More than half of the continent’s 54 countries have imposed lockdowns, curfews, travel restrictions and other measures in a bid to prevent the local transmission of the virus. There are now more than 1.2m cases globally and the disease has caused more than 65,000 deaths, with China, the US and Italy worst-hit.
Africa has so far recorded just 8,000 cases of Covid-19 and 334 deaths, while 702 people have recovered, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
While the region's most developed country, South Africa, has proven itself ruthlessly efficient in responding to the virus, setting up drive-through testing centres and mobile medical units, others are likely to prove far more vulnerable.
“We’ve been through a lot on the continent,” Ms Eziakonwa, the UN’s development programme regional director for Africa, told the AP. “Ebola, yes, African governments took a hit, but we have not seen anything like this before.
Before and after photos show impact of coronavirus around the world
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“The African labour market is driven by imports and exports and with the lockdown everywhere in the world, it means basically that the economy is frozen in place. And with that, of course, all the jobs are gone.”
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