Login to BlackFacts.com using your favorite Social Media Login. Click the appropriate button below and you will be redirected to your Social Media Website for confirmation and then back to Blackfacts.com once successful.
Enter the email address and password you used to join BlackFacts.com. If you cannot remember your login information, click the “Forgot Password” link to reset your password.
PANIC has gripped the ruling Zanu PF party after two senior party officials on Sunday tested positive for COVID-19 with confirmed cases likely to go up as results of mass tests done recently continue to pour in. BY MOSES MATENGA Zanu PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu and the party’s director for Information Tafadzwa Mugwadi are now in isolation at home together with affected members of their respective families. The Zanu PF COVID-19 scare comes as Zimbabwe has recorded 291 deaths with 10 of them having been recorded on Saturday only. Ministry of Health and Child Care COVID-19 statistics yesterday showed that there are 10 718 cases of the virus that have been recorded throughout the country. However, the country has also recorded 8 880 recoveries. The party’s secretary for Health David Parirenyatwa yesterday told NewsDay in an interview that the party was now on high alert, adding that all measures were being put in place to curb the further spread of the deadly virus at their headquarters situated in Harare, which also houses a number of party bigwigs and staff. The Zanu PF headquarters also plays host to several party meetings. “What we did last time was to screen people and the results are coming in batches and all those who have been found to be positive have been asked to go into self-isolation and to come back after the prescribed date,” Parirenyatwa said without confirming the actual number of those affected. “When we started the COVID-19 tests as a party, the first batch had five cases but that was about two months ago. So we are now going symptomatically and we check on anyone who would have developed the symptoms. The first time, we did a mass test but now we are following the national policy and that is what we are doing,” he said. Parirenyatwa said the party was putting on a lot of measures to reduce the spread of the virus that has already claimed millions of lives internationally. “We are putting a lot of measures now; we screen people at the gate, we do temperature checks and all the normal routine. We are intensifying that and even in our lifts, we have put COVID-19 measures, and as people get into other offices we make sure prevention protocols are observed,” he said. Mugwadi yesterday took to microblogging site Twitter to announce that he was self-isolating at home and is adhering to all medical tips to suppress the virus. “I will adhere to every medical tip as I battle this pandemic with my family,” Mugwadi wrote on his social media account. Acting Zanu PF spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa was not immediately available to comment on the matter. However, workers at the ruling party headquarters who spoke on condition of anonymity said there were fears that quite a number of people at the party offices could have contracted COVID-19. Most of the officials work from the building and were feared to have been in close contact with the infected. To make matters worse, they were currently reportedly deployed across the country for the party district co-ordinating committee (DCC) elections, whereas a
The president also stressed the importance of keeping the economy open after months of stifling movement restrictions.
He urged citizens not to drop their guard and continue adhering to the health rules, such as wearing face masks and respecting curfew times.
South Africa has recorded just over 800,000 coronavirus infections - more than a third of the cases reported across the African continent - and over 20,000 deaths.
AFP
By MATT OTT, TED SHAFFREY and LISA MARIE PANE, Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks surged on Wall Street to their highest levels since the business shutdowns took hold in the U.S. over two months ago, climbing on optimism Tuesday about the reopening economy even as the nation’s official death toll from the coronavirus closed in on 100,000, a number President Donald Trump once predicted the country would never see.
In a largely symbolic move, the New York Stock Exchange trading floor in Manhattan reopened for the first time in two months, with plexiglass barriers, masks and a reduced number of traders to adhere to 6-foot (2-meter) social distancing rules.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has presided over the state with the highest death toll from the scourge, rang the bell to set off trading at the NYSE.
In hard-hit New York, Cuomo reported a one-day total Tuesday of 73 deaths, the lowest figure in months, and down from a peak of nearly 800.
Brazil has about 375,000 coronavirus infections — second only to the 1.6 million cases in the U.S. — and has counted over 23,000 deaths, but many fear Brazil’s true toll is much higher.
Kevin Kelley's upscale Dallas establishment is booked for reservations at a high clip despite all the chatter over the viral video.
James Mars was born into slavery in Norwalk, Connecticut in 1790. At the age of 25 he won his freedom, and two years later moved to Hartford. Mars was a faithful member of Talcott Street Church where he also served as a Deacon. He was well known and one of the most prominent African Americans […]
The Most Famous Oysters in Morocco
Oualidia, famous for its lagoon where shellfish are farmed, it is known as the oyster capital of Morocco. Local producers have been cultivating oysters in the area since the 1950s and people from all over pass through the city just to get a taste of their reputably unique flavour.
