Two of the Sudanese prime minister's close associates and the president of the central bank have tested positive for the coronavirus, Sudan's state news agency said Thursday.
SUNA news agency said Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok's senior advisor, Al-Sheikh Khedr, and his office manager, Ali Bakheet, have tested positive for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus.
Central Bank of Sudan Gov. Mohamed Alfatih Zain Alabdeen has also tested positive for the virus, SUNA said.
Hamdok has tested negative for the virus, SUNA said, quoting a statement released by his Cabinet.
The new cases among Hamdok's inner circle were discovered after a routine coronavirus test of the premier's staff and associates, according to the report.
So far, Sudan has recorded more than 13,700 cases, including 837 deaths. The actual COVID-19 tally is believed to be higher given the country’s limited testing.
Also on Thursday, Sudan’s largest political party announced its leader, Sadiq al-Mahdi, tested positive for the virus.
Al-Mahdi, head of the National Umma Party, had recently suffered from fatigue but is starting to recover, according to a statement posted on the party's official Facebook page.
Al-Mahdi was the country’s last democratically elected premier who was overthrown in a 1989 Islamist-backed coup that brought longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir to power. Last year, the military forced al-Bashir to step down after sweeping protests rocked Sudan for months. A transitional government of generals and civilians has been in charge until elections are held.
The announcements Thursday came shortly after the World Health Organization said the COVID-19 pandemic has reached “an alarming juncture” in eastern Mediterranean countries, including Sudan.
Speaking at a virtual news conference in Cairo on Thursday, Rana Hajjeh, WHO director of program management, said eastern Mediterranean countries have recorded more than 3 million confirmed cases and over 75,000 deaths.
“Case numbers are expected to grow at an increasing rate during the winter season,” said Hajjeh.
The WHO's eastern Mediterranean office covers 21 states and the Palestinian territories, with a total population of over 580 million. Like Europe, these countries are bracing for a tough winter season where health care systems are expected to grapple with the compounded burden of the seasonal flu.
“Our first and foremost line of defense in the battle against COVID-19 remains preventive public health and social measures,” said Hajjeh. She deplored the public negligence in wearing masks and social distancing in the region.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Nearly 282 million people in 59 countries suffered from acute hunger in 2023, with war-torn Gaza as the territory with the largest number of people facing famine, according to the Global Report on Food Crises released Wednesday.
The U.N. report said 24 million more people faced an acute lack of food than in 2022, due to the sharp deterioration in food security, especially in the Gaza Strip and Sudan. The number of nations with food crises that are monitored has also been expanded.
Máximo Torero, chief economist for the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization, said 705,000 people in five countries are at Phase 5, the highest level, on a scale of hunger determined by international experts — the highest number since the global report began in 2016 and quadruple the number that year.
Over 80% of those facing imminent famine — 577,000 people — were in Gaza, he said. South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Somalia and Mali each host many thousands also facing catastrophic hunger.
According to the report’s future outlook, around 1.1 million people in Gaza, where the Israel-Hamas war is now in its seventh month, and 79,000 in South Sudan are projected to be in Phase 5 and facing famine by July.
It said conflict will also continue to drive food insecurity in Haiti, where gangs control large portions of the capital.
Additionally, while the El Nino phenomenon peaked in early 2024, “its full impact on food security – including flooding and poor rain in parts of east Africa and drought in southern Africa, especially Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe – are like to manifest throughout the year.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the report “a roll call of human failings,” and that “in a world of plenty, children are starving to death.”
“The conflicts erupting over the past 12 months compound a dire global situation,” he wrote in the report's foreword.
Guterres highlighted the conflict in the Gaza Strip, as the enclave holds the highest number of people facing catastrophic hunger. There is also the year-old conflict in Sudan, which has created the world's largest internal displacement crisis “with atrocious impacts on hunger and nutrition,” he added.
According to the report, over 36 million people in 39 countries and territories are facing an acute hunger emergency, a step below the famine level in Phase 4, with more than a third in Sudan and Afghanistan. It's an increase of a million people from 2022, the report said.
Arif Husain, the U.N. World Food Program’s chief economist, said every year since 2016 the numbers of people acutely food insecure have gone up, and they are now more than double the numbers before the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the report looks at 59 countries, he said the target is to get data from 73 countries where there are people who are acutely food insecure.
Secretary-General Guterres called for an urgent response to the report’s findings that addresses the underlying causes of acute hunger and malnutrition while transforming the systems that supply food. Funding is also not keeping pace with the needs, he stressed.
“We must have the funding, and we also must have the access,” WFP’s Husain said, stressing that both “go hand-in-hand” and are essential to tackle acute food insecurity.
The report is the flagship publication of the Food Security Information Network and is based on a collaboration of 16 partners including U.N. agencies, regional and multinational bodies, the European Union, the U.S. Agency for International Development, technical organizations and others.
FILE - Palestinians line up for a meal in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. According to the Global Report on Food Crises released Wednesday, April 24, nearly 282 million people in 59 countries suffered from acute hunger in 2023, with war-torn Gaza the territory with the largest number of people facing famine. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)
