Tuesday, March 21, 2023

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SA government considering new budget to tackle coronavirus

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By: Laura Peterjohn

The SA government is considering the possibility of temporarily increasing social grants during the lockdown period. SOURCE: Twitter @ANCLimpopo

The South African government has moved to try to reduce the economic impact of coronavirus by lowering the country’s repo rate to it’s lowest level in a quarter century.

At the same time Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced that the government would be revisiting the national budget for the year, to make more money available for government spending and to boost the economy.

In addition to this, Sunday World reports that Mboweni has indicated social grants may be increased temporarily to assist struggling South Africans. An announcement on this would likely be made tomorrow.

“Government, through National Treasury, is exploring all funding avenues to finance all COVID-19 related programmes and measures aimed at addressing the pandemic,” Mboweni reportedly said in a call to reporters..

The Reserve Bank’s announcement on the repo rate – the rate at which the Reserve bank leads out money to banks dropped it to 4.25%, lowering the national leading rate to 7.75%, reported fin24. 

The Monetary Policy Committee of the bank voted unanimously to make the cut in an attempt to increase spending and boost small businesses. The unexpected move caused the Rand to weaken to R18.30/$, reported fin24. 

This decision came just after Business For South Africa (B4SA) revealed that preliminary modelling of the economy suggested that over one million more South Africans will face unemployment, in part due to the estimated 8%-10% contraction of the SA economy expected in 2020.

Across the globe countries are facing similar predictions of economic turmoil. The International Monetary Fund has warned that the world faces it worst recession since the Great Depression. The global economy is expected to contract by 3%.

Separately, UK chancellor Rishi Sunak has warned that Britain could see a 35% drop in GDP by June, a direct consequence of the three month lockdown that the country has imposed.

The IMF has predicted that in South Africa the economy will contract by 5%.

Tensions rise over ban on cigarette and alcohol sales

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By Skylar Thoma

MAIN IMAGE: The sale of alcoholic drinks is currently banned in South Africa under the nationwide lockdown. The lobby group Gauteng Liquor Forum has demanded that government lift the ban or face legal action. SOURCE: Pexels.com.

More than 20,000 liquor license holders will have to wait until the end of the week to know whether their appeal to the government to be allowed to restart sales of alcohol will be approved. 

The traders, all members of the Gauteng Liquor Forum, have lobbied the government’s to lift its ban on the sale of alcohol, and has threatened to go to court if the government does not take action on the issue by Thursday. 

On Tuesday, the Office of the State Attorney in Pretoria issued a response to the demand, requesting an extension until Friday for an official decision.

The government has acknowledged that the lockdown restrictions are creating economic hardship for business owners across the country and talks are under way to considering what steps can be taken to alleviate the situation. It is widely believed that this may include a partial easing of some restrictions.

The economic impact extends beyond alcohol traders. Tax Justice South Africa claimed on Twitter that the government has lost 650 million Rand in taxes that would have been charged on alcohol and cigarette products.

Despite outrage among some drinkers and traders, the Minister of Police Bheki Cele has been adamant that the ban will not be lifted. Cele expressed his anger when the Western Cape provincial government suggested it might lift the ban on cigarette sales in its province.

“What happens in Limpopo is expected to be done in the Western Cape”, he stated at a press briefing on April 2. 

The ban was instituted on March 27 as part of the lockdown regulations – in an attempt to reduce social gatherings involving alcohol, and thereby contribute to South Africa’s efforts to ‘flatten the curve’ of its coronavirus infection spread. In a statement to SABC News on April 7, Cele said the ban had led to a decrease in crime. 

Instances of violent crime have indeed declined during the lockdown, especially for murders and rapes, reports The South African.

Looters raid a Spar Tops liquor store in Cape Town. SOURCE: eNCA.

But there has also been an increase in looting of alcohol stores and illegal trading of liquor and tobacco products. IOL reports that 17 liquor stores had been looted in Cape Town alone as of Tuesday this week. Minister Cele has also expressed concern about reports that police officers have been caught and arrested for participating in illicit trading, according to Reuters.

The top five Google searches in South Africa on Tuesday all connect to making alcoholic beverages at home. SOURCE: screen grab.

Some South Africans are trying to find a way around the ban by brewing their alcohol at home. A search on Twitter for “pineapple beer” turns up numerous recipes that people have developed while under lockdown.

