In East Africa, Ugandan police said two men were in hospital after being shot for violating transport restrictions imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus.
"Police officers on duty to enforce a presidential directive stopped two men on a motorbike in Mukono (near Kampala) on Thursday," Uganda metropolitan police spokesman, Patrick Onyango told AFP.
"They attacked one of the officers, he fired the warning shot in the air but they charged at him and he shot one of them in the leg and another in the stomach."
President Yoweri Museveni has not ordered a shutdown, but urged people to stay home. Kenya and Rwanda in the region have also imposed restrictions.
In the Sahel, Burkina Faso — which last week recorded sub-Saharan Africa's first death — announced that eight towns including the capital Ouagadougou would be quarantined for two weeks from Friday.
In Mali, the government has imposed some anti-coronavirus measures, including a night-time curfew, but said a long-delayed parliamentary election would go ahead on Sunday.
The impoverished state has scheduled the elections as a means to win back public confidence in its political system as it battles a raging militant revolt.
South Africa-based risk analysis firm, NKC African Economics warned that tough restrictions on mobility will be difficult to enforce in Africa.
"Most African countries will not be able to effectively implement the severe restrictions on movement that we have seen globally," it said.
"The impracticality of implementing widespread self-quarantine in shantytowns or informal settlements means that this will not be an option.
"Mismanagement of the situation could lead to human costs far exceeding economic losses."