Headline News

People with COVID-19 may be infectious days before symptoms

15, April 2020

People with COVID-19 may be infectious days before symptoms 0

People infected with the new coronavirus may start spreading the virus several days before they have any noticeable symptoms, according to a new modelling study published Wednesday.

The study comes as nations have broadened restrictions aimed at curbing the epidemic, amid concerns over patients who may be infectious despite not showing signs of ill health.

The findings challenge key assumptions behind measures put in place to stop the spread of the pandemic, such as tracing contacts of an infected person only as far back as the time at which they began to show symptoms.

Experts have long conjectured that some people who do not even know they are infected may transmit the virus.

But the new study suggests that even those who get visibly sick may be highly infectious before the onset of symptoms.

“More inclusive criteria for contact tracing to capture potential transmission events two to three days before symptom onset should be urgently considered for effective control of the outbreak,” the authors said in the paper published in Nature Medicine.

– Infectious before symptoms show –

Researchers compared clinical data on virus shedding from patients at a hospital in China with separate data on “transmission pairs” — where one person is believed to have infected the other — to draw inferences about periods of infectiousness.

The research team co-led by Eric Lau of the University of Hong Kong took throat swabs from 94 patients admitted to Guangzhou Eighth People’s Hospital and measured infectiousness from the first day of symptoms for 32 days.

They found that the patients, none of whom were classed as severe or critical, had the highest viral load soon after the onset of symptoms, which then gradually decreased.

The study used publicly-available data on 77 transmission pairs, within China and internationally, to assess how much time elapsed between the onset of symptoms in each patient.

It assumed an incubation period — the time between exposure to infection and appearance of symptoms — of a little over five days.

The authors inferred that infectiousness started 2.3 days before symptoms appeared and was at its peak at 0.7 days before the first signs of illness — although they cautioned that pinpointing the exact timing of the onset of symptoms relied on patient memory.

They estimated that 44 percent of secondary cases in the transmission chains were infected during the pre-symptomatic stage.

Infectiousness was predicted to decrease quickly within seven days.

– ‘Important implications’ –

Responding to the study, Babak Javid of Tsinghua University School of Medicine in Beijing said the findings would have “important implications” for measures to control the pandemic, such as whether masks should be worn by those with no symptoms.

“This is important because current public health control measures advised, for example, by the WHO and UK government assume that maximum contagion is after symptom onset. Hence one reason masks are not advocated for wearing by asymptomatic members of the public,” he said.

Javid added that several studies had now suggested that a large number of patients shed the virus before they show signs of illness and said the findings are “likely to be real and robust”.

At the beginning of this month China said it had more than 1,300 asymptomatic coronavirus cases, the first time it has released such data following public concern over people who have tested positive but are not showing symptoms.

As the pandemic has spread, many nations that initially advised only individuals with symptoms to self-isolate and wear masks have expanded their responses to measures that apply across the board.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said up to a quarter of people who are infected may be asymptomatic.

Source:  AFP

Biya’s deliberate silence to coronavirus pandemic ruining Cameroon’s reputation

15, April 2020

Biya’s deliberate silence to coronavirus pandemic ruining Cameroon’s reputation 0

President Biya’s complete absence from the nation’s capital Yaoundé and his little or no response to the coronavirus pandemic, has been seriously condemned by a cream of French Cameroun political commentators including some prominent regime barons as shameful, disgusting and disgraceful with many observing that his poor management of the virus outbreak is ruining Cameroon’s reputation as the giant of the Sub Saharan region.

Biya’s recent decision to self isolate at his Mvomeka’a palace and his 37 documented years of incompetence and dishonesty in managing state affairs including the COVID-19 pandemic has left many in Yaoundé in disbelief.

Biya’s arrogant style of governance rich in several trips abroad tolerated in the past is now seen as downright dangerous by members of his own Beti Ewondo ruling clan. A prominent member of the CPDM political bureau who hails from the Centre Region told Cameroon Concord News that no one in government including Prime Minister Dion Ngute trust President Biya. The French Cameroun political elite who sued for anonymity also said the 87 year old Biya is now been seen as a threat to the future of the nation.

