COVID-19

Guinea recorded a second high-profile death from COVID-19 within a 24-hour period after that of elections body head Amadou Salif Kebe was announced on Friday, April 17. The new death was of Sékou Kourouma, the secretary-general of the government and a relative of President Alpha Condé. He died on Saturday after contracting the COVID-19 disease, the Guinean government announced on Sunday (April 19) in a statement. “Several senior state officials (have died) from complications from Covid-19,” the government statement confirmed. Before Kourouma and Kebe, Victor Traoré, a former director of Interpol in Guinea had also succumbed to the pandemic. As of April 20, Guinea has officially reported 579 cases of coronavirus. Five people died whiles 87 others have recovered from the disease, according to the National Agency for Health Security, the official body managing the pandemic. A presidential order that made face masks mandatory in the West African country came into effect on April 18 as part of measures to help curb the progression of the virus. This measure is in addition to others already taken, such as the establishment of a night curfew, the closing of schools, borders, and places of worship as well as restrictions on gatherings