This development is coming barely two days after the organisation announced the restriction of public access and all guided tours at the headquarters.
Also yesterday, the African Union (AU) stressed the crucial importance of fostering a continent-wide collective response in containing the spread of COVID-19 across the African continent.
The urgent call was made by the Peace and Security Council of the 55-member pan-African bloc in a statement issued, which followed the council’s latest meeting that dwelt upon the COVID-19 outbreak in Africa.
The council “stressed the importance of a continent-wide collective response to the COVID-19.
The council also underlines the importance of emulating the best practices and lessons learnt from the successful fight against the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola virus disease outbreak.
This could include the need to mobilise private sector resources,” an AU statement read.
The council described the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak in Africa and beyond as an “existential threat to human life.”
It also stressed the outbreak’s “potentially devastating consequence on macro-economic fabric throughout the African continent as the situation continues to evolve.”
It also welcomed the recent communique adopted during African health ministers’ emergency meeting on the coronavirus outbreak, which was held on Feb. 22 in the Ethiopian capital.
The Africa CDC, a specialised healthcare agency of the AU, had disclosed that more than 100 COVID-19 cases were reported in 12 African countries.
The countries are Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroun, Cote d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Togo, and Tunisia.