.

Labour Minister Gregoire Owona snapped back, saying Kamto wished to politicise the crisis, calling it “shameful”.

Oswald Baboke, the president’s deputy chief of staff, commended Biya’s “wisdom… (and) restraint,” writing in the press that “the President’s Time cannot be improvised and cannot be pinned down.”

Thus far the youthful health minister, Malachie Manaouda, has been the point man for the coronavirus crisis, tweeting out frequent updates and detailing the government’s response.

But criticism has grown louder with the rise in known cases from 142 to 658 in a week.

– ‘Lack of coordination’ –

“Government communication is weak, its response was late and in some respects poorly prepared,” said Stephane M’Bafou, a consultant in public management and governance.

“There is an obvious lack of coordination,” said economist Albert Ze.

Prime Minister Joseph Dion Ngute on March 13 announced measures such as closing borders and a ban on rallies, which have been extended.

The one new step since then, attributed to Biya but announced by Ngute, has been the creation of a solidarity fund worth one billion CFA francs (1.5 million euros / $1.65 million).

Others say the response does not go nearly far enough.

“We must quickly declare a curfew, isolate the cities where cases are confirmed and move towards a general containment regardless of the socio-economic cost,” said M’Bafou.

Source: AFP