Cameroon is one of the sub-Saharan African countries that are most affected by the pandemic (15,173 confirmed cases and 359 deaths). The infections have spread to Yaoundé, which is the political capital, and to Douala, which is the country's most important economic center. A quarter of the entire population lives in these two cities.
If the pandemic in Africa is slower, the economic contagion is heavier.
The coronavirus is now all over the continent. Although the pandemic has a slower progression in Sub-Saharan Africa than in other parts of the world due to several factors including the very low average age of the population, its effects are being felt most heavily in the economy. People are dying more because of poverty than the virus. Hence, poverty is exacerbated by the health crisis. The Community of Sant'Egidio, thanks to its food distribution, has reached out to many elderly in Yaoundé, who are among the hardest hit by the crisis, along with the disabled people. Moreover, it has gathered soap, sanitizing gel, and buckets to collect water due to the poor compliance with prevention measures among the population.
The fire in Douala's central prison.
The Covid-19 drama is also acutely experienced in prisons, where despair is growing. Recently, the government decreed the release of 608 inmates in Douala and 700 in Yaound, but the overcrowding issue still reaches critical levels. A serious fire has hit the New Bell prison in Douala. Furthermore, the flames came to threaten the densely populated neighborhood around it, by devastating in this way several cells. Many inmates lost everything, their beds, clothes, and personal belongings, and found themselves living in the prison yard. A drama that came to aggravate a situation, which is already precarious. In 2015, another fire had already destroyed part of the old, tin-roofed facility, which was designed for 800 people but contained four times as many. The Community, from Rome, donated new mattresses for those people who had slept without them. In the end, the Community continues its efforts to make conditions more humane for inmates.
