Africa 54 - June 29, 2021 Africa 54, your daily news and feature magazine-style program, from the Voice of America. Host Esther Githui-Ewart and a team of correspondents zero in on the big stories making news on the continent and around the world with context and analysis. Top Stories: The Ethiopian government has declared a unilateral cease-fire in its Tigray region as its former governing party and troops entered the regional capital, Mekelle, prompting cheers from residents. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken says the United States strongly supports an Italian initiative to focus on Africa in the fight against Islamic State. David Doyle reports. Public gatherings in the Eastern Congo city of Beni on Tuesday are banned for a second straight day. This action comes after two separate bombings. Authorities say a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a busy intersection in Beni on Sunday, the same day another explosion rocked a Catholic church. Restaurants and businesses in Cape Town on Monday were closed and streets were mostly deserted on the first day of South Africa’s return to a harder COVID-19 lockdown. A third wave of COVID-19 infections, which scientists say is driven by the Delta variant first found in India, is spreading through a population where less than four percent of the people have yet to be partly vaccinated. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday announced the bevy of measures, including suspending the sale of alcohol and halting dining inside restaurants for two weeks to minimize the impact of the new wave. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan says her government is expected to spend $470 million dollars buying vaccines, other medical equipment and supporting economic sectors hit hard by COVID-19. Since Hassan took office after the death of President John Magufuli in March, the government has changed its position from playing down the pandemic, to calling for social distancing and emphasizing mask wearing in public. Worldwide, more than 75 million people clean, cook and provide care in private homes, according to the International Labor Organization. Their work is often demanding, informal and unregulated, but that could be changing. About fifty million people worldwide are suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, according to the World Health Organization. Alzheimer’s is an irreversible progressive brain disorder that slowly leads to memory loss, destroys thinking skills, and prevents people from carrying out simple tasks. Alzheimer's often affects people aged 65 and older, but early-onsets of the disease can start as young as 30. Indonesia is struggling with another peak of COVID-19. Infections topped two million in June, with the Delta variant driving the current surge. And as the county’s pediatricians point out, 1 out of 8 of confirmed cases are found in children and the fatality rate among children is the highest in the world. The coronavirus pandemic has forced millions of Syrian refugees living in Turkey deeper into poverty, with many having to take on large debts, according to aid agencies. In Alaska, The Homer Ice Racing Association has been organizing car races across a frozen lake every weekend for its members and spectators since 1955. Rafael de la Uz talks to one of the members, about her beginnings in ice car racing.