Forces will have access to information telling them if an individual has been told to self-isolate, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said.

But the British Medical Association said it was worried police involvement might put people off being tested.

In England there is a legal requirement to isolate after a Coronavirus positive test.

Just under 11% of people traced as a close contact of someone with coronavirus said they self-isolated for 14 days, according to a government-commissioned study.

Reasons given for breaking self-isolation included believing there was no point isolating from strangers if you cannot properly distance from those in your household; not developing symptoms; or visiting shops or a pharmacy.

‘Appropriate safeguards’

The DHSC updated its guidance about how testing data will be handled on Friday.

A memorandum of understanding was issued between the DHSC and National Police Chiefs’ Council to allow forces to access information that tells them if a “specific individual” has been told to self-isolate, as first reported by the Health Service Journal.

Those who fail to do so face fines starting at £1,000, which can increase to £10,000 for serial offenders or serious breaches.

A DHSC spokesman said it was a legal requirement for people who had tested positive and their close contacts to self-isolate when formally notified to do so.

“The memorandum of understanding ensures that information is shared with appropriate safeguards and in accordance with the law. No testing or health data is shared in this process,” he said.

A spokesman for the British Medical Association, which represents doctors in the UK, said the test-and-trace system needed “the full confidence of the public” to be effective.

He said: “We are already concerned that some people are deterred from being tested because they are anxious about loss of income should they need to self-isolate – and we are worried should police involvement add to this.

“Therefore, the government’s emphasis should be on providing support to people – financial and otherwise – if they need to self-isolate, so that no-one is deterred from coming forward for a test.”

A National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesperson said forces would continue to encourage “voluntary compliance” but would enforce regulations and issue fines where appropriate.

“Officers will engage with individuals to establish their circumstances, using their discretion wherever it is reasonable to do so,” they said.

Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, said ministers should “reverse the policy urgently”.

“Anything that further undermines the public’s dwindling trust in this government’s handling of the pandemic is damaging, and few things could have been better designed to do that, than this,” he said.

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Meanwhile, Baroness Dido Harding, the head of NHS Test and Trace, has told the Sunday Times that the Test and Trace service was not a “silver bullet”.

“It has never been and it never will be,” she said, adding it is one of a number of different interventions needed to control Covid-19.

Source – https://www.bbc.co.uk/

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It’s a dramatic turnaround – Mr Trump previously mocked others for wearing masks, and suggested some might wear such personal protective equipment to show their disapproval of him, even after the US Centers for Disease Control recommended face coverings.

Meanwhile, the UK government was initially reluctant to advise the general public to wear face coverings, even as other countries in Europe did.

It introduced rules requiring people to wear face coverings on public transport in June and now says people in England must wear face coverings in shops or face a fine.

Globally, many authorities – including the World Health Organization (WHO) – initially suggested that masks were not effective in preventing the spread of the coronavirus. However, they are now recommending face coverings in indoor spaces, and many governments have even made them mandatory.

What’s changed – and why?

The number of governments recommending face coverings has gone up significantly over the past six months.

As of mid-March, about 10 countries had policies recommending face coverings – now more than 130 countries and 20 US states do, says Masks4All, an activist group of researchers that advocates the use of homemade masks during the pandemic.

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Some studies also suggest that people’s attitudes have changed.

“Countries with no previous history of wearing face masks and coverings amongst the general public rapidly adopted usage such as in Italy (83.4%), the United States (65.8%) and Spain (63.8%),” says a report by the Royal Society – one of the leading science bodies in the UK.

The changes appear to be partly due to a better understanding of how Covid-19 spreads.

Initially, the WHO said masks should only be worn by medical workers, or people who had symptoms like coughing and sneezing.

However, in recent months, there’s been increased evidence that many people with the virus do not have symptoms – but can still be contagious – and masks can stop them from passing it on to others. The WHO changed its guidance in June.

Meanwhile, there is more awareness that the risk of transmission is higher in poorly ventilated indoor spaces – and evidence to suggest that the virus could be spread by tiny particles suspended in the air.

This means that if everyone wears face coverings it will “protect against the most common mode of transmission – droplets – and to some extent maybe aerosol droplets,” says Kim Lavoie, chair of behavioural medicine at the University of Quebec at Montreal’s psychology department.

