AFP/Getty Images/Time Magazine In this photo taken on March 1, 2018, people walk in the “Little Africa” district in Guangzhou, the capital of southern China’s Guangdong province. – The commercial hub has long been a magnet for fortune-seeking Africans, but traders and students say they face unfavourable visa rules and increasingly heavy policing.
In the ever-increasing news around Covid-19 or the coronavirus, a lot is happening. It’s hard to keep track of everything. Even while plenty of good things have happened in the midst of the pandemic, such as how people are coping with the virus, it’s the ones that cause unnecessary pain that has gained the most attention. The disparities, recriminations, and outrage following some of these events are hard to miss.
African-Americans, People of Color Hit Hard by Coronavirus
Just as the United States has become the epicenter of the coronavirus by recording the highest number of deaths of any country thus far, so too are the disparities in those impacted by the disease. In New York where a lot of infected people have died, the reports show that American-Americans, Latinos, and other people of color have suffered the most. Black and brown people are dying at a disproportionately higher rate than white or Asian New Yorkers, according to this report from Vox.
Trump Blames WHO, Announces Cut to Funding
American President Donald Trump announced that the United States would cut funding to the World Health Organization (WHO), the global agency charged with monitoring and responding to diseases around the world. Trump, who still does not think his administration’s slow response to the pandemic is to blame for its costly impact on the American homeland, thinks it the WHO and the Chinese government that is responsible for the rapid spread of the disease.
French Doctors Rebuked for Suggesting Africa as Test Ground for Covid-19 Vaccine
Two French doctors heard on national TV were quickly rebuked after one of them suggested the African continent would be a good place to begin tests for a vaccine against the coronavirus. Television footage of the discussion quickly circulated on social media. Reactions from Africans themselves were quick and furious, even prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) chief, Tedro Adhanon Ghebreyesus, who is from Ethiopia, to denounce the idea as racist.
 Africans in Guangzhou Mistreated, Africans Around the World Fight Back
News reports that the African community in Guangzhou in China are the subject of a forced quarantine by Chinese officials over fears that they may be setting off a second wave of the disease drew angry reactions all over the world. The reports which show how Africans in the city were forced out their homes by police and denied access to hotels caused a firestorm on social media, especially on Facebook and the WhatsApp messaging platform.
Across the continent, Chinese officials were quickly summoned to give an explanation for why this was happening. Former African Union ambassador to the U.S., Arikana Chihombori-Quoa in this interview used strong language to explain the situation. She called on Chinese President Xi Jinping to immediately take action to fix the situation. The ambassador who is very outspoken on how foreign governments exploit the African continent was unceremoniously removed from her AU post in October 2019.
