Features

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Lagos, Nigeria’s biggest city, took to Twitter to gauge support for a new lockdown as authorities complain residents aren’t following public-health guidelines. More than 52,000 people had voted in the poll by 9 a.m. local time on Wednesday, with more than half supporting another lockdown. The poll still has two days to go. The city has 1,999 confirmed infections or 42% of known cases in Africa’s most populous country….

LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) — Boris Johnson watered down his plan for rebooting the U.K. economy after employers and labor unions said many workplaces are not yet ready for the return to work he called for on Sunday night. Just 24-hours after telling Britons they “should go to work if you can’t work from home,” the prime minister used a televised press conference on Monday evening to say they “should now think about going…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) — President Donald Trump said Monday he demanded that everyone entering the West Wing to wear a face mask after Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary tested positive for coronavirus infection last week. The White House made the announcement in a memo addressed to staff on Monday, saying employees didn’t need face coverings while working at their desks. Trump told reporters that he “required” the memo. “We’ve had just…

NEW YORK (Capital Markets in Africa) — President Donald Trump declared Monday at a White House news conference on the coronavirus outbreak that “we have prevailed,” as U.S. deaths from the disease exceeded 80,000 — a remark he later said pertained only to testing for the infection. “Thanks to the courage of our citizens and our aggressive strategy, hundreds of thousands of lives have been saved,” Trump said. “In every generation, through every challenge and…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — China’s ambassador to Washington called for an end to the “blame game” over the coronavirus, in the country’s most high-profile response since U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his criticism of Beijing. Ambassador Cui Tiankai said in a column published in the Washington Post that allegations blaming China for the outbreak’s spread risked “decoupling” the world’s two largest economies. Increased suspicions also threatened to hurt U.S.-China cooperation to fight the disease and restart the…

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) — Ivory Coast arrested fourteen soldiers and five civilians for preparing a coup, an alleged crime for which presidential hopeful Guillaume Soro is also wanted, according to the public prosecutor. Soro, 47, was last week convicted and sentenced in absentia to 20 years in jail for embezzlement of public funds and money laundering, but still faces a charge of endangering state security. He was accused in December of plotting a coup after…

DAR ES SALAAM (Capital Markets in Africa) — Tanzania suspended the head of the national medical laboratory, a day after President John Magufuli questioned its coronavirus case figures and said the outbreak isn’t as bad as reported. The removal of Nyambura Moremi, director of the National Health Laboratory Quality Assurance and Training Centre, comes amid mounting criticism of Magufuli’s response to the pandemic. The 60-year-old leader has refused to impose a lockdown and allowed churches…