Source – https://www.bbc.co.uk/

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The White House has been increasingly critical of Dr Fauci, and on Sunday, an official shared a list detailing past apparent erroneous comments.

Dr Fauci changing advice on masks and remarks on Covid-19’s severity are among the points from the White House.

The move to undercut him comes as the US continues to see surges in Covid-19.

There are over 3.3 million cases confirmed and more than 135,000 deaths nationwide, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Dr Fauci has contradicted President Donald Trump’s comments on the pandemic a number of times, pushing back on the president’s claims that the outbreak is improving and attributing hasty state reopenings to the recent surges.

The White House memo leaked over the weekend had noted “several White House officials are concerned about the number of times Dr Fauci has been wrong on things”.

Though the White House said Dr Fauci and Mr Trump have a “good working relationship” on Monday, Trump adviser Peter Navarro told CBS News: “When you ask me if I listen to Dr Fauci’s advice, my answer is only with caution.”

During a law enforcement event at the White House on Monday, Mr Trump said: “I have a very good relationship with Dr Fauci. I’ve had for a long time – right from the beginning.

“I find him to be a very nice person. I don’t always agree with him.”

The president added: “I get along with him very well. I like him personally.”

Mr Trump earlier on Monday retweeted comments from a game show host accusing “everyone”, including the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), of lying about the coronavirus.

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White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany later told reporters Mr Trump still had confidence in the CDC and the tweet was meant to express his displeasure with “some rogue individuals” who leaked planning documents.

Echoing the contents of the anti-Fauci memo earlier, Mr Navarro, an economic adviser to Mr Trump, said Dr Fauci “has been wrong about everything I have ever interacted with him on”.

“When I warned in late January in a memo of a possibly deadly pandemic, Fauci was telling the media not to worry,” he said.

Mr Navarro said Dr Fauci fought against Mr Trump’s “courageous decision” to halt flights from China, initially said the virus was “low-risk” and “flip-flopped on the use of masks”.

“Now Fauci is saying that a falling mortality rate doesn’t matter when it is the single most important statistic to help guide the pace of our economic reopening.”

Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant US health secretary and member of the virus task force, told NBC News on Sunday that while he respects Dr Fauci, he is not always right.

“Dr Fauci is not 100% right and he also doesn’t necessarily, he admits that, have the whole national interest in mind. He looks at it from a very narrow public health point of view.”

As cases and deaths continue to rise in a number of states, Mr Trump has been accused by critics of politicising health issues, including wearing masks.

Mr Trump has also clashed with the World Health Organization (WHO), accusing the body of mismanaging the pandemic when it began and failing to make “greatly needed reforms”.

On 7 July, he formally began to pull the US out of the WHO and said funding would be redirected.

Source – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/

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“Michigan has the third-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country, and we’re still on the upswing. We must continue to do everything we can to slow the spread and protect our families,” Whitmer said in a statement, according to Detroit’s WXYZ-TV.

Some exceptions to the order — which takes effect Saturday — are caring for a relative or their pet, a child, an elderly or disabled person, visiting someone in a health care facility, or attending a funeral with fewer than 10 people.

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“All public and private gatherings of any size are prohibited. People can still leave the house for outdoor activities…recreational activities are still permitted as long as they’re taking place outside of six feet from anyone else,” Whitmer said in a news conference, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Residents may visit a home outside of the state or return to Michigan from another state or drive to a Michigan state park, the Free Press reported.

“All other travel is prohibited, including all travel to vacation rentals,” the order says, according to WXYZ.

Terressa Carson, who lives north of Mt. Pleasant in central Michigan, told the newspaper she’s relieved that residents from Detroit – where there are more cases – won’t be able to head to her area where a smaller number of people have the virus.

Source – https://www.foxnews.com/politics/

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Prof Neil Ferguson, of Imperial College London and director of the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis, said that while it was not fully understood whether children transmitted the virus in the same way as other illnesses, school closures was a measure that could have an effect.

Speaking to the BBC Radio 4 Today programme on Tuesday, Ferguson said: “From a purely epidemiological perspective we think, with a lot of uncertainty, that closing schools and universities would further reduce transmission.

“I have to say we don’t fully understand whether children are transmitting this virus in the same way they would transmit other viruses but assuming that, it would have an impact.”

There have been calls for school closures throughout the coronavirus outbreak, with the Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, saying they would be kept under daily review.

