You are watching Africa 54, your daily news and feature magazine-style program, from the Voice of America. Host Esther Githui-Ewart and a team of correspondents zero in on the big stories making news on the continent and around the world with context and analysis.
There are over now over 420,000 cases of COVID-19 being reported across 196 countries, according to a reutters. Nearly 19,000 deaths are being linked to the virus. Italy reported over 5,000 infections in the last 24 hours, and its total infections are now almost 70,000.
In Africa, South Africa’s COVID-19 cases explode to over 700, according to health minister Zweli Mkhize. Congo’s has imposed a state of emergency and closed the country’s borders in an effort to contain the Coronavirus pandemic. In Nigeria, chief of staff Abba Kyari has now contracted the disease. The United States now has the third-highest number of cases worldwide after logging 11,000 cases in the past day.
Music fans across the globe are mourning the death of a Cameroon-born saxophonist considered one of the most influential musicians in world dance music. Manu Dibango died in France after contracting the coronavirus. Congolese music legend Aurlus Mabele also died in Paris of the coronavirus, according to his family and friends .it is understood the singer died on Thursday shortly after being admitted to hospital.
Sudan’s minister of defense, Jamaleldin Omar, died of a heart attack on Wednesday in South Sudan’s capital Juba, where he was taking part in peace talks with rebel groups, the army said. Omar was a member of the military council that took over after toppling veteran ruler Omar al-Bashir last year until a power sharing deal between civilians and the military to run the country for three years.
Boko Haram militants kill 92 Chadian soldiers and wounded 47 more in the deadliest attack ever on the country’s military. According to the country’s President Idriss Deby, who spoke late Tuesday, the soldiers were attacked on Monday on the island village of Boma.
In neighboring Nigeria, around 70 soldiers were killed in an Islamist militant ambush in northeastern state of Borno, according to three military sources and a security source that spoke to Reuters on Tuesday.
A54 Technology: Africa 54’s Paul Ndiho speaks with Josiah Kwesi Eyison, co-founder and CEO of iSpace, an innovation and technology hub in Accra, Ghana. ISpace offers a co-working space, training, mentoring, access to funding, and helping entrepreneurs to launch their startups and access markets.
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