Thursday 4 February 2021 - 9:50am
File: The logo of the African Union (AU) is seen at the entrance of the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa.
AFP/Ludovic Marin
ADDIS ABABA - African leaders are expected to focus on the continent s COVID-19 response at a virtual summit this weekend, as well as pressing security crises that have gone overlooked during the pandemic.
The two-day African Union summit comes almost exactly one year after Egypt recorded the first case of COVID-19 in Africa, prompting widespread fears that member states weak health systems would quickly be overwhelmed.
But despite early doomsday predictions, the continent has so far been hit less hard than other regions, recording 3.5-percent of global virus cases and 4-percent of global deaths, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
Covid crisis and conflict expected to dominate African Union summit
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04/02/2021 - 09:07 Internally displaced people in South Darfur protesting against the end of the joint United Nations/African Union peacekeeping mission. - AFP/File 4 min African leaders will focus on the continent s Covid-19 response at their virtual summit, hosted from Addis Ababa, this weekend. They will also examine security crises that have been overlooked during the pandemic. Advertising Read more
The two-day African Union summit takes place one year after Egypt recorded the first case of Covid-19 in Africa, prompting widespread fears that member states health systems would quickly be overwhelmed.
TODAY
February 4, 2021
African leaders are expected to focus on the continent’s Covid-19 response at a virtual summit this weekend, as well as pressing security crises that have gone overlooked during the pandemic.
The two-day African Union summit comes almost exactly one year after Egypt recorded the first case of Covid-19 in Africa, prompting widespread fears that member states’ weak health systems would quickly be overwhelmed.
But despite early doomsday predictions, the continent has so far been hit less hard than other regions, recording 3.5 percent of global virus cases and 4 percent of global deaths, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
African Union to convene By AFP Published: Feb 04, 2021 05:53 PM
Participants attend the 33rd ordinary session of the assembly of heads of State and Government of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia s capital, Feb. 9, 2020. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)African leaders are expected to focus on the continent s COVID-19 response at a virtual summit this weekend, as well as pressing security crises that have been overlooked during the pandemic.
The two-day African Union (AU) summit comes almost exactly one year after Egypt recorded the first case of COVID-19 in Africa, prompting widespread fears that member states weak health systems would quickly be overwhelmed.