For their part, African governments have attempted to build sources of credible coronavirus-related information, from daily press briefings and regularly updated online data portals to tech-based solutions like South Africa’s WhatsApp bot, which has since been adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO).

But those standards have not uniform across the continent. In Tanzania, where the government stopped publishing coronavirus-related data over 50 days ago, president John Magufuli has asked citizens not to accept donations of face masks and has urged public religious gatherings to pray the virus away. Meanwhile in Burundi, the government’s shoddy response to the viral outbreak has included undergoing presidential elections with little evidence of safety measures as well kicking out a WHO coronavirus response task-force.

Sign up to the Quartz Africa Weekly Brief here for news and analysis on African business, tech and innovation in your inbox

📬 Sign up for the Daily Brief

Our free, fast, and fun briefing on the global economy, delivered every weekday morning.