AFRICA’S GOVERNANCE RESPONSE TO COVID-19 | PRELIMINARY REPORT 2020 PREFACE to come. Each region and country in the world is organizing to curb the spread of this virus and to mitigate its socio-economic impacts by taking a series of measures. In Africa, the specialized institutions and organs of the African Union as well as the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) are coordinating with the governments of member states to overcome this pandemic and to relieve the populations of the negative effects. In this regard, the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), an AU specialized institution in governance, is working hard in a coordinated manner with the African Union Commission and Africa CDC to propose adequate solutions to member states, for a robust response to this pandemic which has profound implications on governance. The APRM as a self-assessment instrument on governance in Africa must also do its introspection in light of this unprecedented situation to adapt and to improve its tools and methodological approaches in order to respond in advance, and to propose solutions to member states in terms of resilience to shocks and disasters of this type. This preliminary report on the response of AU member states to COVID-19 is the contribution of the APRM to the collective effort to counter the spread of the virus and to mitigate its effects in Africa. The report gives an overview of the health situation in AU member states, and particular in terms of lethality, morbidity and mortality due to the coronavirus, as well as the various measures and strategies put in place by AU Member States to counter the effects of this pandemic. After a scientifically conducted analysis, based on the reality of the facts reported by the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the countries, the report presents recommendations on matters of governance that the member states should Humanity is facing an unprecedented health crisis, one that has taken the lives of thousands of people around the world and has repercussions for all socio-economic sectors. This crisis has transformed our everyday habits and behaviour over the past four months. The cause of this health crisis is a virus called “COVID19,” which originated in a Chinese city and has spread all over the world exponentially. Even today, the Corona virus which is prevalent in the world continues its ravages and specialists in Epidemiology and public health predict the end of the health crisis for several years 5