COVID-19 - The African Mirror

Mar

23

2021

China donates 400,000 vaccines to Niger

COVID-19

CHINA has donated 400,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinopharm to Niger, the first vaccines the West African nation has received, Niger's presidency said. Vaccinations have been slow to get started in many African countries, which are primarily relying on free vaccines from COVAX, a programme backed by the World Health Organization and other international organisations. China has donated vaccines to several other African countries as it aims to cultivate goodwill through so-called vaccine diplomacy. Niger President Mahamadou Issoufou received the vaccines at a ceremony in the capital Niamey that was also attended by the Chinese ambassador. "Starting…

Mar

23

2021

By The African Mirror

S.African business group calls for vaccine focus on elderly

COVID-19

PROMIT MUKHERJEE A South African business lobby group has called on for the government to shift the emphasis on its vaccine programme to target the elderly and vulnerable sooner, to prevent hospitals from being overrun in a third wave of COVID-19 infections. South Africa is behind schedule in the first phase of its vaccination programme, aimed at inoculating health care workers. Those over 60 or with co-morbidities are not meant to be vaccinated until a later second phase, along with other essential workers and people who work in crowded settings. Stavros Nicolaou, an executive of Aspen Pharmacare which has a…

Mar

23

2021

By The African Mirror

Egypt aims to produce vaccines

COVID-19

THE Egyptian government hopes to sign an agreement with China's Sinovac Biotech Ltd before the end of March to manufacture its coronavirus vaccine in Egypt, according to Health Minister Hala Zayed. Talks between the two sides reached "an advanced stage" and Egypt has asked the Chinese government for assistance over the manufacturing price, Zayed said at a joint press conference with the Chinese ambassador in Cairo. The planned agreement would be between Sinovac and Egypt's Holding Company for Biological Products and Vaccines (VACSERA). Zayed said Egypt hoped to become a centre for manufacturing the vaccine, either for local use or…

Mar

22

2021

By The African Mirror

Fight against COVID-19 mafias – Pope Francis

COVID-19

PHILLIP PULLELLA POPE Francis yesterday urged people to fight organised crime groups such as the mafia around the world, warning that the criminals were using the COVID-19 pandemic to further enrich themselves. In December, the Paris-based Interpol police co-ordination issued a global alert warning that organised criminal networks were targeting COVID-19 vaccines. In March, South African police seized hundreds of fake vaccines and arrested four suspects. "Mafias are present in various part of the world and, taking advantage of the pandemic, they are enriching themselves through corruption," Francis said, speaking at his Sunday noon address on the day Italy remembers…

Mar

22

2021

By The African Mirror

Vaccine shipments to Morocco delayed

COVID-19

KRISHNA N. DAS THE Serum Institute of India (SII) has told Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Morocco that further supplies of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will be delayed due to surging demand at home and as it works through a capacity expansion, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The news comes as India, the world's biggest vaccine maker, is being criticised domestically for donating or selling more doses than inoculations conducted at home, despite reporting the most number of coronavirus infections after the United States and Brazil. India is currently seeing a second surge of cases, taking…

Mar

22

2021

By The African Mirror

SA sells vaccines to other African countries

COVID-19

SOUTH Africa has concluded the sale of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines it had acquired but did not use to other African Union (AU) member states, the health ministry has announced. The country had paused AstraZeneca vaccinations last month because of a small trial showing the shot offered minimal protection against mild to moderate illness caused by the dominant local coronavirus variant. At the time, South Africa had received 1 million AstraZeneca doses from the Serum Institute of India and the delivery of another 500,000 was pending. The ministry said it had in the past weeks worked to ensure that all member…

Mar

21

2021

By The African Mirror

Portugal to quarantine travellers from South Africa

COVID-19

PORTUGAL announced yesterday that passengers arriving from South Africa via a stopover in another country must also quarantine for 14 days and present a negative COVID-19 test taken 72 hours before arrival. Direct flights from South Africa have already been halted and although few cases of the COVID-19 variant first detected in South Africa have been diagnosed in Portugal so far, the measure was intended to prevent any further spread, the ministry said. Flights to and from Brazil and Britain have been suspended until the end of the month, also to prevent contagion of COVID-19 variants. Passengers arriving through a…

Mar

21

2021

By The African Mirror

Egypt gets more doses of Chinese coronavirus vaccine

COVID-19

EGYPT received another 300,000 doses of a coronavirus vaccine developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) in the early hours of Saturday, the health ministry said in a statement. The third shipment from China of the Sinopharm vaccine brings the total doses delivered to Egypt to 650,000 since December. Some 600,000 of those were a gift from Beijing and the rest were sent by the UAE. The North African country also got 50,000 doses of a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca in February. Egypt expects to receive five million more doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine through the COVAX facility by the…

Mar

21

2021

By The African Mirror

Latest on COVID-19 science studies

COVID-19

NANCY LAPID THE following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. No variants escape all types of antibodies, so far The human immune system makes many antibodies in response to COVID-19 infection or vaccination, and no single variant of the new coronavirus can yet escape all of them, according to a study posted on Thursday on bioRxiv ahead of peer review. Researchers looked at how mutations in coronavirus variants affect antibodies' ability to target a key region on…

Mar

21

2021

By The African Mirror

Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 122.3-million, death toll at 2.8-million

COVID-19

MORE than 122.34 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 2,828,303 have died, according to a Reuters tally. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019. Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus: open in an external browser. Eikon users can click for a case tracker. The following table lists the top 50 countries by the number of reported cases. A complete list is available with the above links. COUNTRIES AND TOTAL DEATHS CONFIRMED DEATHS PER TERRITORIES CASES 10,000…