The issue of the ban on alcohol and cigarettes has divided South Africans, with people taking to Twitter to express their views. A petition has also been started in opposition to the movement to un-ban the sale of alcohol. It had about 2700 signatures as of Tuesday. 

https://twitter.com/KeeganMoodley96/status/1249650419917295619

Anti-black racism reported in China’s “Little Africa”

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By Renny Simone

MAIN PHOTO: Guangzhou, a city in China’s Guangdong province that is home to a large African immigrant population. SOURCE: stben on Pixabay

A group of African ambassadors in Beijing have written a letter to the Chinese foreign minister, urging the government to take action on xenophobia against African immigrants in China.

The open letter from the ambassadors demands “the cessation of forceful testing, quarantine and other inhuman treatments” used against Africans. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was copied on the letter, according to Reuters.

The ambassadors list several allegations of xenophobic practices, including unlawful evictions, forcible testing and quarantining, and acts of public discrimination against people of African origin.

Most reports have come from Guangzhou, a coastal city in Guangdong province, where a sizable population of West African immigrants has settled in an area now known as “Little Africa”.

“People are not happy”, Maximus Ogbonna, a Nigerian community leader in Guangzhou, told The Washington Post. Ogbonna is in his second forced quarantine after returning from Nigeria, despite having tested negative for coronavirus.

Other reports of discrimination have been shared on social media. 

SupChina described a Chinese-language cartoon published to WeChat with the title, “An illustrated handbook on how to sort foreign trash”. The cartoon targeted ‘foreigners’, especially Africans, for allegedly flouting quarantine guidelines. 

And a twitter video, apparently showing a discriminatory notice posted in a Guangzhou McDonald’s, has prompted an apology from the company, according to the BBC. The notice read, in part, “from now on black people are not allowed to enter the restaurant”.

The international community has responded swiftly to the allegations.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) also released a statement condemning discrimination against African nationals living in China.

The Chinese embassy in Nigeria initially denied allegations of racism. But a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry acknowledged the concerns in remarks published on Sunday.

“The foreign ministry will stay in close communication with the Guangdong authorities and continue responding to the African side’s reasonable concerns and legitimate appeals,” said the statement.

Outside of China, instances of xenophobia, ranging from racist TikTok videos to US President Donald Trump’s controversial use of the term “Chinese virus”, have been widely documented. There have also been reports of coronavirus-related deportations of undocumented immigrants from the US, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.

Some commentators are highlighting the political implications of these developments. Mills Soko and Mzukisi Qobo, professors at Wits Business School, have suggested that the reports coming out of Guangzhou may affect China’s influence in Africa.

“They could … fuel a backlash against China and Chinese interests on the continent,” Soko and Qobo wrote in Daily Maverick.

China is expected to decide soon on debt relief for African countries, many of which are asking creditors to freeze or cancel loan payments in light of the economic recession. According to Reuters, China is the largest creditor operating in Africa, where it has extensive commercial interests.

Governments struggle to contain coronavirus threat to prisoners

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by Ainsley Ash

MAIN PHOTO: A montage of the faces of political prisoners being held in Egypt where a campaign is under way to secure their release in the face of the risk posed by coronavirus. Source @BowdyT

Prison authorities across the world are facing a coronavirus crisis in their institutions.

For many detention centres, confined spaces and limited access to hygiene and health care make it nearly impossible to practice the World Health Organization’s recommendations on social distancing and increased sanitation measures. The result is that inmates and correctional staff are at high risk of transmission of the virus which has already found its way into detention centres around the world. In some countries, prisoners are being released to reduce the threat of an even greater crisis.

In New York City, the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak in the United States, Riker’s Island prison is facing what Ross MacDonald, chief medical officer of New York City’s correctional health service, called, “a public health disaster unfolding before our eyes”. As of Wednesday, more than 280 inmates and 440 employees have tested positive for COVID-19. This is a 6.6 percent infection rate, which is seven times higher than that of New York City, Newsweek reports. An inmate who was held on a technical parole violation has died after testing positive for Covid-19.

Amid calls from activists and public health officials, over 1,000 inmates who were being held on technical violations of their parole have been released. A New York Post report suggested that at least one of them has been rearrested for robbery. The Legal Aid Society in New York City has asked for the specific release of 105 inmates “due to their unique vulnerability to complications from COVID-19”. “Many have release dates that are only weeks away,” their statement read. “Given the exponential spread of the virus, this could mean the difference between life and death.”

CNN reports that in Chicago, at least 251 detainees and 150 staff members at Cook County Jail have tested positive for coronavirus. One detainee who tested positive for the virus had died, and at least 22 detainees had been hospitalized.

