The G20's temporary freeze on debt payments from the world's poorest countries, many of which are in Africa, has come into effect on May 1 with the intention of freeing up the cash they need to fight the novel coronavirus. But Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, one of the African Union's special envoys spearheading its effort to tackle the pandemic, told CGTN in an interview that the continent needs more help.

'We need much more'

"There have been very supportive and friendly gestures from China based on its own experience," she said, referencing efforts by Chinese philanthropist and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma to donate medical supplies and the Chinese government sending doctors and equipment to some African countries.

The most recent donation to the African Union from the Jack Ma Foundation and the Alibaba Foundation, received on Monday, includes 4.6 million masks, 500,000 swabs and test kits and 300 ventilators, according to China's Xinhua News Agency. These arrived in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa and will be distributed among African Union member states. Chinese medical teams have traveled to countries including Burkina Faso, Ethiopia and Nigeria; medical supplies from the government have also been sent to the continent.

"But we need much more," Okonjo-Iweala, who is a development economist, chair of the board for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations and former finance minister of Nigeria, said. "Africa will be struggling with richer countries to try and bid for supplies," she detailed. "A lot of these are manufactured in China," Okonjo-Iweala explained, asking "if the Chinese government could consider having a quota for African countries that it can send so that we make sure that we have some available in addition to what we're trying to manufacture on the continent."

Africa has 33,273 COVID-19 cases on a continent comprising of about 1.3 billion people, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of 9 a.m. East Africa Time on April 28, though this figure is related to the amount of tests that have been carried out. So far there have been 1,467 deaths, putting the fatality rate at 4.4 percent. This is lower than the world's two largest economies, with the figures in the U.S. and China standing at 5.9 percent and 5.5 percent respectively, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Okonjo-Iweala praised the response of African governments, saying that measures taken to close borders, implement lockdowns and put social distancing measures in place have been "extremely difficult and courageous," particularly given the large informal workforce in many African countries. "I think they've acted responsibly to preserve life," she said, "but it is causing a lot of tension with respect to hunger and food and livelihoods."

"We've received a lot of support that has been very beneficial from China. We've also received from Europe, from the U.S., and all are welcome," she added, also stressing the importance of transparency throughout the process of procuring help.

Coronavirus leaves African economies gasping for breath

For the African continent, the novel coronavirus first caused a plethora of economic problems before becoming a domestic health issue. Remittances are down, as is income from tourism. A drop in demand for export commodities means lower levels of foreign exchange reserves. 60 to 70 percent of the workforce in African countries is in the informal sector, meaning that it can be a challenge for governments to organize financial support for individuals. The nature of many of these jobs means that working from home is not an option.

But while rich countries have been able to implement fiscal stimuli in order to support their economies amid lockdowns, Okonjo-Iweala said that African countries "do not have the fiscal space" to do this due to their indebtedness. At one end of the scale Japan, one of the world's richest countries, has unveiled a coronavirus stimulus package worth 20 percent of GDP; meanwhile African countries can only spare about 0.8 percent of GDP, according to Okonjo-Iweala. "This is obviously not enough for a continent with 1.3 billion people. You've got to do much more," she added.

Lessons learnt from Ebola

Africa is no stranger to virus outbreaks. Following the Ebola epidemics of recent years in West Africa, some countries such as Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo have the ability to identify and trace a disease much more so than would previously been the case, Okonjo-Iweala said.

"Using the local social networks to get information to people," such as church groups, mosque groups and women's groups is a "lesson learnt" from previous Ebola crises, as is the employment of technology to disseminate health advice to people for example via their mobile phones, Okonjo-Iweala detailed.

Containment, achieved through lockdowns and social distancing, is the best way to combat the virus, Okonjo-Iweala told CGTN. But, she acknowledged that "Social distancing is more difficult to practice in areas where people are six or 10 to a room, where they are living in very crowded, often slum conditions." This means it is crucial for governments to implement hygiene facilities, such as public water stands for people to wash their hands, she argued.

Any potential coronavirus vaccine must be affordable for African countries and produced to scale, Okonjo-Iweala said. "Whoever develops (a vaccine) has to accept that they will let go of the intellectual property, that they are doing it for humanity. They have to let go so that you can have many manufacturers that will be able to scale this," she detailed. "We can't have a situation in which rich countries grab these vaccines."