Yaoundé – Face masks with a thousand colors to protect the most disadvantaged sections of the population from coronavirus infection. The initiative was launched by the Capuchin friars of Cameroon, one of the African nations most affected by Covid-19. In the Country, the infection is spreading very quickly. According to data from the monitoring site of John Hopkins University, in early April, the infections were 509, in twenty days they reached over a thousand with 42 deaths.
Faced with the epidemic, the government of Yaoundé, like most African countries, has closed its borders and suspended all academic activities. Unlike other Countries, however, it has not imposed a strict quarantine and nightly curfew.
“Our active case search strategy is starting to pay off”, said Premier Dion Nguthe. “We did 800 tests and over 200 tested positive but asymptomatic. We decided to let them live in their communities and take care of them”.
In outlining the government’s strategy to deal with the pandemic, the Ministry of Health has taken a number of main measures: massive and generalized tests, placement in solitary confinement and immediate treatment of cases, active surveillance of suspects. The government has also decided to bet on the training of the population regarding good hygiene practices and on the spread of medical devices .
“With the increasing daily number of patients, the premier has made the use of face masks mandatory for everyone”, the Cameroonian Capuchin friars explain to Fides. “For those who do not comply with the directive, the fines are “high”: 6,000 Cameroonian francs for those who do not wear it and 2,000 francs for those who have it, but do not wear it. Knowing how much it is difficult to buy face masks, whose demand has soared in recent days, and that many do not have the economic resources to buy them due to the financial difficulties they are in, we have decided to produce some locally”.
The friars asked some tailors to weave them. “The initial “capital” – they observe – was provided to us by the Missionary Center of the Capuchin Friars of Milan which raised funds through its benefactors. The Center has been of great help to us given the difficult times we are living, between the Covid-19 epidemic and the civil war going on in the English-speaking provinces “.
The first face masks were made in the past few days and distribution began immediately. The first beneficiaries were the displaced persons hosted in the communities of the Capuchin friars. “We distributed the face masks in Shisong, Mbuluf and Mbohtong”, say the friars in a message sent to Fides.
“We hope that the epidemic will pass quickly so that Cameroonians can resume their normal life without the danger of becoming infected. We also hope that the fighting between English speaking rebels and Yaoundé law enforcement officers, which are currently suspended thanks to a truce, will not resume anymore”.
Category Archives: Viva!
Federal Government not backing down on push for coronavirus inquiry despite threat of Chinese boycott
Racism First instead of Australia First

The Federal Trade Minister confirms the Government has called the Chinese ambassador after he made “threats of economic coercion” over Australia’s push for an inquiry into COVID-19’s origins.
White House adviser Navarro lashes out at China over ‘fake’ test kits
In Race for a Coronavirus Vaccine, an Oxford Group Leaps Ahead – The New York Times
In Race for a Coronavirus Vaccine, an Oxford Group Leaps Ahead – The New York Times: Scientists at the National Institutes of Health’s Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Montana last month inoculated six rhesus macaque monkeys with single doses of the Oxford vaccine. The animals were then exposed to heavy quantities of the virus that is causing the pandemic — exposure that had consistently sickened other monkeys in the lab. But more than 28 days later all six were healthy, said Vincent Munster, the researcher who conducted the test.
“The rhesus macaque is pretty much the closest thing we have to humans,” Dr. Munster said, noting that scientists were still analyzing the result. He said he expected to share it with other scientists next week and then submit it to a peer-reviewed journal.
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6 Bay Area counties extend stay-at-home orders through May – Los Angeles Times
Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties as well as the city of Berkeley will retain shelter-in-place orders.
— Read on www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-04-27/6-bay-area-counties-extend-stay-at-home-orders-through-may
Trump is a danger to the American people. But the Republicans refuse to stop him | Suzanne Moore | Opinion | The Guardian
The president is vilified and ridiculous – and he will continue to spout dangerous, offensive nonsense as long as his party supports him, says Suzanne Moore
— Read on www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/27/trump-is-a-danger-to-the-american-people-but-the-republicans-refuse-to-stop-him
What History Can Tell US about Today’s Coronavirus Pandemic – DER SPIEGEL
In an interview, medical historian Frank Snowden discusses how the coronavirus pandemic mirrors past outbreaks and argues that we must quickly apply the lessons learned today in preparation for the next disease.
— Read on www.spiegel.de/international/world/what-history-can-tell-us-about-today-s-coronavirus-pandemic-a-378ebd03-cefb-45a6-bb7a-2db184de81cc
Bus riders need masks Detroit
Check out this article from Detroit Free Press:
SMART bus passengers now required to wear masks
World Leaders Launch $8 Billion Collaboration to Develop Coronavirus Vaccine. Guess Who Isn’t Participating.

On Friday, the World Health Organization announced that leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, have agreed to an unprecedented $8 billion initiative to fight the coronavirus pandemic, an effort that will include a race to develop a vaccine and ensure equal access to it.
“The world needs these tools and it needs them fast,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference Friday. “In the past, they have not been available to all. That cannot be allowed to happen again.”
If you’re thinking that such a collaborative sentiment would be anathema to President Donald Trump—who last month attempted to buy a German company in order to gain exclusive rights to a vaccine—you’ve guessed right. “There will be no US official participation,” a US spokesman told Reuters when asked about the WHO initiative.
This, of course, tracks with every other go-it-alone, “Make America Great” decision Trump has built his presidency on, as well as his recent accusation that WHO had “severely” mismanaged its handling of the pandemic, a claim widely viewed as an attempt to divert attention from his ongoing failures in dealing with the virus. Yet amid the current pandemic—a crisis the United States leads with the highest death toll in the world—Trump’s latest refusal to participate in a global effort, what could be a vital opportunity to develop a sorely needed vaccine, is still pretty stunning.
Intertribal Buffalo Council Pushes Legislation to Restore Buffalo — LRInspire
For nearly 15 years, the Intertribal Buffalo Council has been working tirelessly to secure a permanent federal obligation to support Tribes in restoring buffalo on Tribal lands. There have been recent milestones in the advancement of this process.
via Intertribal Buffalo Council Pushes Legislation to Restore Buffalo — LRInspire

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