Cook County Board president Toni Preckwinkle described the situation in prisons as ‘a petri dish’ for the virus.

Authorities are also having to deal with outbreaks of violent protest in prisons as inmates become infected, according to the CNN report.

In Iran, thousands of prisoners have been temporarily released, most non-violent offenders serving short prison sentences, Al Jazeera reports. Among these, about 70,000 are believed to be those arrested during anti-government protests. 

The release decision has been met with strong opposition. Violent protests have erupted throughout the country, resulting in the death of 36 prisoners, according to Amnesty International.

Across the African continent, countries have begun to address the issue. At the end of March, Ethopian President Sahle-Work Zewde granted pardon to more than 4,000 prisoners who had been jailed for minor crimes or were nearing the end of their sentence. In Ghana, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has granted amnesty to 808 prisoners, 783 of whom were first time offenders, Business Insider reports. 

Among those seeking release from prison are some high profile inmates who are hoping for a personal reprieve. Julian Assange, the Australian-born Wikileaks publisher, is currently being held at a London prison. His bid for release was rejected by a judge on the grounds that there were no records of infections in the prison – but since then at least one person there has died of the disease.

Australian parliamentarians have petitioned for his release, arguing that he is a nonviolent prisoner with a chronic health condition, the Washington Times reports. 

In the US, convicted rapist and movie mogul Harvey Weinstein contracted the virus at a facility in New York, but is said to have survived the virus, according to Reuters. 

South Africa has reported its first coronavirus cases in prisons last week after an East London correctional worker became ill, according to News24. The National Institute for Communicable Diseases has started a screening and testing program at prisons across the country. 

South African prisons are chronically overcrowded, raising concerns for the spread of the virus, There are already high rates of TB in the prisons, especially the Multi-Drug Resistant strain (MDR-TB), another disease spread by close contact with a carrier. As of March 2019, 37 percent of South Africa’s prisons were overcrowded, according to Business Live. 

South Africa tightens travel restrictions – but the Easter bunny gets a pass

By

By Ayinde Summey

MAIN IMAGE: Vehicles at a roadblock in Johannesburg on Wednesday. The Minister of Transport has warned that strict enforcement of lockdown rules will be applied over the Easter weekend. Source: Twitter @SouthernStaying

While South African children may be stuck at home this Easter, there is one bit of good news: the Easter Bunny has been given permission to travel across the country to deliver his load of chocolate eggs.

An official letter signed by the Deputy Minister of Tourism Mamaloko Kubaye-Ngubane has authorized the bunny to travel to all parts of the country to perform an essential service to children “which includes but not exclusive to chocolate egg deliveries”.

Among other places where the bunny will roam freely on Sunday is New Zealand, where he has been declared an Essential Worker, and the island of Sark, where an emergency work permit has been issued for the purposes of “essential island travel, inter-burrow visits and home delivery of standard seasonal confectionery”.

For other citizens, however, there will be no special passes for Easter travel. Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula has warned of severe consequences for anyone found breaking the lockdown rules. Many people have been caught flouting the orders across the country. “This conduct demonstrates a worrying trend which must be roundly condemned by both government and civil society. Those who undermine efforts to arrest the spread of this pandemic must face the full might of the law and equally face condemnation by society, as their behavior places the lives of millions at risk.” He said in a press release issued by the department.

In a tweet, the minister said law enforcement would be intensified. 

“… Authorities will not hesitate to ensure that the full might of the law is brought to bear on those who continue to break it.” 

Unlawful road use has worsened since the implementation of the order which been happening across the country. Briefly reports that as of Wednesday, 30,000 vehicles had been stopped countrywide, 196 of them stopped as their drivers were trying to cross provincial lines.

“E-hailing providers that failed to adhere to passenger limits for a vehicle licensed to carry four passengers increased from 42 on Monday and peaked at 509 on Wednesday,” said Mbalula.

To Share His Voice, Bocelli Goes Online

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By Lizzie Stricklin

MAIN IMAGE: Opera singer Andrea Bocelli will be performing at the Milan Cathedral in a virtual concert on Sunday. Source: Shen Xin, Pixabay

Andrea Bocelli will stand alone before the towering pillars of the Milan Cathedral. The room will be silent, although thousands of fans will be listening closely, awaiting his opening breath as he begins  a rousing rendition of “Ave Maria”.

His voice will fill the empty chapel. No applause will be heard – for his audience will be miles away, possibly halfway across the world, listening with awe through the connective power of the internet.

