COVID-19 - The African Mirror

Jan

21

2021

New variant may reduce vaccine efficacy

COVID-19

THE new COVID-19 variant identified in South Africa can evade the antibodies that attack it in treatments using blood plasma from previously recovered patients and may reduce the efficacy of the current line of vaccines, scientists have said. Researchers are racing to establish whether the vaccines currently being rolled out across the globe are effective against the so-called 501Y.V2 variant, identified by South African genomics experts late last year in Nelson Mandela Bay. "This lineage exhibits complete escape from three classes of therapeutically relevant monoclonal antibodies," the team of scientists from three South African universities working with the National Institute…

Jan

21

2021

By The African Mirror

Ivory Coast’s vaccine delivery delayed

COVID-19

IVORY Coast's government said it will receive a first batch of around 100,000 doses of the Pfizer BioNTech coronavirus vaccine in mid-February, around two weeks later than initially planned, due to delays in availability of the shots. Government spokesman Sidi Tiemoko Toure said on Wednesday the country plans to roll out its inoculation programme in the first quarter and would authorise vaccines from AstraZeneca , China's Sinopharm and Russia this week. While richer nations have secured and launched mass vaccination campaigns, countries in Africa are still scrambling to secure supplies as most grapple with a second wave of infections. "The…

Jan

21

2021

By The African Mirror

How Kenyan slum dwellers battle COVID-19 downturn

COVID-19

KAGONDU NJAGI SITTING on a low bench at her shop in a Nairobi slum, Grace Wangari sifted through a handful of grains that a waiting customer had just ordered. As she poured them into a shopping bag, the customer scrolled through her phone to pay for the purchase. Normally, Wangari would have been paid in shilling notes, Kenya's hard currency, but in some ways she preferred the digital payment that was instantly transferred to her phone. "I am happy with this transaction because there is no risk of losing my stock to conmen or people who have come to take…

Jan

21

2021

By The African Mirror

Algerian president undergoes foot surgery

COVID-19

ALGERIAN President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has successfully undergone surgery on his foot to address complications resulting from a coronavirus infection, the presidency said. The surgery, details of which were not specified, was carried out in Germany, where he had spent more than two months for treatment of COVID-19, returning home in December. Elected in December 2019, Tebboune, 75, has promised political and economic reforms following mass protests that forced his predecessor Abdelaziz Bouteflika to resign after two decades in power.

Sep

05

2021

By The African Mirror

Ex-UK PM Brown accuses West of ‘moral outrage’ over COVID vaccine stockpiling

COVID-19

FORMER British prime minister Gordon Brown accused rich countries of committing a "moral outrage" by stockpiling COVID-19 doses while poor countries are struggling to get supplies. Brown, who is a United Nations special envoy, called on U.S. President Joe Biden and other Group of Seven leaders to urgently ship vaccines from warehouses in America and Europe to Africa. Western countries are hoarding nearly 300 million shots while only 70 million people in Africa have so far been vaccinated, Brown said in an opinion piece published in the Sunday Mirror newspaper, citing research by data firm Airfinity. By Christmas, the West…

Sep

05

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 vaccines produce T-cell immunity that lasts and works against virus variants

COVID-19

OVER the past year or so, ordinary people have learnt a lot about viruses, vaccines and the immune system. We have all had to digest a lot of complex specialist knowledge about how safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines are. DEWALD SCHOEMAN, PhD Candidate, Molecular Biology and Virology, University of the Western Cape BURTRAM C. FIELDING, Professor and Director: Research Development, University of the Western Cape But one important – and positive – aspect of the vaccines hasn’t been well communicated. The statistics about COVID-19 vaccine efficacy have only focused on one aspect of immunity: antibodies. But there’s another aspect too:…

Jan

20

2021

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe’s foreign minister dies after contracting COVID-19

COVID-19

ZIMBABWE’S foreign minister, Sibusiso Moyo, has died after contracting COVID-19, presidential spokesman George Charamba has announced. Moyo, a former army general who announced the military coup that led to the removal of the late long-serving leader Robert Mugabe in November 2017. Moyo died at a local hospital early on Wednesday, Charamba said. "The nation will be kept apprised of further developments regarding this untimely demise of the late minister, himself a decorated soldier and freedom fighter," Charamba said. Moyo was one of several generals who, after helping plot the coup, were rewarded with senior positions in President Emmerson Mnangagwa's cabinet…

Jan

20

2021

By The African Mirror

EXCLUSIVE – COVID-19 shots to cost $3 to $10 in Africa

COVID-19

DAVID LEWIS and ALEXANDER WINNING AFRICAN countries will pay between $3 and $10 per vaccine dose to access 270 million COVID-19 shots secured this month by the African Union (AU), according to a draft briefing on the plan prepared by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) and provided to Reuters. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who serves as AU chair, said last week arrangements had been made with the bank to support member states who want access to vaccines. Countries can pay back the loans in instalments over five to seven years, the document showed. Afreximbank's press office declined to answer…

Jan

20

2021

By The African Mirror

Moroccan PM blames global market for vaccine delay

COVID-19

MOROCCO’S prime minister has defended his government's COVID-19 vaccine policy after weeks of false hopes it could quickly roll out a national programme, saying supplies were going to rich countries and those that produced the vaccine. Speaking in parliament, Prime Minister Saad Dine El Otmani said that despite ordering 65 million doses of vaccine from Britain's AstraZeneca Plc and China's Sinopharm, Morocco had so far received no supplies. "Most countries are complaining of this scarcity," he said, adding that rich countries were paying up to five times more money to get prior access and that it was natural that countries…

Jan

20

2021

By The African Mirror

Rwanda re-imposes strict lockdown in capital after COVID-19 cases surge

COVID-19

RWANDA has re-introduced tough lockdown measures in its capital Kigali after a surge in coronavirus cases. The government has also banned movement into and out of the city, except for essential services and for tourists, it said, citing a jump in the number of cases found in a given sample of tests, known as the positivity rate. "All employees, public and private, shall work from home, except for those providing essential services," the government said in a statement. Rwanda, which has 11,259 cases of the disease caused by the coronavirus and 146 deaths, said the number of tests returning positive…