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Morocco’s king tests positive for COVID

Morocco’s king tests positive for COVID

KING Mohammed VI of Morocco has tested positive for COVID-19 but has exhibited no symptoms, his doctor said on Thursday. The king will be on sick leave for a couple of days, his doctor Lahcen Belyamani said in a statement carried by state media. King Mohammed, who holds sweeping powers, has headed the Muslim world's longest-serving dynasty since 1999.
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Has COVID affected your sleep? Here’s how viruses can change our sleeping patterns

Has COVID affected your sleep? Here’s how viruses can change our sleeping patterns

DURING the early phases of the pandemic, and especially during lockdowns and stay-at-home orders, many people reported disruptions to sleep and their sleeping patterns. As COVID infections have increased, we’re again seeing reports of people experiencing poor sleep during and following COVID infection. Some people report insomnia symptoms, where they struggle to fall or stay asleep, with this commonly being referred to as “coronasomnia” or “COVID insomnia”. Others report feeling constantly fatigued, and seemingly can’t get enough sleep, with this sometimes being referred to as “long COVID”. Author GEMMA PAECH, Conjoint Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine and Public Health, University…
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U.S. drops COVID testing for incoming international air travellers

U.S. drops COVID testing for incoming international air travellers

DAVID SHEPARDSON THE United States rescinded a 17-month-old requirement that people arriving in the country by air test negative for COVID-19, a move that follows intense lobbying by airlines and the travel industry. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky issued a four-page order lifting the mandate, effective at 12:01 a.m. ET (0400 GMT) Sunday, saying it is "not currently necessary."Advertisement · Scroll to continue The requirement had been one of the last major U.S. COVID-19 travel requirements. Its end comes as the summer travel season kicks off, and airlines were already preparing for record demand. Airlines have said…
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BioNTech to soon start mRNA vaccine factory construction in Rwanda

BioNTech to soon start mRNA vaccine factory construction in Rwanda

COVID-19 vaccine maker BioNTech said construction of an mRNA vaccine factory to enable African nations to jump-start their own manufacturing network would start on June 23 in Rwanda. The groundbreaking ceremony in the capital city of Kigali is to be attended by Rwanda's President Paul Kagame, further heads of African states, as well as representatives from the European Union and the World Health Organization, the biotech firm said in a statement on Thursday. The German company's modular factory elements, to be assembled in Africa to so-called BioNTainers, would be delivered to the Kigali construction site by the end of 2022, it…
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No COVID-19 apocalypse in Africa, as WHO expects a steep drop in fatalities

No COVID-19 apocalypse in Africa, as WHO expects a steep drop in fatalities

SETH ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY TALES of the coronavirus apocalypse in Africa will not be told after all, with the WHO now predicting a dramatic drop in fatalities, from an average of 970 fatalities each day last year, to around 60 a day by the end of 2022. This is in sharp contrast to the grim predictions about COVID-19 in Africa. Comments from health organisations and aid agencies were at the time criticised for pandering to stereotypes about Africa. Some, including philanthropist Melinda Gates, warned that dead bodies from COVID-19 would litter the continent. "My first thought was Africa. How…
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COVID left South African pupils far behind in maths and language skills

COVID left South African pupils far behind in maths and language skills

LEARNING to read, write, count and calculate forms the basis for all other learning in school and beyond. Pupils start to learn these basic skills in the first three years of schooling. Their learning continues throughout their time in school as the content becomes more complex. In 2020 and 2021, learners across South Africa missed at least a quarter of a school year due to COVID-related lockdowns and rotational timetabling. Many learners lost much more school time. Author URSULA HOADLEY, Professor, University of Cape Town Given these disruptions, how much learning was lost across the schooling system? The systemic tests…
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Africa’s Covid-19 deaths fall by 94%

Africa’s Covid-19 deaths fall by 94%

BHARGAV ACHARYA and ALEXANDER WINNING DEATHS on the African continent from COVID-19 are expected to fall by nearly 94 percent in 2022 compared to last year, modelling by the World Health Organization (WHO) showed. 2021 was the pandemic's most deadly year in Africa, with COVID-19 the seventh major cause of death, just below malaria. "Our latest analysis suggests that estimated deaths in the African region will shrink to around 60 a day in 2022. ... Last year, we lost an average of 970 people every day," WHO Africa Director Matshidiso Moeti told a virtual news conference. The gulf in the…
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Unvaccinated South Africans told us why they weren’t interested in having COVID jabs

Unvaccinated South Africans told us why they weren’t interested in having COVID jabs

SOUTH AFRICA is currently facing a new wave of infections related to the much higher transmissibility of the omicron COVID variant and its sub-variants. The most recent spike has had similar characteristics as the fourth wave in January 2022: increases in infections have not been accompanied by similar increases spikes in hospitalisations and deaths. Author KATHERINE EYAL, Research Associate, Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU), University of Cape Town These changes present a challenge to policy makers trying to improve vaccine take-up, particularly in vulnerable groups. People more vulnerable to severe illness with COVID include the elderly and…
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Here’s how much learning South African children lost in the pandemic

Here’s how much learning South African children lost in the pandemic

WHEN a state of disaster was declared in South Africa in 2020 in response to the COVID pandemic, a hard lockdown was instituted and schools were shut. This was followed by varying periods of lockdowns, school closure and rotational timetables to maintain social distancing across different grades. Administrative data show that children in South Africa missed at least three-quarters of a year of school in the past two school years. This reduced their opportunities to learn and allowed more time to forget what they had learnt. Authors SERVAAS VAN DER BERG, Professor of Economics and South African Research Chair in…
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How a desire to help led me to track COVID numbers and make sense of them through graphs

How a desire to help led me to track COVID numbers and make sense of them through graphs

AS COVID took hold in South Africa, daily case numbers grew. But the numbers people were seeing online or on news channels did not tell the full story of the pandemic. Ridhwaan Suliman works as a computational modelling researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. He started tracking the numbers in his personal capacity. Using publicly available data from daily case numbers, testing rates, hospitalisations and deaths, he mapped the trends that emerged over time. After initially sharing some graphs with a few friends and family, he decided to post these on Twitter. He started with about 90…
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