Violette Toussaint

South Africa sees a rapid spread of the Coronavirus. The country is accounting for roughly 40% of all African cases. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa begged the citizen to follow the rules and reduce personal contact. He reintroduced a ban on all alcohol sales and imposed a nationwide curfew in hopes to suppress the spread of the virus.

Ramaphosa said: "This is in our collective hands. Let us remember that every individual action that we undertake does and can make a big difference. Now more than ever we are responsible for the lives of those around us."

Hospitals also have started to turn people away. Ramaphosa wants to avoid a second lockdown as it would cause more harm than good on the economy.

The Justice Minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo Célestin Tunda resigned on Saturday after a dispute with President Felix Tshisekedi. Tunda did not give a reason for his resignation which he announced in a televised statement. Tunda opposed changes in the law that would give politicians more control over criminal prosecutions.

South Africa is reporting 13497 new Coronavirus cases. Hotspots are in Johannesburg and Pretoria, both located in the Gauteng province, with over 1/3 of the daily cases.

Medical oxygen is now running low in hospitals in Gauteng. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said that they were working to divert more oxygen to these hospitals. Beds are filling so fast that patients are now also placed in heated tents in the hospital's parking lot.

Mkhize: "The storm that we have consistently warned South Africans about is now arriving."

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein said he's considering a nationwide lockdown in case the country surpasses 2000 daily Coronavirus cases. Israel reported 1600 cases between Wednesday and Thursday evening.

Edelstein reportedly told associates: "If we reach 2,000 patients a day, this will be a flashing red light. We’re trying not to get there, but this will likely lead us to a general lockdown."

Parts of five Israeli cities that are particularly affected by coronavirus outbreak went into lockdown on 1pm Friday. Among them are neighbourhoods that became "restricted zones" in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Lod, Ramle and Kiryat Malachi. Lockdown will be lifted on Jul 17th, 8am.

Morocco is gradually reopening air and maritime borders on July 14th. The country had one of the strictest lockdowns. Many tourists were not allowed to leave, and Moroccans were not able to return home. Travel will be only available to Moroccan citizens and expatriates at first.

Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, Ghana's Minister of Education, confirmed that 90% of the ministry's staffers have been infected with the Coronavirus. 45 out of 50, including Prempeh, have tested positive. Most of them show no symptoms.

"After my second result came out as positive, testing was conducted on all staff at the ministr,y and the results showed that out of every 50 persons, about 45 had contracted the virus,” Prempeh reported.

The prime minister of Côte d'Ivoire and presidential candidate for an October election, Amadou Gon Coulibaly, has died on Wednesday. He was 61 years old.

Coulibaly had just returned from a 2-month medical treatment in France. Shortly after he attended a cabinet meeting, started to feel unwell and was then rushed to a hospital where he later died.

The Uganda Wildlife Authority recorded 367 wildlife poaching cases between February and June, twice as much as during the same period last year. This is due to many people who rely on income from tourism now have turned to poaching to make money or obtain food.

“They set snares for other animals that they want to eat. Like, the small antelope. Or a bushpig," Gladys Kalema Zikusoka, founder and chief of non-profit wildlife group Conservation Through Public Health, said. "They’ll go for those to eat them. And when they set these snares, gorillas can accidentally get caught in the snare. But worse still, we’ve had cases of people spearing gorillas. Yet they were not going for gorillas, they were going for diker and bush pig.”

Multiple were discovered common graves in Djibo, Burkina Faso. The around 180 bodies were found in various location, including under bridges and in fields. Human Rights Watch believes government forces were behind the killings: "Available evidence suggests government forces were involved in mass extrajudicial executions."

The government said it would investigate these claims. Chérif Moumina Sy, the Minister of Defence, speculated that armed groups in stolen army uniforms and equipment could be behind the murders. He said: "It is difficult for the population to distinguish between armed terrorist groups and the defence and security forces."