Our website use cookies to improve and personalize your experience and to display advertisements (if any). Our website may also include cookies from third parties like Google Adsense, Google Analytics, and Youtube. By using the website, you consent to the use of cookies.

Ok, I Agree
May
25
2021
By The African Mirror
Algeria plans strict health measures

Algeria plans strict health measures

COVID-19
ALGERIA will impose strict health measures on passengers when it partially resumes international flights next month, the prime minister's office said yesterday. The North African country last week said it would reopen air borders on June 1, but with only five flights a day from and to three local airports. Passengers must have a negative result for COVID-19 from an RT-PCR test dated less than 36 hours before the date of travel to Algeria, the prime minister's office said. All passengers would be quarantined for five days in hotels at their expense, and the quarantine would be extended to 10…
Read More
May
23
2021
By The African Mirror
COVID is surging in the world’s most vaccinated country. Why?

COVID is surging in the world’s most vaccinated country. Why?

COVID-19
THE small archipelago nation of Seychelles, northeast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, has emerged as the world’s most vaccinated country for COVID-19. C RAINA MACINTYRE, Professor of Global Biosecurity, NHMRC Principal Research Fellow, Head, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW Around 71% of people have had at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, and 62% have been fully vaccinated. Of these, 57% have received the Sinopharm vaccine, and 43% AstraZeneca. Despite this, there has been a recent surge in cases, with 37% of new active cases and 20% of hospital cases being fully vaccinated. The country has had to…
Read More
May
23
2021
By The African Mirror
COVID-19: why critically ill patients in Africa are taking a bigger hit

COVID-19: why critically ill patients in Africa are taking a bigger hit

COVID-19
IN March 2020, those of us living on the African continent were terrified about what would happen. We had watched Wuhan and then Italy get overrun by Covid-19. These were environments far more resourced than Africa. BRUCE M BICCARD, Professor and Second Chair at Groote Schuur Hospital , University of Cape Town We knew that we had a limited healthcare workforce. And we have estimated that there was about one critical care bed per 100 000 population on the continent. The average across Europe was over 11 per 100 000 population. What scared us, even more, was a lack of…
Read More
May
22
2021
By The African Mirror
G20 health summit looks to boost vaccine access, drugmakers offer cut-price shots

G20 health summit looks to boost vaccine access, drugmakers offer cut-price shots

COVID-19
CRISPIAN BALMER and FRANCESCO GUARASCIO LEADERS of the world's largest economies kicked off a global health summit on Friday, where drugmakers were expected to promise cut-price supplies of vaccines for poorer nations to help end the COVID-19 pandemic. The Group of 20 nations looked set to call for voluntary licensing and technology transfers to enable a rapid increase in vaccine production, but will sidestep a push from the United States and other nations to waive valuable patents for shots. The European Union will also promise to set up vaccination manufacturing hubs in Africa, which faces a dearth of doses. The…
Read More
May
22
2021
By The African Mirror
COVID fight could return ‘to square one’

COVID fight could return ‘to square one’

COVID-19
KATE KELLAND INDIA’S export ban on COVID-19 shots risks dragging the battle against the pandemic "back to square one" unless wealthy nations step in to plug a gaping hole in the COVAX global vaccine-sharing scheme, health specialists have said. COVAX, which is critical for poorer countries, relies on AstraZeneca shots made by the Serum Institute of India, the world's biggest maker of vaccines. It was already around 100 million doses short of where it had planned to be when India halted exports a month ago amid a surge in infections there. Rich countries with plentiful COVID-19 vaccine stocks must now…
Read More
May
21
2021
By The African Mirror
Vaccine patent waiver will not be enough – WTO chief

Vaccine patent waiver will not be enough – WTO chief

COVID-19
PHILIP BLENKINSOP WAIVING intellectual property rights for COVID-19 vaccines will not be enough to narrow the huge supply gap between rich and poor countries, the head of the World Trade Organization said yesterday. South Africa and India have urged fellow WTO members to waive IP rights on vaccines to boost production. Poorer countries that make up half the world's population have received just 17% of doses, a situation the World Health Organization head has labelled "vaccine apartheid". U.S. President Joe Biden said last week he supported the waiver idea, but the European Union and other developed country opponents said it…
Read More
May
20
2021
By The African Mirror
‘We are waiting to die’: Desperation after India halts vaccine exports

‘We are waiting to die’: Desperation after India halts vaccine exports

COVID-19
NITA BHALLA and BEH LIH YI WHEN John Omondi received his COVID-19 vaccination last month, the Kenyan taxi driver counted himself one of the lucky ones. Now, he's not so sure - victim of a vaccine export freeze by mega-producer India that has dashed hopes of protection for millions of poor people caught in the pandemic. "It was a good day when I got the vaccine. I needed it because of my age and my work," explained Omondi, 59, as he navigated the busy roads of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. "I am supposed to get my second dose in June,…
Read More
May
20
2021
By The African Mirror
Gauteng Health MEC infected with COVID-19

Gauteng Health MEC infected with COVID-19

COVID-19
AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER THE politician leading Gauteng’s war against COVID-19 has been infected by the virus, three months after she had been vaccinated. Gauteng Health MEC Nomathemba Mokgethi, who has mild COVID-19, has gone into self-isolation at her home. Mokgethi was among the first people in the province to receive the Johnson and Johnson vaccine.  In a statement, the Gauteng provincial government advised all the people that have been in contact with Mokgethi to self-isolate and test, if necessary. “The Health MEC was one of the first people to receive the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, under the Sisonke Programme in…
Read More
May
20
2021
By The African Mirror
Malawi burns 20,000 expired vaccines

Malawi burns 20,000 expired vaccines

COVID-19
FRANK PHIRI  MALAWI has destroyed 19,610 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines that expired 18 days after arriving, despite assurances from the African Union (AU) and World Health Organisation (WHO) that the vaccines were safe until mid-July. A batch of 102,000 vaccines arrived on March 26, under an initiative by the AU and WHO, and they expired on April 13, leaving less than three weeks for them to be used. Malawi managed to deploy about 80 percent of them by that time. John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), part of the AU, told…
Read More
May
20
2021
By The African Mirror
Zim’s 1st case of ‘Indian variant’

Zim’s 1st case of ‘Indian variant’

COVID-19
ZIMBABWE has detected the first cases of the new coronavirus variant that emerged in India, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga said yesterday, adding that all travellers from the Asian nation would be required to undergo mandatory quarantine. Chiwenga, who also doubles as Zimbabwe's health minister, said in a statement the cases had been detected among a group of people in the central town of Kwekwe after a student returned from India on April 29. "People travelling from or transiting from India will be subject to mandatory quarantine at a designated quarantine centre and at their own cost," Chiwenga said. Travellers from…
Read More
Facebook
Twitter
Linkedin
Instagram
WhatsApp
Threads