The regime in Yaoundé is noted for failed leadership and a sea of reckless actions. So far, Prime Minister Dion Ngute has made the wearing of face mask compulsory in all government buildings. But the whole mechanism put in place by the Francophone dominated government to combat the spread of COVID-19 ranges from plain fiction to the most absurd.

The new coronavirus, which causes a respiratory disease known as COVID-19, is believed to have emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year and President Trump’s latest decision to halt US funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) will of course affect countries like Cameroon that rely on the international system for survival.

The United States is the biggest overall donor to the Geneva-based WHO, contributing more than $400 million in 2019, roughly 15% of its budget.

Last month, the Group of Seven (G7) countries failed to agree on a joint statement on tackling the COVID-19 pandemic because US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted on calling it the “Wuhan virus”.

Mask wearing is one of seven supplementary preventive measures, Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, announced last week as part of government response to Covid-19 as Cameroon counted 848 confirmed cases on Sunday, including 98 recoveries and 14 deaths.

The additional measures also include the local production of medicines, protective masks and hand sanitisers, the establishment of specialised treatment centres for Covid-19 patients in all regional capitals, intensification of screening and awareness-raising campaigns. 

By Oke Akombi Ayukepi Akap  in Glasgow and Chi Prudence Asong in London

Migrant workers face predicament in Persian Gulf countries amid pandemic

15, April 2020

Migrant workers face predicament in Persian Gulf countries amid pandemic 0

Arab countries in the Persian Gulf region have locked down over-crowded labor camps and areas with large populations of low-wage workers in an attempt to curb the spread of the new coronavirus, leaving migrant workers stranded and jobless.

The over-crowded labor camps in the region, often unsanitary and populated with mostly Asian workers, are believed to be hotspots of the new coronavirus.

In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), charity groups are looking for empty buildings to separate migrant workers, while Bahrain is repurposing closed schools to relocate low-income laborers from other overcrowded accommodation.

The deadly virus has also spread in densely-populated commercial districts where many expatriates share housing to save on rent.

“Many people are infected and are staying with other people,” Krishna Kumar, the president of the UAE-based Kerala Social Center, said on Wednesday. “We are trying to isolate them.”

Despite measures being taken to contain the spread of coronavirus, such as suspending passenger flights, closing most public venues, and imposing curfews, the number of coronavirus cases in the Arab states has been rising.

Doctors in the UAE, who spoke with Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said overcrowding is one of the biggest factors for the surge in cases.

Several Persian Gulf Arab states have allowed outbound flights for foreign workers who have lost jobs or been put on leave, but some of the home countries say they are not prepared to take them back.

On Sunday, the UAE threatened to review labor ties with countries that refuse to allow workers who have lost their jobs to be repatriated. The UAE said it would limit quotas for work visas issued to the citizens of those countries.

The new coronavirus, which causes a respiratory disease known as COVID-19, emerged in the city of Wuhan in December last year, incrementally affecting the rest of the world.

The virus has so far infected 2,000,065 people worldwide, and over 126,754 have died, according to a running count by worldometers.info.

The UAE, which has the second largest number of coronavirus cases after Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf, has so far recorded more than 4,933 confirmed cases and 28 deaths.

Source: Presstv

Austria, Spain ease Covid-19 restrictions, others extend lockdown measures

15, April 2020

Austria, Spain ease Covid-19 restrictions, others extend lockdown measures 0

Spain and Austria allowed partial returns to work on Tuesday but Britain, France and India extended lockdowns to rein in the new coronavirus while the United States, where the death toll exceeded 25,000, debated how to reopen its economy.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that infections had “certainly” not yet peaked.

Nearly 2 million people globally have been infected and more than 124,000 have died in the most serious pandemic in a century, according to a Reuters tally.

The epicentre has shifted from China, where the virus emerged in December, to the United States, which has now recorded the most deaths.