Chaib gushes, \"It's impossible to come to Oualidia without eating oysters, there are several people who come here for example every two weeks only to eat oysters.\" Abdelaali shares the same sentiment, “The taste of Oualidia oysters is very special. Even the price is reasonable for all consumers.\"
A Painstaking Production Process
Around 24 tons of six-month-old juvenile old oysters — known as spat, are imported from France each year. They are then placed on breeding tables and undergo an immersion period in the local lagoon for half a year before being sorted according to size, organised onto racks or into bags.
Each rack can hold 200 to 300 small oysters or 120 to 150 larger ones and the shellfish will sit in the water for up to three years before being thoroughly cleaned by way of farm machines.
Afterwhich the oysters further sit in large basins of water from 48 to 96 hours during the necessary filtering stage to further reassure sterility for safe consumption.
Abdeljabbar Hassoune, the head of oyster production at Saidi Oyster Farm, explains how the locally-produced oysters come to have such a unique and now-famous flavour, \"The characteristics of the lagoon that contribute to the quality and special taste of Oualidia oysters compared to other oysters of Morocco, are fresh water, fertile soil and abundant minerals. This gives a special colour and a special and fresh taste of oysters compared to other places.\"
A Thriving Market Both at Home and Abroad
Once the shellfish have undergone all the necessary preparations and are ready for public consumption, they are sent out shipping with around 40 tons exported abroad each year in Morocco and 60 kept for the domestic market. Hassoune outlines the lucrative oyster production business activity, \"We have a market in Moroccan cities, we have local distributors and then we export to Europe, especially to Russia, where we export four to five tons of oysters every month.\"
There are now 17 active farms in Oualidia and Dakhla that employ more than 200 people.
Oualidia produces a yearly 300 tons of oysters generating nearly 740,000 euros.
With coronavirus cases climbing, Gov. Abbott says ‘no real need’ to scale back business reopenings
With the number of people hospitalized for the new coronavirus continuing to climb in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott said Friday that there’s “no real need to ratchet back the opening of businesses in the state.”
The state reported Friday that the number of people hospitalized in Texas who are confirmed to have the coronavirus has increased to a new peak of 2,166.
But as the reopening of businesses continues – as of Friday, restaurants in Texas are allowed to operate at 75% capacity, and almost all businesses can operate at 50% capacity – Abbott and other state officials have kept a close eye on the situation in Texas hospitals.
The number of available beds is seen as a key gauge for the state’s ability to handle a potential surge in coronavirus cases, and Abbott has said the hospitalization rate – the proportion of infected Texans who are requiring hospitalization – is a benchmark he’s closely monitoring.
And while the number of people hospitalized with the virus has climbed, state officials and local hospital leaders have expressed confidence in their capacities.
After the second wave of the the Saharan dust blanketed Jamaica over the weekend, sections of the island experienced heavy rain yesterday, the last day of June, which is part of the secondary rainy season.
The rain caused flooding in sections of the Corporate Area and Jamaica Observer photographer Naphtali Junior captured some of the scenes in Half-Way-Tree, St Andrew.
(Trinidad Guardian) With the Man of the World Trinidad and Tobago Pageant coming up soon, photos of the contestants in swimwear have been shared thousands of times on Facebook and Twitter over the past week.
The article Trinidad contestants ignore ugly responses to Man of the World pageant appeared first on Stabroek News.
A yellow fever outbreak in Nigeria has killed 172 people so far, the World Health Organisation says.
By ALEXANDRA JAFFE Associated Press - WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden said Thursday that he will ask Americans to commit to 100 days of wearing masks as one of his first acts as president, stopping [...]
When the first Covid-19 case was announced in the country, Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho was among the first leaders to set up an emergency response committee and isolation facilities to arrest the spread of the virus.
Within the last two months, the county has refurbished Ramtullah private wing at Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital as its main isolation unit, with 19 beds.
“If we need to transfer a patient to a more severe care facility like the one at Coast Provincial General Hospital, we can comfortably do so,” Mr Joho said.
At Coast General Hospital, the county has converted and dedicated its Lady Grig maternity wing, with a bed capacity of 150, to handle moderate cases of the virus.
Likoni, Changamwe and the Port of Mombasa are also emerging as hotbeds of the virus in the county.
Burundi’s new president has signaled that his government will take the coronavirus pandemic more seriously than his dead predecessor, calling the virus the country’s “worst enemy” and announcing new screenings.