This may be the future of musical performances – at least until the world has emerged from its coronavirus restrictions.

On Sunday,  the renowned Italian opera singer will be streaming a live Easter concert from the Duomo that people across the world can watch. His virtual concert is just one of many examples of how people around the world are taking to digital platforms to share events and music to cope with difficult times.

The Easter concert, entitled “Music for Hope”, will be viewable on Bocelli’s YouTube channel at 7pmlocal time (Central European Standard Time), and will feature pieces like Mascagni’s “Sancta Maria” and an arrangement of John Newton’s “Amazing Grace”.

“It’s not a performance. It’s not a concert. It’s only a prayer,” Bocelli told the Associated Press on Wednesday.

He added, “I will go there to pray, and I’d like to think that everyone listening to me sing can pray with me.”

Bocelli’s virtual concert will follow Pope Francis’s virtual Easter mass, which will also be livestreamed around the world. This  will start at 10:55am CEST.

Bocelli’s use of the internet to share his performance is a practice being picked up by many artists, both professional and amateur, around the world. Musical livestreams, artistic tutorial videos, and social media challenges have encouraged people to find new creative outlets as they are distanced from their normal work and social lives.

Opera fans can continue their at-home viewing with nightly streams from the Metropolitan Opera. This weekend, viewers can enjoy free filmed productions of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte.

Fans of pop, rock, and EDM may have been disappointed by the postponement of the American music festival, Coachella, until October. To fill the void, YouTube will be releasing the documentary “Coachella: 20 Years in the Desert”, which explores the history of the music festival, today.

https://twitter.com/coachella/status/1248431030865780736

The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles will also be bringing musical artists directly to their audiences via the internet. The museum is releasing digital content from its archives, including exclusive sit-down interviews with musical artists, from Andrea Bocelli himself to Billie Eilish and Sabrina Carpenter. Virtual exhibitions are also being released online, with slideshows from past exhibitions featured in the museum.

One group of amateur performers that utilized the internet to spread their voices is the Roedean School choir from Johannesburg. The girls’ boarding school produced a virtual choir that performed “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen as “a timely reminder that we are indeed #TogetherApart”.

Unlikely performers have appeared on the internet as well. On Thursday, the Cape Town Stormers rugby team released a video they had recorded a few days before lockdown started. The men came together in their  team kit, not to compete but to perform with various South African celebrities, including Francois van Coke and Amy Tjasink, singing “The Crossing” by Johnny Clegg.

“The song was chosen by team management as Johnny Clegg was a nation-builder who crossed over different communities — much like the Springboks did by winning the Rugby World Cup in 2019,” the Stormers said in a press release. “Their goal in the Stormers’ 2020 Super Rugby campaign was to build on that concept of unity and ‘The Crossing’ epitomised that spirit of uniting people and moving forward to a new world.”

Ramaphosa calls for national solidarity as lockdown is extended through April

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By Skylar Thoma

MAIN IMAGE: President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the nation to announce that South Africa’s three-week lockdown has been extended to five weeks.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Thursday that South Africa’s nationwide lockdown would be extended by two weeks, to the end of April. 

Thanking the nation for their efforts to date, Ramaphosa said it was clear the lockdown which began on March 26 had had a significant impact on slowing the rate of new infections. However, he said it was imperative that the restrictions should not be lifted too soon and the decision to extend the lockdown had been taken to prevent an “uncontrollable resurgence of the disease”. 

He said the government would roll out a program with three main focuses over the lockdown period. The first would be an intensified public health response to slow down and reduce new infections.

Over the next two weeks, a community testing and screening programme would be rolled out, focusing on the most vulnerable communities in the country, he announced. Those testing positive would be isolated at facilities that were being equipped to house them.

The president announced that 20,000 cellphones had been donated to the government by Vodacom. The phones had been preinstalled with an app that health workers will be able to use to send data on the screening program directly into the national data tracking centre.

A second focus would be to provide economic support measures to assist businesses who were severely impacted by the lockdown. Ramaphosa said the Unemployment Insurance Fund had set aside R40 billion to help employees who are not able to work during the lockdown. The UIF has paid out R356 million to claimants during the lockdown period so far.

Ramaphosa said he would be working with cabinet to develop a comprehensive package of urgent economic measures to respond both to the immediate crisis “and to the severe economic challenges that we must confront in the months ahead”.

He appealed to large businesses “not to resort to force majeure” during #LockdownSA and to continue paying their suppliers if possible.

