COVID-19 - The African Mirror

Jun

27

2020

Africa’s unsung army of women wage war on COVID-19

COVID-19

NITA BHALLA AND EMELINE WUILBERCQ ARMED with a face mask, notebook and pen, Everlyne Akinyi Omondi sets out each morning from her one-room home in Nairobi's informal settlement of Kawangware to do a job few others would contemplate in a pandemic. As cases of the new coronavirus climb and Kenyans are told to stay home and avoid human contact, 38-year-old Omondi moves house to house through Kawangware's maze of narrow lanes. Standing at the doorways of the cramped, corrugated houses, she talks about COVID-19, shows residents how to wash hands or don a mask, patiently answering their questions. "I know…

Jan

01

2021

By The African Mirror

Tech’s long COVID-19: What privacy battles will define 2021?

COVID-19

UMBERTO BACCHI THE coronavirus pandemic added a new layer to the ever-developing debate around privacy and technology in 2020, as governments and companies turned to tools like contract tracing apps and employee monitoring software. As the year comes to an end, the Thomson Reuters Foundation asked privacy experts around the world what issues will shape the conversation in 2021: MASS SURVEILLANCE - Ella Jakubowska, policy officer, European Digital Rights, Brussels "In 2021, one big challenge for civil society will be protecting fundamental rights in Europe from the threat of mass surveillance. On the one hand, the European Commission is poised…

Dec

04

2021

By The African Mirror

Kenya has imposed a holiday season COVID-19 vaccine mandate: why it’s premature

COVID-19

KENYA is to impose restrictions on access to public spaces for those who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 from December 21. This, along with the opening up of COVID-19 vaccination to young people over 15, is an attempt by the government to meet its national target of 10 million vaccinated before the new year. Catherine Kyobutungi weighs in on the pros and cons of Kenya’s vaccination strategy. Author CATHERINE KYOBUTUNGI, Executive Director, African Population and Health Research Center Is Kenya’s decision on mandatory vaccinations the right move? Vaccination mandates are premature in my view. The country has struggled for…

Dec

04

2021

By The African Mirror

South Africa hit by fourth COVID wave driven by Omicron

COVID-19

WENDELL ROELF SOUTH Africa is being hit by a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections driven by the Omicron variant which has been detected in seven of the country's nine provinces, Health Minister Joe Phaahla said has revealed. Omicron, which has raised global fears of a surge in infections, was first detected in southern Africa last month and has prompted governments across continents to impose travel curbs and take other measures to contain it. Phaahla told a media briefing that he hoped that the variant could be managed without causing too many deaths. He urged South Africans to get fully vaccinated,…

Dec

03

2021

By The African Mirror

Ghana says 34 samples from returning travellers test positive for Omicron

COVID-19

GHANA detected the Omicron coronavirus variant in 34 samples from travellers who returned to the country from November 21-25, according to data from the state institute responsible for coronavirus testing. The health ministry on Wednesday announced it had detected the country's first imported cases of the variant, but did not say how many cases had been identified. A graphic released by the Noguchi research institute on Thursday said it had checked 120 samples from returning travellers and found 34 that were positive for the variant. It gave no further details about the travellers that were tested. "These are the first…

Dec

03

2021

By The African Mirror

FACTBOX-What COVID-19 vaccine and drug makers have to say about Omicron

COVID-19

THE Omicron variant of the coronavirus has sparked fears that existing COVID-19 vaccines and treatment could be less effective against it. South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases said early epidemiological data suggested Omicron was able to evade some immunity, but existing vaccines should still protect against severe disease and death. Here's what companies that make COVID-19 vaccines and drugs have said: MODERNA CEO Stéphane Bancel has warned that COVID-19 vaccines are unlikely to be as effective against the Omicron variant. The company has said a new vaccine tailored for Omicron should be available as soon as March. PFIZER-BIONTECH "We…

Dec

02

2021

By The African Mirror

S.Africa festival halted after 36 test positive for COVID on site

COVID-19

ROGAN WARD ORGANISERS halted a music festival for young people on the South African coast on Wednesday after 36 people tested positive for COVID-19 at the site, the latest impact from a new wave of infections sweeping across the country. South Africa has found itself in the international spotlight since announcing last week that it had detected the new Omicron variant, which the World Health Organisation said posed a very high global risk of infection surges. New infections in the country rose to 4,373 cases on Tuesday from 2,273 on Monday. Omicron is expected to trigger a fourth wave, with…

Dec

02

2021

By The African Mirror

Pfizer to allow generic versions of its COVID-19 pill in 95 countries

COVID-19

MICHAEL ERMAN and EMMA FARGE PFIZER Inc said on Tuesday it will allow generic manufacturers to supply its experimental antiviral COVID-19 pill to 95 low- and middle-income countries through a licensing agreement with the international public health group Medicines Patent Pool (MPP). The voluntary licensing agreement between Pfizer and the MPP will allow the United Nations-backed group to grant sub-licenses to qualified generic drug manufacturers to make their own versions of PF-07321332. Pfizer will sell the pills it manufactures under the brand name Paxlovid. Pfizer, which also makes one of the mostly widely used COVID-19 vaccines, has said the pill…

Dec

01

2021

By The African Mirror

The race is on to trace the new COVID-19 variant

COVID-19

ALISTAIR SMOUT, FRANCESCO GUARASCIO and CHEN LIN GOVERNMENTS around the world are urgently scouring databases for recent cases of COVID-19 infections, screening travellers and decoding the viral genomes of the new variant as they try to measure how far it has spread. The pace of the work highlights the pressure on governments and public health authorities to decide quickly whether they need to take unpopular, economically damaging steps to curb Omicron's spread. Data shows it was circulating before it was officially identified in southern Africa last week and it has since been detected in more than a dozen countries. Work…

Dec

01

2021

By The African Mirror

How South African scientists spotted the Omicron COVID variant

COVID-19

TIM COCKS ON Friday, November 19, Raquel Viana, Head of Science at one of South Africa's biggest private testing labs, sequenced the genes on eight coronavirus samples - and got the shock of her life. The samples, tested in the Lancet laboratory, all bore a large number of mutations, especially on the spike protein that the virus uses to enter human cells. "I was quite shocked at what I was seeing. I questioned whether something had gone wrong in the process," she told Reuters, a thought that quickly gave way to "a sinking feeling that the samples were going to…