Mali announced Friday that it would shortly reopen its air and land borders after a months-long closure aimed at stemming coronavirus infections.

In a statement, the government said air borders, closed on March 18, would open again on Saturday and land borders, closed on March 26, from July 31.

Normal working hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. are also now back in place, it added, after having earlier shortened the working day to 2 p.m. to slow infections.

A night-time curfew imposed in late March was lifted on May 9.

Malian authorities have recorded 2,494 cases of coronavirus to date, with 74 fatalities.

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The number is low compared to other parts of the world.

But there have been fears that Mali is particularly at risk from a large outbreak because of endemic poverty and an eight-year-old jihadist conflict.

Thousands of civilians and soldiers have died in the conflict to date, and hundreds of thousands have had to flee their homes

[AFP]

Vanguard News Nigeria.