Djibouti
– Djibouti, the tiny Horn of Africa nation with the highest number of
coronavirus cases on the continent per capita, on Sunday reversed course on a
plan to begin lifting lockdown measures this week, saying it was premature.
“The government, through the
voice of the prime minister, has decided to extend the confinement for another
week until May 17,” Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said in a
Twitter post.
“Noting that the
prerequisite conditions are not yet in place, the government made this decision
just now,” he said.
The tiny but strategically
important country that hosts major US and French military bases has recorded 1 189
positive cases – few on a global scale, but the highest number in East Africa.
Three people have died.
The Africa Centres for Disease
Control and Prevention says Djibouti has the highest number of cases in Africa
relative to its population, though its testing has also outpaced many of its
neighbours.
‘Even tougher measures’
On March 23, the government
announced a nationwide lockdown, closing borders and places of worship, banning
public transport and allowing only workers in essential industries to go
outside.
Yet the measures have been
largely ignored, with large crowds still common in the capital city.
President Ismail Omar Guelleh, in
power since 1999, warned last month of “even tougher measures” if the
population did not respect confinement rules.
But the imposition of the
lockdown has prompted criticism of Guelleh, who could run for the presidency
again next year after term limits were abolished in a constitutional change.
In his earlier posts announcing
that lockdown rules would be relaxed, Youssouf said public transport would
resume and places of worship would be reopened provided “very strict
measures” on masks and physical distancing were observed.
Even if such measures were taken,
Youssouf said “new epicentres of contamination could emerge in the capital
city”.
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