World leaders, in considering easing curbs, have to balance risks to health and to the economy as the lockdowns have strangled supply lines, especially in China, and brought economic activity to a virtual halt.

The shutdown is costing the U.S. economy perhaps $25 billion a day in lost output, St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said, calling for widespread testing and risk management strategies so the economy can restart.

President Donald Trump, who has declared he will decide when to lift lockdowns, suggested some Democratic state governors were “mutineers” after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he would refuse any order that risked reigniting the outbreak.

The White House said Trump would hold a video teleconference with leaders from the Group of Seven nations on Thursday to coordinate responses.

The global economy is expected to shrink by 3% this year, the International Monetary Fund said, marking the steepest downturn since the Great Depression.

The WHO said the number of new cases was tailing off in some parts of Europe, including Italy and Spain, but outbreaks were growing in Britain and Turkey.

“The overall world outbreak – 90 percent of cases are coming from Europe and the United States of America. So we are certainly not seeing the peak yet,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told a briefing in Geneva.

But world stocks gained after Chinese trade data came in better than expected and as some countries partly lifted restrictions.

Some Spanish businesses, including construction and manufacturing, were allowed to resume. Shops, bars and public spaces are to stay closed until at least April 26.

Spain was flattening the curve on the graph representing the rate of growth of the outbreak, Health Minister Salvador Illa said on Tuesday. The overnight death toll from the coronavirus rose to 567 on Tuesday from 517 a day earlier, but the country reported its lowest increase in new cases since March 18. Total deaths climbed to 18,056.

Some Spanish workers expressed concern that the relaxation of restrictions could trigger a new surge of infections. But for Roberto Aguayo, a 50-year-old Barcelona construction worker, the restart came just in time.

“We really needed it, just when we were going to run out of food we returned to work,” he told Reuters.

Italy, which has the world’s second highest death toll at 21,067, maintained some tight restrictions on movement, while Denmark, one of the first European countries to shut down, will reopen day care centres and schools for children in first to fifth grade on April 15.

The Czech government will gradually reopen stores and restaurants from April 20, although people will continue to be required to wear masks.

Thousands of shops across Austria reopened on Tuesday, but the government cautioned that the country was “not out of the woods”.

Austria acted early to shut schools, bars, theatres, restaurants, non-essential shops and other gathering places about four weeks ago. It has told the public to stay home.

The Alpine republic has reported 384 deaths in total, fewer than some larger European countries have been suffering each day. Hospitalisations have stabilised.

Lockdowns extended

Britain, where the government has come under criticism for its slow approach to testing and for not getting protective equipment to the frontlines of health care, has the fifth-highest death toll globally.

The toll in British hospitals rose to 12,107 as of Monday but is expected to be much higher when deaths in the community are included. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said there would be no easing of lockdown measures when they come up for review this week.

The Times newspaper said on Tuesday that Raab, deputising for Prime Minister Boris Johnson who is recuperating from a COVID-19 infection, would extend the curbs until at least May 7.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron on Monday extended a virtual lockdown to May 11.

India, the world’s second-most populous country after China, extended its nationwide lockdown until May 3 as the number of coronavirus cases crossed 10,000.

Neighbours Pakistan and Nepal also extended their curbs.

Russia might need to call in the army to help tackle the crisis, President Vladimir Putin said on Monday. Moscow warned the capital might run out of hospital beds in coming weeks.

China’s northeastern border province of Heilongjiang saw 79 new cases on Monday – all Chinese citizens travelling back from Russia, state media said.

As of Tuesday, China had reported 82,249 coronavirus cases and 3,341 deaths. There were no deaths in the past 24 hours.

Health ministers from the Group of 20 major economies will speak by video conference on Sunday to address the outbreak’s impact.

(REUTERS)

New York City death toll exceeds 10,000 as untested Covid-19 victims added to official count

15, April 2020

New York City death toll exceeds 10,000 as untested Covid-19 victims added to official count 0

New York City, the hardest hit U.S. city in the coronavirus pandemic, revised its official COVID-19 death toll sharply higher to more than 10,000 on Tuesday to include victims presumed to have perished from the disease but never tested.