“The government is continuing its efforts to provide vulnerable communities with food, water, and other basic needs,” he said. “To date, the government has delivered over 11 000 water storage tanks to communities across the country.” 

Ramaphosa also announced that he, along with the deputy president, members of his cabinet and the provincial premiers, would take a cut of a third of their salaries for the next three months. This money would be donated to the national Solidarity Fund. The fund was established at the start of the earlier lockdown to assist in providing funds for the country’s Covid-19 fight.

Ramaphosa concluded with a call for vigilance and solidarity.

“The struggle against #COVID19 is far from over. We are only at the beginning of a monumental struggle that will require every resource.  We cannot relax. We cannot be complacent.”

“Until we contain the virus, the same rules remain,” he said.

He ended his address saying, “Much is being asked of you. Far more than should ever be asked but we know that this is a matter of survival and we dare not fail. I know we shall recover and I also know we shall overcome. May God bless South Africa and protect her people.”

Several commentators on Twitter expressed admiration for Ramaphosa’s difficult decision.

Coronavirus crisis ‘may push half a billion into poverty’

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By Renny Simone

MAIN PHOTO: Children wash their hands in Sudan. Washing hands, along with maintaining social distance, is one of the best ways to minimize transmission of coronavirus (Oxfam)

Half a billion people could be pushed into poverty as a result of the developing economic crisis precipitated by the coronavirus pandemic, Oxfam said in a briefing released on Thursday.

But the ‘Economic Rescue Plan for All’ that the influential nonprofit has proposed requires significant international cooperation.

The Oxfam report calls for a massive influx of spending from richer countries to poorer, coordinated by organizations like the Group of 20 (G20) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Oxfam estimated that at least $2.5 trillion would be required to avert the most catastrophic effects of the downturn, most of which would need to be distributed in the form of cash payments to individuals. Some regional organisations, including the African Union (AU), are already requesting aid.

“[Coronavirus] is an international challenge which requires an international response,” Moussa Faki Mahamat, chairperson of the African Union Commission, told France 24. The AU is asking for $100-150 billion in short-term relief. Mahamat said he hoped that the coronavirus would serve as “a hymn, an anthem for multilateralism and solidarity”.

The record of prominent international organizations, however, has caused some to doubt the global community’s ability to cooperate effectively in the face of this crisis.

Stewart Patrick, a UN observer from the Council on Foreign Relations, has criticized the United Nations Security Council’s inaction in response to coronavirus. The Council was due to meet in the course of the day to discuss the impact of the pandemic for the first time since the crisis began.

“What is all this good for if, when push comes to shove, the countries of the world don’t actually do anything?” Patrick asked in a Politico article.

The headquarters of the United Nations in New York City (Anfaenger from Pixabay)

The European Union, which is currently deliberating over a 546 billion euro response package for member nations, is also showing signs of strain. Talks fell through on Wednesday night, according to the BBC, and a deal has not yet been struck. For some, including Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, the crisis threatens not only European economies, but also the future of the EU itself.

“If we do not seize the opportunity to put new life into the European project, the risk of failure is real,” Conte told the BBC.

Italy is among the countries hardest hit by the virus.

The headquarters of the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium (Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay)

Eyes are now turning to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is due to begin holding its annual spring meetings on 17 April. The meetings, which will include the IMF, the World Bank Group, and G20, will be held virtually for the first time in the IMF’s history.

Kristalina Georgieva, head of the IMF, offered a grim assessment of the situation in a speech on Thursday, in advance of the meetings. The economic impact of the virus, she said, will be catastrophic.

“In fact, we anticipate the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression,” she said, as reported by The Guardian.

The Guardian reported that nearly 90 low- and middle-income countries have asked the IMF for financial assistance since the start of the pandemic. Georgieva agrees that “low-income nations” deserve special attention. However, the IMF’s specific plans to help the world’s poor, and whether they are able to successfully coordinate a cooperative relief effort, will likely remain unclear until next week’s meetings.

Huge locust swarms threaten food security in East Africa as coronavirus hampers response efforts

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By Renny Simone

MAIN PHOTO: A swarm of desert locusts, taken in 2014 near Satrokala, Madagascar (lwoelbern from Wikimedia Commons)

Nearly a month before sub-Saharan Africa recorded its first coronavirus infection, Somalia declared a national emergency in response to a different natural threat: swarms of desert locusts.

Somalia’s Ministry of Agriculture called the insects “a major threat to Somalia’s fragile food security situation” in a statement reported by the BBC in early February.

