HEALTH - The African Mirror

Jul

15

2021

A COVID-19 Africa snapshot

COVID-19

A “third wave” of COVID-19 cases is filling hospital beds, exhausting oxygen stocks, and testing already overloaded health staff in the hardest-hit African countries. Continent-wide, recorded infections are at over six million, with more than 153,000 official deaths. The highly transmissible Delta variant is now prevalent in 16 countries and is surging through unvaccinated populations. “The worst is yet to come,” Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa, has warned. “The end to this precipitous rise is still weeks away.” The continent’s vaccine rollout is crawling, slowed in part by a critical shortage of doses. Countries are reliant on bilateral deals and…

Jul

15

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 claims the life of Africa’s music legend

COVID-19

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER TSHEPO Tshola, the legendary songwriter and musician, has passed away in hospital from COVID-19 related complications. The death of Tshola (68), who was born in Lesotho but made his name in South Africa and throughout the African continent, has sent shockwaves throughout the music industry. In SA, fans of Tshola, popularly known as the “Village Pope” or “Black Moses”, have started to celebrate the life and times of man who started his career with Sankomota, a Lesotho-based music group. The SA government has paid tribute to Tshola. “We extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends and…

Jul

15

2021

By The African Mirror

Risk of ‘catastrophic’ surge in Middle East

COVID-19

A surge of coronavirus cases in several Middle Eastern countries could have dire consequences, aggravated by the spread of the Delta variant and low vaccine availability, the World Health Organisation has warned. After a decline in cases and deaths in the WHO's Eastern Mediterranean region for eight weeks, the agency said there had been significant increases in cases in Libya, Iran, Iraq and Tunisia, with sharp rises expected in Lebanon and Morocco. (Graphic on global cases and deaths) Next week countries across the region will mark the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, which traditionally includes religious and social gatherings where infections…

Jul

15

2021

By The African Mirror

Senegal sees ‘unprecedented’ surge in coronavirus cases

COVID-19

SENEGAL is experiencing an "unprecedented" surge in COVID-19 infections, the health ministry has revealed, after reporting a new daily record of 733 cases. The previous record was 529 cases recorded on Sunday. Senegal has seen relatively few coronavirus-related cases and deaths so far. But like many African countries, it does not have enough doses to vaccinate widely, leaving it vulnerable to fresh surges. "The situation is unprecedented. We have never seen such an increase in cases," said health ministry spokesman Mamadou Ndiaye. "Measures must be taken urgently to reverse the trend... We hope that more energetic measures will be taken…

Apr

05

2021

By The African Mirror

Libya PM hails “first drop of rain”

COVID-19

MORE than 100,000 doses of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine arrived at Tripoli's Mitiga airport yesterday, Libya's ministry of health said, the first shipment to reach the country. Around 1,000 new infections are announced daily by the National Centre for Disease Control, posing a challenge to a health sector ravaged by years of conflict. "It is the first drop of rain. Thank God, we are able to supply the first batch of corona vaccine," interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibeh said in a tweet. "The rest of the shipment will arrive in succession," he added, without giving details of how many…

Jul

15

2021

By The African Mirror

Morocco to send aid to Tunisia

COVID-19

MOROCCO plans to send 100 intensive care beds and a similar number of ventilators to help Tunisia tackle a surge in COVID-19 cases, Rabat's foreign ministry has announced. Morocco joins other Arab states which promised to help the North African country as it struggles to contain its worst coronavirus outbreak since the pandemic began, putting its health care system under severe stress and depleting oxygen supplies. Intensive care units are full and there is a severe shortage of oxygen, officials said. The total number of coronavirus cases so far in Tunisia has climbed to 497,613, including 16,388 deaths.

Apr

05

2021

By The African Mirror

14-day quarantine for South Africans travelling to Portugal

COVID-19

PORTUGAL has extended restrictions on travel via land and sea to Spain that had been due to end this weekend until April 15 as it works to contain the spread of COVID-19. The two countries imposed the restrictions on January 28. The interior ministry said the restrictions would remain in place for a further 11 days, adding that the measures did not prevent citizens or residents of Portugal from entering the country. Vehicles transporting goods, emergency vehicles and seasonal border workers are also exempt. Nationals from Britain, Brazil and South Africa - where more contagious coronavirus variants were first detected…

Apr

05

2021

By The African Mirror

England trials vaccine passport

COVID-19

ENGLAND will launch a vaccine passport trial in a comedy club, a nightclub and FA Cup matches at Wembley in the coming weeks to determine how it can reopen the economy and host mass events safely. The government said a COVID-status certification system was being developed that would show whether a person had had a vaccine, a recent negative test or natural immunity from a positive test taken in the last six months. The trial, to be run at nine events including the FA Cup semi-final and final, will be used to assess whether large events can be held in…

Jul

14

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria expects nearly 8 million vaccines

COVID-19

CHIJIOKE OHUOCHA NIGERIA expects to receive nearly 8 million additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of August, including from a U.S. government donation, the head of its primary care agency said on Tuesday. Faisal Shuaib, head of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), said Nigeria exhausted its initial supply of nearly 4 million shots last week and aims to resume vaccinations within weeks, when the new doses arrive. Nigeria expects delivery of 3.924 million doses of Oxford/AstraZeneca shots from global vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX by the end of July or early August, Shuaib said, and an additional…

Jul

14

2021

By The African Mirror

In South African COVID-19 ward, medics battle worst infection wave yet

COVID-19

SISIPHO SKWEYIYA AT an emergency COVID-19 ward run by a charity in southern Johannesburg, medics wheel gasping patients to their beds, rush from room to room with oxygen cylinders and pat the back of someone in the grip of a coughing fit. The scenes in the converted community hall are a reminder of how badly South Africa has been hit by its third and most debilitating COVID-19 wave yet, as the infectious Delta variant surges through a mostly unvaccinated population. "The Delta variant has caused enormous strain on the resources ... Every hospital is getting strained, every healthcare worker is…