Africa: 20 Countries Under Full Border Closure Due To COVID-19

The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Wednesday said that 20 countries are under full border closure due to concerns related to the rapid COVID-19 spread.

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This specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU) Commission disclosed that some 20 African countries are still under "full border closure," as most AU countries have imposed mandatory quarantine for all travelers arriving from high-risk areas.

As of Wednesday, the number of confirmed COVID-19 positive cases across the African continent surpassed 1,202,918 as the death toll from the pandemic rose to 28,276.

The Africa CDC said some 15 African countries have reported over 10,000 COVID-19 cases amid a major spike of new cases across the continent. It also noted that eight other African countries have reported positive COVID-19 cases ranging from 5,000 to 10,000.

The southern Africa region is the most affected area in terms of confirmed cases, followed by northern Africa and western Africa regions.

Amid the epidemiological crisis, Nigeria’s workers warned that employers are using the COVID-19 pandemic as a pretext to undermine the population's economic rights.

“We cannot fold our hands and people continue to undermine our laws and rights of workers and we continue to lament,” Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Ayuba Wabba said.

He also mentioned that "the labor movement had recently intervened in disputes in the aviation sector, banking sector, manufacturing industry, and others that had tried to sack workers and trample on their rights," as reported by CGTN.