The new cumulative figure for “confirmed and probable COVID-19 deaths” released by the New York City Health Department marked a staggering increase of over 3,700 deaths formally attributed to the highly contagious illness since March 11.

The 60 percent spike in reported deaths underscored the enormous losses endured in the nation’s most populous city, where the sounds of wailing sirens have echoed almost non-stop through largely empty streets for weeks.

The city’s revised count, 10,367 in all, raised the number of coronavirus deaths nationwide to more than 28,300 – New York accounting for the biggest share of deaths.

With only a tiny fraction of the U.S. population tested for coronavirus, the number of known infections climbed to more than 600,000 as of Tuesday, according to a running Reuters tally.

U.S. public health authorities have generally only attributed deaths to COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, when patients tested positive for the virus.

New York City’s Health Department said it will now also count any fatality deemed a “probable” coronavirus death, defined as a victim whose “death certificate lists as a cause of death ‘COVID-19’ or an equivalent.”

March 11 was used as the starting point because that was the date of the first confirmed coronavirus death, the city said.

“Behind every death is a friend, a family member, a loved one,” said Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot. “We are focused on ensuring that every New Yorker who died because of COVID-19 gets counted.”

The new approach in New York City could pave the way for similar policies across the country, possibly leading to a surge in the US number of reported coronavirus deaths.

Even before Tuesday’s revision in New York City, the number of new U.S. deaths on Tuesday had reached at least 2,228, the highest toll yet in a single 24-hour period.

‘Not a comfortable place’

Louisiana, another coronavirus hot spot, and California also reported record daily spikes in deaths on Tuesday, despite tentative signs across the country in recent days the outbreak was beginning to ebb.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose state’s healthcare network was strained to breaking point by a wave of COVID-19 hospitalisations, had said on Monday it appeared “the worst is over.”

Health officials have cautioned that death figures are a lagging indicator of the outbreak, coming after the most severely ill patients fall sick, and do not mean stay-at-home restrictions are failing to curb transmissions.

New York state and some other hard-hit areas continue to report sharp decreases in hospitalisations and numbers of patients on ventilators, although front-line healthcare workers and resources remained under extraordinary stress.

“The plateau is not a very comfortable place to live,” David Reich, president of New York’s Mount Sinai Hospital, said in a telephone interview. “So I don’t think people should be celebrating prematurely.”

That cautious note was also sounded by President Donald Trump’s top infectious diseases adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who said Trump’s May 1 target for restarting the economy was “overly optimistic”.

Fauci, echoing many governors, said in an Associated Press interview that health officials must first be able to test for the virus quickly, isolate new cases and track down new infections.

At his daily White House briefing later in the day, Trump said he was close to completing a plan for ending America’s coronavirus shutdown, which has thrown millions out of work, and may forge ahead with restarting the battered U.S. economy in some parts of the country even before May 1.

The president took renewed aim at the World Health Organization at the briefing, saying he has instructed his administration to halt U.S. funding to the Geneva-based institution over its handling of the pandemic.

Mutiny on the bounty

Trump, a Republican who before the outbreak touted a vibrant economy as a pillar of his Nov. 3 re-election bid, earlier lashed out at Democratic state governors, after Cuomo said he would refuse any presidential order to reopen the economy too soon.

“Tell the Democrat Governors that ‘Mutiny On The Bounty’ was one of my all time favorite movies,” Trump wrote on Twitter on Tuesday, referring to a classic film about an 18th-century rebellion against the commanding officer of a British naval vessel.

But Trump toned down his remarks at the White House briefing saying he would “authorize” governors – despite doubts from some experts that the presidency has such powers – to implement plans in their states at the appropriate time.

Cuomo, a Democrat, and governors of six other northeastern states have announced they are coordinating on a regional plan to gradually lift restrictions. The governors of California, Oregon and Washington formed a similar West Coast regional pact.

