Fig. 1

Cumulated COVID-19 cases by the number of days since the first recorded case. Source: authors’ construction using data from the WHO Africa dashboard, https://www.afro.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus-covid-19 (data updated May 6, 2020). For Mali, data on daily COVID-19 cases were obtained from the official communiqués from the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs (data updated May 6, 2020) http://www.sante.gov.ml/index.php/actualites. *In Mali, all commercial air traffic was interrupted from/to the most affected countries 5 days before (i.e., March 20, 2020) the first reported COVID-19 cases. In Senegal and RDC, all commercial air traffic was interrupted on March 20, 2020: https://www.bbc.com/afrique/region-51959820 and https://www.bbc.com/afrique/region-51959819. In Nigeria, all air traffic was interrupted on March 23, 2020: http://covid19.ncdc.gov.ng/resource/DOC210320-21032020144614.pdf. Curfew in Mali was implemented on March 26, 2020 (Décret n°2020-0170/P-RM): http://malijet.com/communiques-de-presse/241030-couvre_feu_mali_invite_forces_ordre_.html. The curfew in Senegal was implemented on March 23, 2020: http://www.sante.gouv.sn/sites/default/files/Discours%20Pr%C3%A9sident%20de%20la%20R%C3%A9publique%20%20%C3%A9tat%20d%27urgence%20COVID-19.pdf. The lockdown in Nigeria’ main cities was implemented on March 30, 2020: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/03/nigeria-announces-lockdown-major-cities-curb-coronavirus-200330095100706.html