Coronavirus: Kenya wants 50 MPs tested

Kenya’s lower parliamentary chamber wants some 50 lawmakers to be tested for coronavirus amid fears they may have contracted the virus from a member who recently tested positive, the Daily Nation newspaper reports.

Local media reports say the parliament has submitted the names of MPs and parliamentary staff it wants tested to the health ministry. It wants them placed on mandatory quarantine as well.

The MP who tested positive is believed to have contracted the virus from a county governor who had returned from Germany on a working visit. Kenya currently has 50 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with two deaths.

Meanwhile, Ghana and Zimbabwe joined the list of African countries enforcing lockdowns to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Zimbabwe is in a nationwide lockdown like in South Africa and Namibia. Zimbabwe has seven cases with one death.

In Ghana where confirmed cases are gone past 150, government has placed lockdowns on two major regions. The Greater Accra and Ashanti regions where cases have been recorded.

South Africa’s lockdown enforcement has been the subject of widespread criticism after security agents were seen assaulting unarmed citizens some of them within their compounds. The country has over 1,200 cases.

Pensioners are as at Monday morning queuing across the country for their allowances. The Ministry of Defense announced that it was ready to fall on other reserve forces to complement the current deployment.

Over in Kenya, there were clashes between the populace and security forces over the enforcement of a night time curfew that started last Friday. Multiple regional states in Ethiopia have banned transport as cases recently spread to Oromia and Amhara regions. Ethiopia has 23 cases presently.

Nigeria’s Lagos State along with Osun state and the capital Abuja have been put on lockdown by the federal government. Nigeria has 111 cases with over half in Lagos. Abuja is the next most impacted. About 12 other states have recorded cases with two in the north – Bauchi and Kaduna.