Africa stands to lose more from the Coronavirus outbreak than other regions of the world. This stems primarily from Africa deep linkages with China which has blossomed in the last decade.
The most hit sectors are likely to be aviation, tourism and hospitality industry, infrastructure development as thousands of Chinese engineers and technicians are involved in projects in over 35 African countries and Oil and Gas sector.
As at last count, over four African airlines have stopped flights to China. Kenya’s national carrier on yesterday announced a suspension of all flights to and from China, as a precautionary measure against the spread of coronavirus.
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Kenya Airways says it is working with the country’s health and foreign ministries to determine the length of the suspension.
RwandAir, Air Madagascar, Air Mauritus and Royal Air Maroc have also suspended flights to mainland China, where the coronavirus has killed over 200 people. These airlines said the suspensions are indefinite and offered re-funds or re-routes to passengers who had booked flights to China.
On the other hand, Africa’s largest aviation operator, Ethiopian Airlines which has flights to more than two Chinese cities said it would continue to operate all its flights to China, adding that it was working with relevant authorities to “protect its passengers and crew” from the virus.
Equally at risk are Africa’s petroleum exporting countries many of which depends wholly on crude oil export to fund their budgets such as Nigeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, South Sudan, among others. With crude oil losing over $8 in the last one week, and fears of continued price slide, many of these countries will suffer huge budget deficits.
Nigeria’s 2020 Budget was planned based on a crude oil price of $57-$60 band, if this disease continues unabated for the next two weeks, there are fears that crude oil may get to as low as $40 per barrel, which would put Nigeria’s fiscal position at great risk.
The coronavirus was confirmed in the Chinese city on January 7, 2020. Cases have since been confirmed in several other Asian countries, Europe and the United States.
The World Health Organisation’s Africa emergency response program manager Michel Yao advised health ministers in the region to activate standard flu screening at airports for passengers coming from mainland China.
There is a considerable community of students in China from African countries, and a number of them have expressed their desire to return home as authorities struggle to contain the virus. Other countries across the world are considering the option of evacuating their citizens.
Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda among other countries have started implementing surveillance and screening at airports, especially for travelers arriving from Wuhan in China where the outbreak began in December.
Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that range from the common cold to MERS coronavirus, which is Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus and SARS, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus.
Fortunately, Ivory Coast suspected case returned negative with the health ministry assuring on Wednesday that the said suspected case of coronavirus in the country had tested negative.
A student who had travelled from Beijing to Abidjan over the weekend had shown flu-like symptoms, ‘coughing, sneezing and experienced difficulty breathing’.
In a statement, the Ivorian health ministry said that tests by research institutes in Ivory Coast and France had come back negative for the virus.
According to the ministry, the 34-year-old student who was quarantined while tests were carried out is being treated for her symptoms and is recovering well.If the results had been positive, this would have been the first confirmed case in Africa.
Furthermore, Mozambique’s cabinet within the week decided to temporarily suspend the issuance of visas on arrival for travelers from China, as one of the measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
The overall impact of this pandemic on Africa’s economy is likely to be more severe than earlier suspected even as many countries are yet to set up emergency centres dedicated to Coronavirus.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry