Ethiopia’s government has announced plans to free over 4,000 prisoners to reduce the rate of the spread of coronavirus.
Prisoners to benefit from the move will include those convicted of minor offences and women with babies.
Other prisoners from foreign nationalities charged with involvement in with smuggling and drug trafficking would also be released.
Such prisoners would immediately be deported to their countries of origin, according to the country’s attorney general.
Ethiopia is also rolling out new measures including asking employees to work from home from Wednesday and closing all land borders.
Meanwhile all passengers travelling to Ethiopia are be quarantined for 14 days in eight hotels selected by authorities.
Ethiopia has 12 confirmed cases of Covid-19, the respiratory illness caused by coronavirus.
Africa has so far has recorded over 2,000 cases of coronavirus across 43 countries with 64 deaths so far.
COVID-19 : UPDATE IN AFRICA, 25 MARCH 2020 – 9:30 am EAT
Map of African Countries with COVID-19 cases
– Countries (43) with Positive cases (2412)
– Countries (14) with Deaths (64)
– Countries (14) with Recoveries (203)#COVID19 #AfricaPrepares #AfricaRespond #FactsNotFear pic.twitter.com/uzYqN1l3TB— Africa CDC (@AfricaCDC) March 25, 2020
Covid-19: Africa may be vulnerable as local infections increase
Source: Africafeeds.com