California Governor Gavin Newsom and Oregon Governor Kate Brown, both Democrats, on Tuesday offered frameworks for eventually restarting public life and business in their states.

Some Republicans, including the governors of Ohio, Maryland and New Hampshire, also said states have the right to decide when and how to reopen.

(REUTERS)

African diaspora questions China relationship after spike in discrimination over Covid-19

14, April 2020

African diaspora questions China relationship after spike in discrimination over Covid-19 0

A spike in racial discrimination in China prompted by fears over the Covid-19 pandemic has led some in the African diapora to reevaluate the relationship between the African continent and Beijing.

Over the past week, footage has been published on social media showing Africans in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou being evicted from their apartments, refused access to hotels or restaurants, and being forced to sleep on the streets. These incidents occurred ostensibly as part of efforts to halt the spread of Covid-19 in the country but have led to a diplomatic crisis between Beijing and African nations.

The images sparked outrage across Africa, with the hashtag #chinamustexplain trending on Twitter and Chinese ambassadors being summoned by irate officials in Nigeria and Ghana, to name but a few. African ambassadors in China wrote to the foreign minister this week over what they called the “stigmatisation and discrimination” being faced by their citizens.

Beijing initially chose to dismiss and deny the accounts of unfair treatment.

“We do not have discrimination in China against African brothers,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Monday. He then accused the United States of trying to exploit the issue to undermine China’s relations with Africa. The statement came after a group of African ambassadors in Beijing expressed concern over numerous reports of Africans being forced into quarantine or being singled out for scrutiny by health authorities.

The tone then appeared to soften, as China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke on the phone with Moussa Faki Mahamat, the chairperson of the African Union Commission, with Wang assuring Mahamat that measures were being taken to improve the situation of Africans in Guanghzou. Mahamat later described the relationship between China and Africa in a tweet as being “strong and brotherly”. It now appears that most of the displaced Africans in Guangzhou have found places to stay and that city authorities are engaging in consultations with the African community as well as academics to repair the relationship.

On Monday, ambassadors and envoys from more than 20 African nations met with China’s assistant minister of foreign affairs, Chen Xiaodong. Chen vowed to lift the health measures aimed at African residents except for those with confirmed cases of Covid-19, AFP reported.  

Over the past 20 years, China has become an increasingly influential presence on the continent as Africa’s natural resources have helped fuel the country’s meteoric economic development. According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the Chinese government as well as its banks and companies have lent some $143 billion to Africa between 2000 and 2017, often to finance large infrastructure projects. Recent estimates put the number of Chinese citizens currently residing in Africa at one million while some 200,000 Africans live and work in China.

But for some within the African diaspora, the events of the past week have signaled a change in how they view the China-Africa relationship. Nillah Nyakoa, a Kenyan citizen who has been living in China since 2009 and who works for China Radio International, told FRANCE 24 that the events of the past few weeks might change her view on her host country as imbalances in the relationship come to the fore.

“I’ve called China home for so many years, my narrative has always been about pushing a positive image about China because of my experiences. But when I see my fellow African people being treated as second-class citizens, obviously it makes me want to change my mind.”

“We give good treatment to Chinese people in Africa and it’s not being reciprocated,” she added.

For Samantha Sibanda, the founder of the Appreciate Africa Network, this discrimination has always been present. Her organisation has been trying to counteract the negative perception of Africans in China since 2013 and organises an annual Pride of Africa Asia Award to promote the achievements of her fellow Africans in China.

“People are blowing things out of proportion; this is not new for me,” she said. “This is what we go through every other day.” She cites the difficulty Africans face in obtaining visas or securing equal pay, and said these difficulties will remain even once the pandemic is over.

As for the recent incidents, she said African governments – which have a responsibility to defend the interests of their citizens in China – and media coverage are both to blame.

“Chinese people are never shown Africans doing well in China,” Sibanda said.

Source: France 24

Barack Obama endorses his longtime deputy Joe Biden for US president

14, April 2020

Barack Obama endorses his longtime deputy Joe Biden for US president 0

Former President Barack Obama endorsed Joe Biden in a video on Tuesday, giving the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee a boost from the party’s biggest fundraiser and one of its most popular figures.

