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| - The West African states of Senegal and Ivory Coast on Monday each declared a state of emergency in the face of the new coronavirus pandemic. Senegalese President Macky Sall said the state of emergency in the country, which has 79 confirmed COVID-19 cases, would start from Tuesday, as would a curfew from 8:00 pm to 6:00 am. He also ordered the country's "defence and security forces to be ready for the immediate and strict execution of the measures". "I say this to you with solemnity -- the situation is critical. The speed of the progress of the disease requires us to raise the level of the response," Sall said in a televised address to the nation. "Otherwise we run a serious risk of public calamity," he warned, adding that this was an "unprecedented moment in human history" and a "true world war launched against this common enemy." Sall aid that the authorities would have the power to regulate or ban the movement of people and goods, as well as rallies and public demonstrations or any kind of gathering. He also said the state would put $1.6 billion towards a "response and solidarity" fund, while $81 million would be set aside for emergency food aid. Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara said that "faced with the progression of the pandemic," his country would introduce gradual confinement measures and a curfew from 9:00pm to 5:00am from Tuesday. "Faced with the progression of the pandemic... I declare a state emergency throughout the country," he said during a televised speech. Ouattara said there would also be "the progressive confinement of populations by geographic area according to how the pandemic spreads". He added that the security ministry would decide where the measures would be implemented. The president also ordered the closure of all bars and banned unauthorised movement between the economic capital Abidjan, where the majority of the country's 25 cases have been detected, and the interior of the country. He also announced that $157 million would go to a "national response plan". "In this fight against the spread of COVID-19, our main enemy will be indiscipline and non-compliance with preventative instructions," he said. siu-pgf/dl/pvh
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