At least 26 people have died after they were electrocuted by a falling power cable at a market in the Democratic Republic of Congo, police say. The high-voltage cable snapped and fell onto houses and people shopping near the capital Kinshasa on Wednesday. Unverified footage posted to social media appeared to show the aftermath of the incident, with several motionless bodies in puddles of water. It is not yet clear what caused the power cable to break.  Police said the collapse happened at the Matadi-Kibala district on the outskirts of Kinshasa and that a number of people died on the spot. “The cable snapped and the live end of it fell into a ditch that was filled with water after morning rain,” Charles Mbutamuntu, spokesman for the Kinshasa provincial government, told AFP news agency. Local media report that the majority of the victims are female market traders.(BBC)…[+]

Tonga will go into lockdown after several cases of Covid were recorded in the capital city Nuku’alofa.

Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni said on Tuesday two port workers had tested positive. Officials later confirmed three more cases in family members. The South Pacific nation had previously managed to stay virus-free. The outbreak comes as Tongans try to recover from a deadly volcanic eruption and tsunami which left three dead and damaged homes and infrastructure. Tonga had avoided Covid outbreaks by closing its borders to the outside world in early 2020. But since the eruption it has since been heavily dependent on foreign aid for supplies of fresh drinking water, shelter kits and rescue equipment.(BBC)…[+]

A huge landslide triggered by the heaviest rainfall in Ecuador for almost 20 years has killed at least 11 people in the capital, Quito, officials say. Mud and rocks were carried down the slopes of the Pichincha volcano, which overlooks the city, engulfing a recreation ground and eight houses, and sweeping away cars. At least 32 people were injured. Weather experts said the amount of rain that hit the mountain was almost 40 times as much as forecast. “I saw how the current took a man and a child. It was horrible,” local resident Belén Bermeo was quoted as saying by Ecuador’s El Universo newspaper. Local emergency services published a dramatic video showing the devastation caused by the flooding.(BBC)…[+]

Denmark has lifted all of its domestic Covid-19 restrictions, including the wearing of face masks, making it the first European Union country to do so. Nightclubs have reopened, late-night alcohol sales have resumed, and the contact-tracing app is no longer needed to enter venues. While cases are still relatively high, the authorities say the virus no longer qualifies as a “critical threat”. That is due to the country’s high vaccination rate, experts say. “We have an extremely high coverage of adults vaccinated with three doses,” epidemiologist Lone Simonsen of the University of Roskilde told the AFP news agency. “With Omicron not being a severe disease for the vaccinated, we believe it is reasonable to lift restrictions,” she said.(BBC)…[+]