“I believe Joe has all the qualities we need in a president right now,” Obama said in a nearly 12- minute video, touting him as a “close friend” and lauding him for his perseverance and compassion.

Obama and Biden are close friends from their two terms in the White House, when Biden served as vice president. Biden leaned heavily on his affiliation with the former president throughout the Democratic primary, framing his pitch as an extension of Obama’s presidency. In recent weeks, he has told donors he’s been in touch with Obama about his vice-presidential pick.

The endorsement marks Obama’s return to presidential politics more than three years after leaving the White House. He rarely talks directly about his successor, President Donald Trump, and avoided intervening in the Democratic primary. The field at one point spanned nearly two dozen candidates and Obama offered private counsel to anyone who asked it, but but made no efforts to bolster an individual campaign — including Biden’s.

But Obama has been following the Democratic race closely from the sidelines and is eager to take a more active public role in the campaign. He’s expected to headline fundraisers for Biden and public events in key swing states, if those events can still be held given social distancing guidelines during the pandemic. An Obama adviser said the former president is taking his cues from Biden’s campaign on how he can be most useful as he eases back into a more overtly political role.

The endorsement comes a day after Bernie Sanders also backed Biden. The former vice president now has the support of all of his former Democratic primary rivals except for Elizabeth Warren. The Massachusetts senator is expected to formally throw her support behind Biden soon, according to a person familiar with her plans.

Two other prominent Democrats who have yet to formally endorse Biden are former President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, the party’s 2016 nominee. Hillary Clinton has been in regular touch with Biden, including several times since Sanders dropped out of the race, according to an aide.

Obama has been an obvious shadow throughout the 2020 Democratic primary. Biden coined the “Obama-Biden administration” moniker when he’d talk about various accomplishments.

But he also tried to insist he was running as his own man, telling anyone who asked that he urged Obama not to endorse him out of the gate or even in the thick of the primary.

Obama’s tenure became a sort of punching bag for some presidential hopefuls in a primary fight that early on was defined by a debate over the need for generational and systemic change versus a return to normalcy after the Trump era.

Julian Castro, 45, pushed Biden repeatedly on whether he argued with Obama privately over deportations overseen by that administration. Pete Buttigieg, 38, and Beto O’Rourke, 47, subtly jabbed Biden – and by extension Obama — by suggesting the party shouldn’t “return to the past.” Sanders and Warren suggested that the 2010 Affordable Care Act hadn’t gone far enough.

But Biden was a staunch defender of the Affordable Care Act and on the trail, often referred to himself as an “Obama-Biden Democrat.” The former vice president called it “bizarre” for Democrats, even faintly, to attack Obama’s record.

The conversation around Obama’s presidency shifted as the primary wore on. By the time voting began, Buttigieg was almost explicitly comparing his youthful bid to Obama’s 2008 campaign and the progressives were framing their health-care proposals as a way to build on Obama’s legacy. Billionaire candidate Mike Bloomberg, meanwhile, featured Obama in his ubiquitous advertising effort, much to Biden’s chagrin.

“You’d think Mike was Barack’s vice president,” Biden once quipped to donors.

For his part, Biden leaned even more heavily into Obama as primary voting began. Aiming at Sanders, the self-described “democratic socialist,” and billionaire Bloomberg, who’d been elected New York City mayor as a Republican, Biden said in a Feb. 21 interview with The Associated Press that “they’re not bad folks. They’re just not Democrats.”

Campaigning before increasingly diverse audiences in Nevada and South Carolina, Biden ramped up his recollections of when Obama tapped him for the ticket in 2008. Biden recalled Inauguration Day 2009, waiting for the train in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, “for a black man to pick me up … for the two of us to be sworn in as president and vice president of the United States.”

Often drawing nods and vocal affirmation from his audiences, Biden said he had thought of that day as a national victory over institutional racism. Now, in the Trump era, Biden calls that conclusion a mistake.

