COVID-19 - The African Mirror

Dec

20

2020

COVID-19 immunity and reinfection: why it’s still essential to take precautions

COVID-19

WITH some viruses, once you have been infected and have developed antibodies, you will be immune to that virus for life. Past infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, does not, as far as is known at this stage, guarantee protection against future infections. It’s not absolutely clear whether this virus may become dormant and, upon reactivation, cause a recurrence of infection. Caroline Southey, editor of The Conversation Africa, asked Sehaam Khan and Saurabh Sinha to explain. SEHAAM KHAN, Professor (Microbiology & Molecular Virology) and Executive Dean: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Johannesburg, University of Johannesburg SAURABH SINHA,…

Dec

19

2020

By The African Mirror

COVAX programme doubles global vaccine supply deals to 2 billion doses

COVID-19

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY and KATE KELLAND THE COVAX alliance which aims to secure fair access to COVID-19 vaccines for poor countries said on Friday it now had agreements in place for nearly 2 billion doses, roughly doubling its supply, with the first deliveries due in early 2021. The initiative, co-led by the GAVI vaccine alliance, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), said it aimed to deliver 1.3 billion doses of approved vaccines next year to 92 eligible low- and middle-income economies. All 190 economies that have signed up to COVAX will "have access to…

Dec

19

2020

By The African Mirror

South Africa identifies new coronavirus strain causing surge in cases

COVID-19

SOUTH Africa has identified a new variant of the coronavirus that is driving a second wave of infections, the health minister has announced, days after Britain said it had also found a new variant of the virus boosting cases. "We have convened this public briefing today to announce that a variant of the SARS-COV-2 Virus - currently termed 501.V2 Variant - has been identified by our genomics scientists here in South Africa," Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize tweeted. Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize. Photo: GCIS "The evidence that has been collated, therefore, strongly suggests that the current second wave we…

Dec

19

2020

By The African Mirror

WHO investigators heading to China in early January to probe virus

COVID-19

WORLD Health Organization (WHO) is to send an international team led by the U.N. agency to China in the first week of January to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Mike Ryan, WHO's top emergency expert, said international experts would go to the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the first cases of COVID-19 were detected last December. "We still don't have a take-off date because we are working on the logistics around visas and flights. We do expect the team to be going there in the first week of January. There will be quarantine arrangements," Ryan told a…

Dec

18

2020

By The African Mirror

Second COVID-19 wave hits West & Central Africa as weather cools

COVID-19

PAUL LORGERIE and EDWARD McALLISTER A second wave of coronavirus infections is hitting West and Central Africa, and experts are warning it could be worse than the first as cooler weather descends on a region where most countries cannot afford a vaccine. Nigeria, Niger, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo and Democratic Republic of Congo are all at or near record levels of infection, data compiled by Reuters shows. Infections in Senegal are also rising fast. Compared to the United States and Europe, the region has so far been spared the worst of the pandemic. West and Central African countries are…

Dec

18

2020

By The African Mirror

Namibia, Uruguay and U.S. Virgin Islands removed from England’s safe list

COVID-19

ENGLAND will remove Uruguay, Namibia and the U.S. Virgin Islands from its safe travel corridor list meaning arriving passengers will have to self-isolate from this weekend, British transport minister Grant Shapps has announced. People arriving in England from 4 a.m. Saturday from those destinations will be required to quarantine, he said. "Providing certainty to those travelling over Xmas, we will only make emergency removals to the #TravelCorridor list if needed for the next two weeks," Shapps said on Twitter, adding the next scheduled changes would be on January 7. - Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Dec

18

2020

By The African Mirror

Drugmakers should cut COVID-19 vaccine prices for Africa – Africa CDC

COVID-19

OMAR MOHAMMED PHARMACEUTICAL companies should sell COVID-19 vaccines to African countries at discounted rates and allow them to be produced locally to potentially cut costs, according to the head of the continent's disease control body. Africa is aiming to vaccinate up to 60% of its 1.3 billion people in the next two years, but may need several years of inoculations, John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told reporters. How frequently people will need vaccinations against COVID-19 remains uncertain, he said. "Because of this, local manufacturing becomes imperative so that we can meet our…

Dec

17

2020

By The African Mirror

Congo to impose curfew against second wave of coronavirus

COVID-19

STANIS BUJAKERA THE Democratic Republic of Congo will impose a curfew and other strict measures, including the mandatory wearing of masks in public spaces, to fight a second wave of the coronavirus, its virus response team said on Wednesday. The mining industry in the world's leading producer of cobalt and Africa's biggest copper producer will not be affected by the new measures. Congo has recorded 14,942 cases of coronavirus and 364 deaths since the epidemic was officially declared in March. But it has seen a steady increase in recent weeks, with 345 new cases declared on Wednesday, mostly in the…

Dec

17

2020

By The African Mirror

WHO vaccine scheme risks failure, leaving poor countries no COVID shots until 2024

COVID-19

FRANSESCO GUARASCIO THE global scheme to deliver COVID-19 vaccines to poorer countries faces a "very high" risk of failure, potentially leaving nations home to billions of people with no access to vaccines until as late as 2024, internal documents say. The World Health Organization's COVAX programme is the main global scheme to vaccinate people in poor and middle-income countries around the world against the coronavirus. It aims to deliver at least 2 billion vaccine doses by the end of 2021 to cover 20% of the most vulnerable people in 91 poor and middle-income countries, mostly in Africa, Asia and Latin…

Dec

17

2020

By The African Mirror

Nigeria expects to get its first COVID-19 vaccine doses in January

COVID-19

FELIX ONUAH NIGERIA expects to receive its first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in January, the country's health minister has announced, but officials do not yet know which one they will get. Africa's most populous nation has not been as hard-hit by the coronavirus pandemic as others on the continent such as South Africa, but it warned last week of a second wave of COVID-19 infections. Health Minister Osagie Ehanire said that Nigeria has a working group in place to handle vaccines, and is working with the COVAX programme backed by the World Health Organization. "We have 200 million citizens.…