Two months later, as governments worldwide focus attention and resources on fighting the coronavirus pandemic, the locust plague has taken a turn for the worse.

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has warned in its latest report that widespread rains that fell in late March could allow a dramatic increase in locust numbers in East Africa, eastern Yemen and southern Iran in the coming months.

The locust swarms, which feed on crops, represent “an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods” in affected nations, it said. Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia have been the hardest hit, but other East African nations, as well as parts of the Arabian Peninsula and Southwest Asia, are also at risk.

A single desert locust (Ian Lindsay from Pixabay)

The African Development Bank recently approved $1.5 million in emergency funding to help control the infestations. A total of nearly $150 million will be required to stem the spread, and there is a significant shortfall, according to a statement released by the African Development Bank Group.

Coronavirus presents additional challenges. International attention has been monopolised by the pandemic, and funding is in short supply. More pressingly, flight restrictions have prevented the delivery of pesticides to affected countries. Some, including Kenya, are rapidly running out of reserve stocks.

“If we fail in the current [regional] control operations, because of lack of pesticides, then we could see four million more people struggle to feed their families,” said Cyril Ferrand, FAO’s head of resilience for Eastern Africa.

“If we don’t have pesticides, our planes cannot fly and people cannot spray and if we are not able to control these swarms, we will have big damage to crops,” Ferrand told Reuters.

A woman wearing a face mask sits in a near-deserted airport. Coronavirus-related travel restrictions are preventing the delivery of pesticides to affected countries (Anna Shvets from Pexels)

The pesticide deficit is another symptom of coronavirus-related travel restrictions, which pose the greatest threat to countries dependent on the delivery of international aid. Some organisations are in the process of negotiating “humanitarian corridors” to make sure necessary aid can be delivered. But in the meantime, Al Jazeera has reported that more than 20 low- and middle-income countries are facing vaccine shortages due to travel restrictions. 

Aid organisations are sounding the alarm.

“While the threat posed by COVID-19 must not be underestimated, if the chaos caused by this pandemic is allowed to curtail ongoing humanitarian assistance, the results will be catastrophic,” Doctors Without Borders warned.

Tropical Cyclone Harold rips through Pacific islands

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By Lizzie Stricklin

MAIN IMAGE: NASA satellite image of Tropical Cyclone Harold over Solomon Islands on Friday.

A Level 5 Cyclone, dubbed Tropical Cyclone Harold, has ploughed its way through several Pacific archipelagos since Monday, leaving a swathe of destruction across impoverished island nations already girded against the global coronavirus pandemic.

The storm is now headed for the Tonga archipelago.

The cyclone formed on April 1 between the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. According to Reuters, the cyclone hit Solomon Islands and Vanuatu as a Category 5 hurricane, but was downgraded to a Category 4 hurricane before hitting Fiji.

https://twitter.com/ifrc/status/1247077582413144064

Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, and Tonga are three of the 17 countries that had reported no coronavirus cases by this week, but had instituted preemptive travel restrictions to combat the global pandemic. With these restrictions in place, it is unclear whether the affected island nations will be able to receive international aid.

The cyclone took its first casualties off of the Solomon Islands early Friday, when 27 people were swept off a ferry into the ocean as the cyclone passed by. As of Monday, police had recovered just five bodies, according to The Independent website. Flooding and downed trees were also reported as the cyclone ravaged the archipelago.

Tropical Cyclone Harold made landfall on Vanuatu on Monday, destroying buildings and flooding streets. The island nation had been under a state of emergency since March 26 in response to the coronavirus, but officials relaxed social distancing regulations in preparation for the cyclone’s landfall, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Vanuatu officials have now revoked the nation’s domestic travel ban to enable relief efforts to reach some of the archipelago’s islands. New Zealand has allocated some resources to help Vanuatu and the foreign minister has announced that more will be available should Vanuatu request it.

According to the Daily Maverick, the cyclone reached Fiji on Wednesday, tearing through the capital city of Suva and destroying at least 10 buildings and flooding streets.

Emergency officials have been scrambling to establish telecommunications connections between the archipelago’s islands, as the storm has cut off islands like Kapavu, according to the Daily Maverick.

The capital city of Suva has been under lockdown since Friday, with the country’s total reported coronavirus cases hitting 15 on Wednesday. Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama urged citizens to stay indoors unless ordered to evacuate, according to Reuters.

The Weather Channel predicts Tropical Cyclone Harold will continue on its trajectory toward Tonga, hitting the archipelago by Thursday.

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