President Evariste Ndayishimiye on Tuesday said the screenings will be launched wherever clusters of cases are suspected, and that soap prices and water bills will be reduced.
Predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza died last month of what Burundi’s government called a heart attack.
Some countries and human rights groups have expressed hope that the new president, an ally of Nkurunziza, might break with certain ways of his predecessor.
Burundi has 170 confirmed cases of the virus, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Zambia virus stats as of May 24, 2020 at 13:00 GMT
Confirmed cases = 920
Deaths = 7
Recoveries = 336
Active cases = 577
May 20: Nakonde records more new cases
\tNakonde, the border town with Tanzania continues to record more cases of the virus.
The one-stop border post in Nakonde was closed last week by President Lungu amid a spike in cases.
May 14: Case spike continues with Nakonde leading
\tZambia has more than doubled its COVID-19 figures from five days ago.
May 14 = 654 cases (208 new cases), 7 deaths, 124 recoveries
\t\tMay 13 = 446 cases (5 new cases), 7 deaths, 117 recoveries
\t\tMay 12 = 441 cases (174 new cases), 7 deaths, 117 recoveries
\t\tMay 11 = 267 cases (0 new cases), 7 deaths, 117 recoveries
\t\tMay 10 = 267 cases, 7 deaths, 117 recoveries
\t
\tThe town of Nakonde was declared a hot spot by the Ministry of Health on May 10 leading to the closure of the frontier with Tanzania.
On Saturday (May 9) 76 new cases were reported in Nakonde, the border town in question.
Actress Letitia Wright has been receiving heat on social media after she tweeted a link to a YouTube video that contained misinformation about COVID-19 vaccinations in development. On Thursday, Wright posted a 69-minute video from the YouTube channel On The Table that includes speaking points from Light London Church leader Tomi Arayomi, according to Variety. The channel is known for Arayomi questioning the legitimacy of topics like COVID-19 vaccinations, climate change and China’s involvement in the creation of the pandemic . Variety reported that Wright's tweet has since been removed. YouTube has also banned the video for violating its terms of service policy. According to Buzzfeed, the video starts with Arayomi admitting, "I don't understand vaccines medically, but I've always been a little bit of a skeptic of them." “These are the dangers of the world we’re entering into today, where if you say a thing enough times people will actually believe it’s true,” he later adds. Fans of...
By Victor Omondi Five years after Patti LaBelle‘s sweet potato pies went viral on the internet, consumers still have a soft spot for the singer’s signature desserts, and a surge in the sale of these sweet potato pies was experienced during the most recent Thanksgiving holiday, according to Walmart. According to Fox Business, Walmart sells […]
NASSAU, Bahamas (CMC) - Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis, Deputy Prime Minister K Peter Turnquest and Education Minister Jeff Lloyd have entered voluntary self-quarantine after their offices were exposed to COVID-19.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s announcement of a stricter stay-at-home order that also lumps together all of Southern California, a region spanning thousands of miles, received mixed reviews from elected officials Thursday, Dec. 3, the same day Los Angeles County broke its single-day coronavirus case record, for the second time this week — once again underscoring the […]
Speaking on Cameroon state media CRTV on Sunday, Cameroon prime minister Joseph Dion Ngute said president Paul Biya ordered schools that he closed last March 17 as part of measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus to reopen on June 1st because 3, 630 of the 6, 380 COVID-19 patients in the central African state have recovered from the killer disease indicating that the strategy put in place by the government to protect its citizens from the coronavirus is yielding posotive results.
Naloca Lyonga, Cameroon minister of secondary education says while the government is struggling to provide what is needed to protect children and teachers at school, parents should also make an effort to provide their kids with what is needed to reduce COVID-19 spread and make sure children have their rights to be educated in spite of coronavirus threats.
Lyonga said after Monday’s return of high school students who will be writing their General Certificate of Education and those of primary school age who will sit the First School Leaving Certificate Examination, the government will for three days observe if the students and teachers are behaving well to stop COVID-19 spread before allowing their peers of other classes to start school on Thursday.
The government said although schools and universities reopened effectively in spite of the coronavirus spread, hundreds of parents especially in the towns of Yaounde, Douala and Bafoussam, that have recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Cameroon, did not send their children to school.
The French Embassy in Yaounde asked its citizens not to allow their children to go to school because, according to them, Cameroon’s capacity to take care of COVID-19 cases continue to reduce as the number of positive cases increase.
