BY PETER SESAY

In the growing fight against codiv-19, leaders across Sub-Saharan Africa are getting much-needed help from African celebrities.

Contrary to the initial speculation that the coronavirus will probably spare the African continent, the novel virus is proving a formidable enemy, though not quite yet on the massive scale seen in Europe and increasingly now in the United States. So far, only 1,642 cases have been reported in the entire region, with only 20 deaths. Yet the leaders, from South Africa, in the lower part of the continent, to Kenya, in the further eastern region, have resorted to a variety of precautionary measures, some of which even defy African tradition, to stop the virus from spreading further.

In addition to the vigorous official sanitary campaign and the lockdown in some of the countries, athletes, entertainers and others are “doing their part” to help fight the virus.

In Senegal, one of the African countries hit early by the pandemic, international footballer Sadio Mane, who plays for English Premier League Liverpool, donated whopping $50,000 to the National Medical Commission of his country of origin. As if in consultation with his younger fellow-footballer Mane, Cote d’Ivoire’s Didier Drogba, a former top scorer with Chelsea—another English Premier League side—donated masks to the Abidjan cathedral, and called on his fellow-Ivorians to “take the matter very seriously.”

Senegal’s Youssou N’dour, one of the best-known entertainers on the continent, two weeks ago donated much-needed medical equipment to his country’s ministry of health.

Other famous athletes followed suite, in a move that also saw high-caliber entertainers in action.

Other African celebrities have been in the fore-front of the fight against the coronavirus by heightening the population’s awareness about the deadly microbe. Faly Ipupa, a famous entertainers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, posted a video on Twitter titled “Fally in confinement mode, the kisses stop.” In the beautiful melody on acoustic guitar, the star says “Stay at home, respect the instructions given by the authorities and the WHO.” Ipupa’s elder, vastly famous His compatriot Koffi Olomide, brought awareness about codiv-19, calling it “kuluna,” the much-feared armed gangs of Kinshasa.

Not the least, Cote d’Ivoire’s DJ Kerozen’s newest song warns about the dangerous nature of codiv-19: “There’s a corona, let’s respect the hygiene instructions, the deal is serious,” the star sings.