Italy, France and Germany have all shut their schools.

Ferguson said: “It would also have other negative impacts, particularly on potentially health system capacity – a lot of nurses, a lot of doctors have school-age children.

“What is currently happening is there is a very thorough review of what a likely impact of school closure would be – both positive, in terms of reducing the epidemic, but also negative.

“As the prime minister made clear yesterday, school closure hasn’t been ruled out and may be necessary in coming weeks.”

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The research released by Imperial College’s Covid-19 response team on Monday was behind the government’s strategy change for more stringent measures, including social distancing, to try to suppress the illness. Without further restrictions the death toll could be 250,000, it said.

Ferguson said the UK was three weeks behind Italy and two weeks behind France and Spain in terms of the virus’s spread.

The deputy chief medical officer for England, Jonathan Van-Tam, also kept the option of school closures on the table.

He said: “It is possible that we may have to look at other measures such as school closures but for the time being we are keeping this under review and as Prof Ferguson has said this is the subject of intense scrutiny within the scientific government community at the moment.”

Source – https://www.theguardian.com/

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“An Indian citizen who arrived from Mumbai, India on March 8, 2020, has tested positive for Coronavirus (Covid-19). The patient had no symptoms upon arrival in Rwanda and reported himself to a health facility on March 13 where he was immediately tested,” the ministry said.

The ministry said that the patient is stable adding that primary contacts have been traced.

The detection makes Rwanda the second country in the East African Community, after Kenya, to confirm the presence of the virus.

The ministry urged all residents of Rwanda to continue observing all instructions from health authorities, wash hands regularly, avoid large gatherings, and report any symptoms by calling toll-free number 114.

National carrier Rwandair on Thursday announced a suspension of its flights to and from Mumbai, India.

Other flights that had been previously suspended include Guangzhou and Tel Aviv in Israel.

Kigali authorities last week also announced suspension of events that might attract large crowds as a measure to fight against the global pandemic that has so far claimed over 5000 people and infected over 140,000.

“The City of Kigali hereby announces to the public that entertainment gatherings, trade and exhibition shows and pilgrimages are suspended beginning March 8 until another announcement is made to reinstate these activities,” a city of Kigali statement reads.

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“In order to protect people’s lives, we remind those in charge of activities that gather many people such as churches, hotels, nightclubs, bars and restaurants to put in place strong hygiene measures and sanitizers in order to protect people against the Coronavirus.”

Rwanda Development Board on Monday said that tourism operations will continue and announced that tourists have up to two years to postpone their bookings at no extra cost if they are affected by flight cancellations, travel bans or if they are infected with Covid-19.

The government also waived a 30-day requirement prior to visit date, for tour operators to have submitted the final payment for reserved tourist permits.

Source – https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/

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So, it’s perhaps no surprise the 49-year-old has opted to step things up considerably amid the novel coronavirus outbreak. Campbell recently posted several images of herself boarding a plane at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday while wearing a hazmat suit, a pair of goggles, a face mask and pink latex gloves.

In one photo, she poses inside Tom Bradley International Terminal with her suitcase, while another shows her on-board a plane wearing a cape draped over the protective suit, with one latex-covered hand clutching her mobile phone to her ear and the other gripping on to a transparent plastic bag. Related content private jets are taking off because of coronavirus

Campbell captioned the images with the words, “Safety First. NEXT LEVEL,” before pledging to post a “full video” on her YouTube channel shortly. While the supermodel’s precautionary outfit was given the seal of approval by many of her followers, others accused her of making light of the deadly outbreak, which has infected over 100,000 people and killed over 4,000 across the world. Campbell spoke of her techniques for avoiding germs while flying during a five-minute video shared on her YouTube channel last summer.”Clean anything that you could possibly touch,” she advised, before wiping her seat, seat belt, tray table, TV screen, remote control and window with anti-bacterial wipes.

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“This is what I do on every plane I get on. I do not care what people think of me. It’s my health and it makes me feel better.”After putting on a sanitary face mask before take-off, Campbell went on to stress the rigorous routine has helped her to stay healthy during her lengthy modelling career, which has spanned three decades.”I mean as much as I travel, I should get sick so much more with colds and stuff,” she said.”I’m blessed that I don’t. I really think that this helps me, my little routine.”While Campbell’s approach might seem a little on the extreme side, travellers are being instructed to wash or sanitize their hands after touching surfaces in airports and planes as world leaders attempt to contain coronavirus. According to infectious disease experts, frequent hand washing is one of the best defences against the spread of such viruses.

