Cape Verde bans end-of-year parties amid surge in Covid cases

Authorities in Cape Verde have imposed a ban on end-of-year parties as they scramble to contain a surge in coronavirus cases.

On Tuesday, the country's prime minister, Ulisses Correia e Silva, announced that the country was returning to a contingency situation, requiring a negative test for access to restaurants and banning gatherings.

César Frederico who operates a bar in the capital Praia was supportive of the new measures.

"The biggest loss would be if we were to host an end-of-year party and contribute to making the health crisis worse," he said. 

"For us it isn't a loss, we can even see it as a gain. Helping the public health is more important than financial profit," Federico added. 

Last week alone, the country registered more than 500 new virus infections, an all-time record. Authorities have also made it compulsory to wear masks in public.

But some have criticized the measures as an overreaction.

1'00" - SOT Carlos Alberto Tavares, local resident

"Coronavirus, we must learn to deal with it. We have to learn," said Carlos Alberto Tavares, a resident of the capital.

"Closing is not a solution. We don't know when the coronavirus will end. For me, it is better to die from the virus than to die from hunger. There are many hungry people at home," he added. 

The bulk of Cape Verde's Covid cases have occurred in the capital Praia. Since the start of the pandemic, the archipelago has logged nearly 40,000 Covid-19 cases.