“I thought we could defeat hate,” he said, but, “it never goes away.“

On Feb. 29, Biden took the stage in South Carolina to celebrate a nearly 30-point victory that would propel him past Sanders and everyone.

He dusted off a line he’d used many times before: “I’m a proud Obama-Biden Democrat,” Biden said.

Obama was watching. His sideline approach nearing its end, he called his former vice president that night to congratulate him on his victory.

(AP)

Football: Cameroonian-Born Wonderkid In Line To Make Bundesliga History

14, April 2020

Football: Cameroonian-Born Wonderkid In Line To Make Bundesliga History 0

A groundbreaking rule change by the Bundesliga has put Borussia Dortmund’s free-scoring wonderkid Youssoufa Moukoko in line to smash one of the league’s all-time records.

Earlier this month, the Deutsche Fussball Liga (DFL) amended its rules to allow Bundesliga clubs to register youth footballers for senior matches at the age of 16, with the rule coming into effect from the start of the 2020/21 campaign.

The rule change comes as good news for Cameroon-born Moukoko, who could now become the league’s youngest-ever player when he makes his senior debut for Dortmund, having already earned a call-up to the Germany U19 team. 

Moukoko has been a revelation at youth level for BVB, having scored 128 goals in just 94 appearances across U17 and U19 levels, and he became the youngest-ever goalscorer at the UEFA Youth League last year.

The 15-year-old is held in high regard by Dortmund’s senior coaching staff and, in an exclusive interview with Soccer Laduma in October, assistant manager Jorg Heinrich backed the youngster to break into the first team.

“There are very few players who can play the way he does and skip through the youth teams,” Heinrich shared. “I’m convinced that if he continues to develop as he has done since joining Dortmund, then he’ll play for the first team one day…”

The record is currently held by former Dortmund midfielder Nuri Sahin, now of Werder Bremen, who made his senior Bundesliga debut for the club in 2005 at the age of 16 years, 11 months and one day.

Source: Soccerladuma

Coronavirus cases in Africa rise to over 14,000

14, April 2020

Coronavirus cases in Africa rise to over 14,000 0

The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, says the number of Coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Africa has risen to over 14,000.

The UN’s health agency gave the update on its official twitter account @WHOAFRO on Monday.

“COVID19 cases in Africa rise to over 14,000 – with 2,523 recoveries and 754 deaths reported,’’ it said.

The breakdown on the WHO African Region COVID-19 dashboard showed that South Africa, Algeria and Cameroon had continued to top the list of countries with the highest reported cases.

South Africa has 2,173 cases and 25 deaths followed by Algeria with 1,914 cases and 293 deaths, while Cameroon has 803 confirmed cases with 10 deaths.

According to the dashboard, the countries with the lowest confirmed cases are South Sudan, Sao Tome and Principe, Burundi and Mauritania and Gabo Verde.

It showed that South Sudan and Sao Tome and Principe were the lowest confirmed cases, which had four cases each with zero death.

Burundi is the second country with the lowest confirmed cases with five reported cases and zero death.

Mauritania and Gabo Verde are in the third category with the lowest cases as the country had recorded seven confirmed cases each with one death.

Also, the dashboard showed that coronavirus cases had risen to 323 in the past two days from 288 confirmed cases with 10 deaths in Nigeria.

The agency, however, thanked the health workers at front lines of the coronavirus response.

“We in the health care profession are the ones to step in to help people in times like these; we have to be psychologically prepared,’’ Joyce Kaguura, ICU Nurse, Kenyatta University Hospital, responded.

Source: Pmnewsnigeria

Coronavirus pandemic offers glimmer of hope for the Southern Cameroons Crisis

14, April 2020

Coronavirus pandemic offers glimmer of hope for the Southern Cameroons Crisis 0

Retired Cameroonian Archbishop Cornelius Fontem Esua of Bamenda says the coronavirus pandemic could also bring about “unexpected positive effects” for the country’s embattled Anglophone regions.

