Former Congo-Brazzaville's President Dies of Coronavirus

Former Congo-Brazzaville's president Jacques Joachim Yhombi Opango has died earlier Tuesday of Coronavirus (COVID-19) at a hospital in France.

Opango had been ill before he contracted the virus, according to his son.

France on Monday reported its highest daily number of deaths since the coronavirus epidemic began, saying 418 more people had died in the hospital to bring the toll to 3,024.

Yhombi Opango Political Background

Opango took over power in the Congo, after the assassination of former President Marien Ngouabi, from 1977 to 1979. He was ousted by long-time ruler Denis Sassou Nguesso.

He founded the Rally for Democracy and Development party but lost in a 1992 presidential election.

Opango later allied with elected president Pascal Lissouba, becoming his prime minister between 1994 and 1996.

Coronavirus Pandemic

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus a global pandemic as the new virus has rapidly spread to more than 121,000 people from Asia to the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.

According to the organization, the number of COVID-19 infections outside China has doubled in the past two weeks, and the number of countries hit by the epidemic has tripled.

“We are very concerned to achieve the alarming levels of the outbreak and its severity, as well as the alarming levels of inaction,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference in Geneva.

More cases of the virus, which causes respiratory disease COVID-19, continue to emerge, with outbreaks in SouthKorea, Italy, and Iran.

Transmission of virus between humans happens when someone comes into contact with an infected person’s secretions, such as droplets in a cough.