On this edition of Africa 54, COVID-19 infects more than 245,000 people worldwide and the global death toll now exceeds 10,000 people; Italian health officials say the country’s death toll reached 427 in just the past 24 hours; On the African continent, the Coronavirus is moving more slowly than in Europe or Asia, but 34 nations are reporting more than 600 cases, according to the Africa Center for Disease Control; South Sudan grapples with another potentially fatal viral infection, measles; Officials in Nigeria’s Kebbi state have revived the Argungu Fishing Festival, halted in 2009 over Boko Haram threats.

A54 Entertainment: Bassekou Kouyaté is an internationally acclaimed Ngoni musician from Mali. He and his family band are Griots, coming from a long line of hereditary musicians who are the nation's traditional oral historians. Heather Maxwell spoke to the maestro by phone earlier this week and learned that the family's extensive European trip was cut short due to the Coronavirus outbreak.