“The spread of the pandemic in Africa is an epoch-making drama, but in some cases, it can also have unexpected positive effects,” the archbishop told the Rome-based Catholic news agency, Fides.

Esua was speaking following the decision by some separatist groups to call for a unilateral ceasefire to enable medical teams and humanitarian assistance to reach the most vulnerable people at risk from the COVID-19 coronavirus.

One of the armed groups, the Southern Cameroons Defence Forces (SOCADEF,) agreed to the United Nations’ call for a worldwide cessation of hostilities during the pandemic.

On March 25, Ebenezer Akwanga, the group’s leader, said that “SOCADEF are prepared to support the ceasefire and will ensure the security and free circulation of international observers and humanitarian organizations in Ambazonia … in accordance with human rights law.”

Ambazonia is the term used by the separatist rebels for the English-speaking regions of the majority French-speaking country. However, no country has recognized Ambazonia’s independence.

The release, addressed to Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, also called on the “authorities and security forces of the Republic of Cameroon to respond to the call made by the secretary-general of the United Nations.”

Akwanga added that “we are ready to meet with representatives designated by the Republic of Cameroon to work out the appropriate implementation of the ceasefire.”

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, on March 23 called for an “immediate global ceasefire in all corners of the world” to protect the most vulnerable civilians in conflict-ridden countries from the “fury” of the coronavirus pandemic.

Esua has welcomed the developments, saying that as bad as the coronavirus may be, it might be an agent of peace in Cameroon.

“Here, for example, clashes between the separatists of the Republic of Ambazonia and the army have greatly diminished, if not suspended, and we have had no news of fighting for weeks. A dozen days ago, Samuel Ikome Sako, interim president of the Federal Republic of Ambazonia, announced a total lockdown, with the closure of the borders of the English-speaking regions due to the virus. So far, the separatists are respecting the directive: There is a general calm in the area, there have been no cases of direct confrontation with the military or kidnappings by the ‘Amba Boys’ (the name of the separatist groups in action,” the archbishop said.

However, the peace is not universal, and Bishop George Nkuo told Crux the fighting has not abetted in the Diocese of Kumbo.

“As for the cease fire I am not aware that anything like that had taken place here in Kumbo,” he said.

“I guess those who are calling the shots here are not ready to use the coronavirus to derail their struggle. There is obviously a need to take this virus seriously and it is a common enemy, and in the face of such a war the warring parties need to review their goals. So far, nothing has changed as I see it. I think it is unfortunate because if we don’t fight it together, if it ever reaches Kumbo many people will perish.”

Some armed separatist groups have made it clear that there would be no ceasefire on their part.

On March 27, a statement from Julius Nyiawung, the vice president of the Ambazonia Governing Council – one of several separatist groups claiming to be the legitimate government of the area – said there shall be not be a “unilateral ceasefire in the Ambazonia war of independence because of COVID-19 pandemic.”

The statement explained that “to permit such unilateral action will be to provide Cameroon unhindered access to everywhere in our towns and villages.”

Those fears are not unfounded, since there is no indication that the Cameroonian military is ready to implement a ceasefire.

Esua admitted the army “continues to patrol the streets with tanks and in some cases, especially in the villages, there have been ambushes or killings.”

The current conflict began in 2017 after government forces ruthlessly put down strikes organized by Anglophone teachers and lawyers over perceived attempts by the government to destroy the common law and British-style education systems practiced in Anglophone regions. The breakdown in attempts at dialogue resulted in the growth of several separatist movements.

The resulting conflict, now in its fourth year, has killed over 3000 people, with about a million forced from their homes. Esua insists the ceasefire by at least one of the separatist groups offers a lot of hope.

“Overall, we hear fewer gunshots or gunfights here in Bamenda and we really hope that the emergency due to the spread of the virus will lead all actors involved to rethink their strategies and reach an agreement,” the archbishop said.

He added that he believes such a ceasefire could offer a pathway towards a resolution to the Cameroon Anglophone crisis.

Source: Crux

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