Senegalese President Macky Sall on Monday announced the easing of lockdown and the re-opening of mosques and churches in the country.

The announcement came against the backdrop of a surge in coronavirus patients, with Monday seeing the largest one-day jump in recorded cases. 

However President Sall, like other leaders, is facing the dilemma of balancing public health with economic realities in the face of an epidemic that the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned could drag on across Africa for years.

“In the best of cases, COVID-19 will continue to circulate in the country until the month of August, or even September,” President Macky Sall said in an address to the nation last night.

“In this new phase that will last not a few weeks but three or four months, we need to learn to live in the presence of the virus.”

President Sall also said the 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew would be shortened by one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening and that weekly markets could re-open.

Senegal has recorded 1,886 coronavirus cases in total, including 19 deaths.