The Senegalese government announced on Monday the extension, for a “renewable” period of one month, of the night curfew in force since early January in two regions, including Dakar, in an attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19.
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Faced with the resurgence of cases in this West African country of some 16 million inhabitants, President Macky Sall announced the reinstatement on January 6 of a curfew from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. in Dakar and Thiès, two of the 14 regions of the country, where the vast majority of contaminations are concentrated.
The measure, which was originally scheduled to expire on Monday, was extended that day by at least eight days.
The next day, Macky Sall promulgated a law, recently passed by the National Assembly, allowing him to institute a curfew without having to declare a state of emergency or go through parliamentary approval.
In a communication to the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, the Head of State stressed that “the state of emergency is no longer in force”, according to a government statement released in the evening.
However, by virtue of his new powers, the president asked his ministers to “ensure the strict execution of the management measures for the health disaster, valid for a renewable month, over the extent of the regions of Dakar and Thiès, with a curfew maintained from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. ”, according to the text.
Relatively preserved like many African countries, Senegal has been facing a second wave of the pandemic since early December, which is testing the health system of this young, but poor country.
It has recorded more than 23,000 cases and 546 deaths since March, including 136 since January 1.