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Herald Reporters

AMID an increase in Covid-19 positive cases on the continent, especially among returning citizens, President Mnangagwa has called for greater solidarity among world states in the fight against the deadly disease, while China has announced debt cancellation to African countries.

In a virtual address at the Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity Against Covid-19, that was co-chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Senegalese President Macky Sall, the incoming chairperson of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), President Mnangagwa yesterday saluted China for helping African countries, including Zimbabwe, in confronting the novel-pandemic.

“At the end of March 2020, Zimbabwe imposed a nationwide lockdown in an effort to contain the pandemic. The lockdown measures yielded positive results. However, of late there has been a spike in the number of imported cases on account of returning residents. We are in need of Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test kits to scale up our testing while we equally focus on isolation, quarantine and contact tracing of the affected persons,” he said.

The country has received over 9 000 returnees from 48 countries with the number of positive cases rising sharply in the past two weeks from 54 to 401 as of yesterday, but with still only four deaths.

Most of the cases are coming from South Africa and Botswana.

By yesterday the world death toll reached 445 468, on 8 261 260 cases although the number of infected is higher since some countries cannot test all suspected cases. But death figures are accurate. There have been 4 013 202 confirmed recoveries.

In his virtual address to the forum, President Xi announced a debt cancellation to African countries, saying the Asian economic powerhouse would continue cooperating with African countries.

“Within the FOCAC framework, China will cancel the debt of relevant African countries in the form of interest-free government loans that are due to mature by the end of 2020,” he said.

“For those African countries that are hardest hit by the coronavirus and are under heavy financial stress, China will work with the global community to give them greater support, by such means as further extending the period of debt suspension, to help them tide over the current difficulty.

“We encourage Chinese financial institutions to respond to the G20’s Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) and to hold friendly consultations with African countries according to market principles to work out arrangements for commercial loans with sovereign guarantees. China will work with other members of the G20 to implement the DSSI and, on that basis, urge the G20 to extend debt service suspension still further for countries concerned, including those in Africa,” said President Xi.

President Mnangagwa took the opportunity to thank China for its continued support to Zimbabwe and Africa in fighting the disease.

“We welcome the initiatives announced by President Xi to continue assisting developing countries in the fight against the pandemic. Going forward, through this platform there is a scope to explore other opportunities in research and development in public health issues, pharmaceutical and medical equipment production,” President Mnangagwa said.

He also pledged to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries at national level.

President Xi stressed the need for sanctions against Zimbabwe and South Sudan to be lifted to enable the two countries to effectively mobilise resources needed in the fight against Covid-19.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa who is also the AU chairperson  echoed the same sentiments, saying the continent had not been spared by the global contagion and its economic and social effects.

In response to the pandemic, the AU chairperson said Africa is setting up a fund that its member states will draw from in the fight against the world pestilence.

“As the AU we have established an African Covid-19 Response Fund as a key intervention to mobilise and direct resources towards the continent’s response to the challenge,” said President Ramaphosa.

He said because of the pandemic, that has killed 6 700 people on the continent with 250 000 confirmed infections, economies in Africa will suffer gravely.

“We would like to ask China to consider support for the provision of diagnostic and therapeutic supplies over a period of six months. This support would be managed by AfriExImBank in collaboration with its counterpart in China. This would allow several African countries to procure goods from China,” he said.

Since Zimbabwe recorded its first case of the global pandemic, China has been consistent in its support for Government efforts to curb the contagion.