Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio.

I'm your host, Jason Palmer.

Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

The coronavirus pandemic has drawn a lot of attention to a previously little-known bit of medical equipment, ventilators.

We take a look at what they do, how many there are, and whether attempts to make more of them will actually help matters.

And lots of Canadians feel pretty strongly about lichens, a kind of hybrid organism that's found all over the place.

But does the country need an official national lichen?

Given the explosion of interest in a vote that closes today,

many seem to think yes.

First up, though, Africa has not been hit the hardest by the coronavirus, but fear is mounting.

The continent has recorded more than 2,400 confirmed cases, a number that's rising steeply. Last week, the World Health Organization issued a stark warning.

The best advice for Africa is to prepare for the worst and prepare today,

because we have seen how the virus really speeds up and accelerates in other continents or countries.

So that's our advice.

And I think Africa should wake up.

African governments have already leapt into action, announcing air travel bans, closing borders, and shutting schools.

Kenya has imposed a dusk to dawn curfew starting tomorrow, and in South Africa, President Cyril

Ramaphosa announced a strict 21-day lockdown to start at midnight tonight.

Without decisive action, the number of people infected will rapidly increase from a few

hundred to tens of thousands thousands and within a few weeks

to hundreds of thousands. This is extremely dangerous for a population like ours, which has

a large number of people with suppressed immunity because of HIV and TB,

...