African countries start to relax curbs

With the Africa-CDC confirming 47,118 coronavirus cases, 1,843 deaths and 15,587 recoveries on the African continent on Tuesday, a number of countries have started easing restrictions slightly even as most of them announced lockdown extensions as the continent continues to battle the virus.

In South Africa, the government started a measured and phased plan to reopen the country from Friday. According to the plan, the authorities will gradually loosen some restrictions by allowing some industries to reopen while people can now walk their dogs and go jogging. However, social-distancing and wearing masks in public and at workplaces will still be mandatory.

On Monday, Nigeria started enforcing a directive announced by President Muhammadu Buhari that allowed the country to begin easing a month-long lockdown in the capital Abuja and Lagos, its largest city.

While issuing the directive, Buhari said the lockdown orders announced on March 30 have come at a heavy economic cost leaving ordinary Nigerians hard to survive without enough money.

According to David Oselu, a financial consultant with Hector Consultancy based in Nairobi, the pressure to ease the restrictions introduced by African governments in the wake of the pandemic have been mounting for a while.

"More than 80 percent of Africans work in the informal economy, and during a lockdown the impact can become unbearable. With so many people out of employment, businesses closing down for the unforeseeable future and lack of structured mechanisms to ensure that African governments are able to bail out the most vulnerable, the restrictions were bound to be eased," Oselu said.

"Even though most African economies cannot afford the full impact of a sustained lockdown while awaiting the development of a vaccine, it is important to note that economic relief would be the best way to help ease the pressure on workers and families struggling with the impact of lockdowns," Oselu added.

Earliest to ease controls

Among the earliest African countries to ease lockdown restrictions was Ghana which lifted the lockdown in Accra and Kumasi, its two biggest cities on April 20.

According to Nana Akufo-Addo, Ghana's president, the decision was based on the country's ability to undertake contact tracing of infected people, the enhancement of the capacity to test and the expansion in the numbers of treatment and isolation centers.

Rwanda partially lifted a lockdown against COVID-19 on Monday. Businesses have reopened and travel between provinces is permitted again.

On Friday, Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe's president, extended a nationwide lockdown to fight the new coronavirus by two weeks, but added that big businesses will reopen under supervision while informal markets will remain shut.