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Egypt remains the nation with the most reported cases with 59, more than half of all confirmed cases on the continent. Most of the cases in Egypt are among passengers and crew members aboard a Nile cruise ship coming from the southern city of Aswan to Luxor, Egypt state-run Ahram Online reported. Egypt’s health ministry announced Sunday that a German citizen was the first death from the virus in the country, according to Ahram Online.

Although there are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Rwanda, citizens are encouraged to maintain good hygiene. A video posted by The New Times Rwanda on Twitter shows commuters washing their hands at taps installed at a bus station in Kigali.

Similarly, Kenya has not confirmed any cases of coronavirus, but it has opened a 120-bed quarantine centre in the capital Nairobi. It also has two testing facilities, which countries in the region rely on.

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In South Africa, with 13 cases of the virus so far, citizens can now walk into private laboratories and pay for private coronavirus tests costing around $75, according to a local media report in Lagos, Nigeria, temperature screenings and use of hand sanitizers before entering public spaces such as banks, offices and restaurants are becoming mandatory to limit the spread of the disease.

Signs informing the public on the best practices to avoid contracting coronavirus can be seen in parts of the city. Scores of health workers have been deployed at international airports in Nigeria to screen all arriving passengers. Similar measures have also been adopted across the continent and passengers with suspected cases of the virus are placed in quarantine.

Source – https://edition.cnn.com/

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Duncan who plays for Fiorentina in the Italian Serie A was last week named in C.K Akonnor’s 23 man squad for the doubleheader on March 27 and 30 but with Italy taking drastic measures to arrest the deadly virus which has plagued the country, the player may not be able to travel to honour the game.

Yesterday, Monday, March 9, Italy announced that the entire country – which is Europe’s worst affected by coronavirus – was in lockdown as it battles to contain the outbreak.

Latest reports indicate that more than a quarter of Italy’s population has been forced to live in isolation with football games and all sporting events, including games in the top division, Serie A suspended until 3 April due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country.

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Large gatherings of any sort have also been discouraged in a desperate effort to arrest the situation.

GhanaWeb checks at the Ghana Football Association indicate that the FA is in touch with the player and his club, and had been given the clearance to travel for Ghana the games. But that was before the latest fiat that prevents any form of movement.

It is unclear if coach Akonnor and his technical team will invite another player to fill the void if it is confirmed that Ducan will not be able to make the trip to Ghana and Sudan in the next two weeks.

Source – https://www.ghanaweb.com/

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The World Health Organisation, WHO has since declared it a public health emergency of international dimensions. WHO chief Tedros Ghebereyesus said whiles China had a robust health system to detect and control, his outfit remained concerned about the virus entering country’s with weak systems.

Almost all African governments have publicly put in place strict screening at points of entry, especially airports. Ivory Coast, Kenya, Ethiopia and Botswana have recorded suspected cases. All except Botswana have reported that the tests were negative. African airlines have cancelled scheduled flights to China except for Ethiopian Airlines.

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.

In this article, we will share the latest developments as authorities implement measures to contain the spread of the virus, especially on the African continent.

• Africa Basketball League postponed
• Tanzania bans shaking hands
• Kenyans sharing fake news to be charged
• Senegal records second case
• Zimbabwe to deport foreigners without ‘medical clearance’
• Morocco records first case, sixth case in Africa
• Senegal, Tunisia confirm first cases
• Egypt confirms second coronavirus case
• Algeria confirms two more coronavirus cases
• Kenya suspends all flights from China
• Nigeria records first case

Interview: Ethiopian student in Wuhan shares lockdown experience

Africa Basketball League postponed

The Basketball Africa League, which was supposed to start next week in Senegal, has been postponed over the coronavirus outbreak.

The cancellation was done after advice from the Senegalese government, which on Monday confirmed that a second person had tested positive for the coronavirus.

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12 teams including Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Egypt, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia were scheduled to compete. The league is being organised in partnership of America’s National Basketball Association (NBA) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA).

Senegal, which is hosting the competition, has confirmed two cases of coronavirus, bringing the total confirmed cases in Africa to 12.

The other countries affected are Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia.

Source – https://www.africanews.com/

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