Covid-19 has moved closer to the heart of government in Nigeria, where the president’s chief of staff has died, and Afghanistan, where the president is in near-isolation after at least 20 officials who work with him reportedly contracted the virus from a contaminated document.

Abba Kyari was the top official aide to Muhammadu Buhari and one of the most powerful men in Nigeria. Like Buhari, he was in his 70s, and he had underlying health conditions, including diabetes.

Presidential spokespeople confirmed Kyari’s death on Twitter, as deaths across Africa passed 1,000 and experts said the continent was badly prepared for an outbreak. Ten countries have no ventilators at all, the New York Times reported.

In the US, Donald Trump’s administration was accused of a “dereliction of duty” over the slow expansion of coronavirus testing. Angus King, the independent senator for Maine, reportedly vented his frustration to the vice-president, Mike Pence.

“I have never been so mad about a phone call in my life,” King reportedly said during the conversation. The White House has pushed back at widespread criticism that the US lacks the testing capacity to end lockdowns and reopen its economy.

King’s comments came hours after Trump posted incendiary tweets that potentially stoked protests against physical distancing and stay-at-home measures in three states led by Democratic governors.

In Spain, the second-worst affected country by number of infections, but with fewer deaths than Italy, the death toll passed 20,000 on Saturday, after 565 new fatalities were recorded in 24 hours. The rate of increase slowed slightly, bolstering hope the country may be bringing its outbreak under control.

On China’s borders, North Korean authorities have confirmed for the first time that they have seen cases of the disease, Radio Free Asia reported. The infections were revealed in public lectures, but no numbers were given.

Pyongyang tried to seal itself off entirely in the early days of the pandemic, closing its borders and flying dozens of foreign diplomats out of the country in March. The country is one of many where weak public health infrastructure has led to fears that an outbreak of the coronavirus could prove devastating.

Afghanistan is another, because of a fragile health network and minimal social welfare provisions. Many people say they have to work or they will starve, and although physical distancing has been ordered, it is often observed only loosely. There have been 33 deaths so far.

The country’s president, Ashraf Ghani, has cut back almost all contact with staff, working digitally and meeting only a close inner circle in person, after officials who work at the presidential palace tested positive for the disease.

The virus is thought to have arrived via a contaminated document delivered from another department, a senior health official told Reuters.

Ghani, 70, has had serious gastrointestinal health problems in the past, making him potentially more vulnerable to the coronavirus if he catches it.

The pandemic comes at a particularly difficult time for the country, with Ghani still locked in a dispute over the results of last year’s presidential election, trying to start peace talks with the Taliban after Washington agreed a withdrawal deal, and grappling with fallout from a major reduction in US aid.

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There are also concerns about the impact of coronavirus across Africa. The continent has so far suffered less than other regions, recording nearly 17,000 infections, according to Johns Hopkins University data. Limited testing in many countries, however, may have deprived officials of a full picture of the disease’s spread.

The IMF and World Bank have appealed for rapid international action to help African countries respond to the pandemic that will cause the continent’s economy to shrink by 1.25% in 2020, the worst reading on record.

Kyari, who acted as a gatekeeper to Buhari, is among the most high-profile victims in the region. Nigeria has recorded 493 confirmed cases and 17 deaths so far, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

Other developments around the world include: