This report provides the global, continental, and regional situation of COVID-19. On the global perspective, the report provides statistics on the global situation where over 2.5 million cases and 187, 705 deaths have been reported as at 25 April 2020.
At the regional level, the report highlights the situation of COVID-19 in the African Region as well as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region and further provides information on the status of measures that serve as guidance to Member States. The report notes that of the 5,714 cases reported in the Region, South Africa accounts for about 74% of the cases with Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritius, Madagascar, and the United Republic of Tanzania also recoding over 300 cases to date. In addition to instituting measures to restrict movement and contact, Member States are scaling up testing in response to global calls for increased testing noticed in the last few weeks. Partnerships with private sector and non-state actors to support COVID 19 response efforts are being reported in the Region.
The Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has also announced an initiative to scale up testing known as “Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing”. The objective of the initiative is to distribute 1 million testing kits in 4 weeks and 10 million kits in 24 weeks to Member States in the Africa region. In line with this initiative, the report also provides guidance on scaling up testing and the benefits thereof. Other guidance provided are on maintaining essential services during the period of the pandemic, improving hand hygiene and food handling as well as guidance for schools and workplace settings.
The report further provides an update on social and economic issues and impacts that are a result of COVID -19, as well as measures being undertaken to mitigate some of the impacts. Whilst efforts to develop a vaccine for COVID 19 are ongoing, the past week saw a number of countries scaling up social protection packages to vulnerable groups adversely affected by lockdowns as well as easing some of the lockdown restrictions to lessen damage to household livelihoods and national economies.
The report also provides an update of progress on the implementation of the SADC Council decisions on COVID-2019 including efforts being made by Member States to align existing laws and regulations to the Regional Guidelines on Harmonization and Facilitation of Cross Border Transport Operations across the Region.