Coronavirus Cases in African Countries Pass 8000 | Check out more Updates

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has announced on Saturday that five new cases have been confirmed in Nigeria: 3 in Bauchi and 2 in FCT. Bauchi is the only state in the North-East region with confirmed cases of COVID-19 including, Governor Bala Mohammed who is in isolation.

Adamawa, Taraba, Gombe, Yobe and Borno States are yet to record any confirmed case of the virus which now tops 214 in Nigeria as of Saturday night. Lagos has the highest number of infections with 109 cases while Abuja follows with 43. The two cities are currently observing a 14-day lockdown as part of measures to break the circle of community transmission of the novel virus.

States yet to be affected in the North-East have also started taking precautionary measures including the closure of borders to forestall the importation of the virus.

Five new cases of #COVID19 have been reported in Nigeria: 3 in Bauchi and 2 in the FCT.

As at 10:10 pm 4th April there are 214 confirmed cases of #COVID19 reported in Nigeria. Twenty-five have been discharged with four deaths pic.twitter.com/NDz5FFMrdF

— NCDC (@NCDCgov) April 4, 2020

Queen Elizabeth is set to address the UK about coronavirus

Buckingham Palace has revealed that Queen Elizabeth II will give a rare televised address on Sunday night, to address the coronavirus pandemic. It will be only the fourth time the Queen has made a special broadcast, with the last one being in 2002 following the death of the Queen Mother.

She also did a televised address ahead of Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997 and one about the First Gulf War in 1991.

The palace said the speech was recorded at Windsor Castle and will be broadcast to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth “in relation to the coronavirus outbreak.” The televised event will be shown at 8 p.m. on Sunday.

Coronavirus cases in African countries pass 8000, South Africa is the highest hit

Fifty countries in Africa have confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases according to Worldometer to 7,933 as of Saturday. Within the week, Burundi, Botswana, Sierra Leone, and Malawi confirmed their index cases of the virus.

Despite being surrounded by countries that have confirmed cases, Comoros, Lesotho, Sao Tome and Principe and South Sudan have not recorded a single coronavirus case. In an effort to contain and prevent the spread of the virus, governments globally are applying vigorous measures to curb the deadly virus.

A breakdown of top countries where cases have been confirmed indicate that South Africa now has 1,585 cases, followed by Algeria – 1,251, Egypt – 1070, Morocco – 791, Cameroon – 555, Tunisia – 495, Burkina Faso – 318, Cote D’Ivoire 245, Senegal – 219, Nigeria – 214, Ghana – 214, Congo – 154, Niger – 144

Donald Trump warns of tough coming weeks as U.S. cases top 300,000

President Donald Trump has warned the United States is entering what could be its “toughest” week yet as the number of coronavirus cases in the country surged past 300,000.

The president’s comments came as the total number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. rose to over 300,000, with the number of deaths at more than 8,000. Globally, the death toll is more than 59,100, according to Johns Hopkins University.

"My administration is working very aggressively to pioneer new medical countermeasures to treat and prevent infection." pic.twitter.com/uRVv47veOC

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 4, 2020

New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern calls out ‘idiots’ going against the country’s lockdown order

While New Zealand now has more than 1,000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is mostly proud of how people have complied with the nation’s lockdown order. But in a news conference, Ardern called out those who continue to flout the lockdown, The Guardian reports.

“While compliance has been generally strong, there are still some who I would charitably describe as idiots,” Ardern told reporters.

The prime minister specifically cited a Christchurch man who was arrested Saturday for filming himself deliberately coughing and sneezing on people at a grocery store. Ardern said no decisions had been made about extending the country’s four-week lockdown, but there were signs that it was having an effect.

Billionaire Joe Tsai donates 2.6 million masks and 2,000 ventilators to New York

Joe Tsai, the billionaire co-founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba and owner of the Brooklyn Nets, has donated 2.6 million masks, 2,000 ventilators, and 170,000 goggles to the state of New York to help fight the novel coronavirus.

New York Governor, Andrew M. Cuomo announced the donations from Tsai and his wife, Clara Wu Tsai, during a Saturday coronavirus news conference. Cuomo said the ventilators given by Tsai had come in two shipments, with the second wave of 1,000 ventilators arriving Saturday at John F. Kennedy International Airport. The governor added that the second shipment was coordinated by Tsai and the Chinese government.