HEALTH - The African Mirror

Jun

30

2021

‘African vaccine hubs could be revolutionary’

COVID-19

EMMA FARGE PLANS for Africa's first independent COVID-19 vaccine production hubs could revolutionise the global vaccine industry but will depend on the willingness of pharmaceutical companies to share their technology, the World Health Organization has said. The Geneva-based health agency said last week it is setting up a hub with South Africa to give poorer countries the tools to produce their own COVID-19 vaccines using mRNA technology currently used in Moderna and Pfizer's COVID shots. WHO's Agnès Buzyn, the WHO head's envoy for multilateral affairs, said that several other African and Asian countries had also applied and discussions with Senegal…

Jun

30

2021

By The African Mirror

Kenya to receive 13 million J&J shots

COVID-19

DUNCAN MIRIRI KENYA will receive the first batch of 13 million COVID-19 vaccine shots from Johnson & Johnson in August, President Uhuru Kenyatta has announced, helping to accelerate the country's vaccination drive. Like other nations on the continent, the East African country has struggled to secure vaccines for its citizens, to allow it to fully lift restrictions aimed at containing the pandemic. Only 1 million Kenyans, out of 47 million, have had a first jab and only 300,000 are fully vaccinated, according to the health ministry. As a result of the deal for the J&J shots and other initiatives, the…

Jun

30

2021

By The African Mirror

Namibian rescues ravaged economy

COVID-19

NAMIBIAN President Hage Geingob has appointed an 11-member Business Rescue Task Force to review business and insolvency legislation with the aim of rescuing businesses in financial distress. The Southern African nation, whose mining and tourism-dependent economy has been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, is in the midst of a deadly third wave of infections that is threatening to take more businesses under. The task force, which consists of individuals with skills and experience in corporate management, banking, legal and insolvency laws, legal drafting and entrepreneurship, will start work on July 1 for a period of eight months, the president's office…

Apr

18

2021

By The African Mirror

Tunisia closes schools until April 30

COVID-19

TUNISIA has announced the closure of all schools until April 30, as well as restrictions on movement, to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. A government spokeswoman said the situation was very serious, and that there would be a 7 p.m. curfew for cars. Intensive care units are near maximum capacity in most hospitals, officials said. With a population of around 11.5 million, Tunisia has recorded 9,639 deaths from almost 282,000 confirmed coronavirus infections.

Jun

30

2021

By The African Mirror

Zimbabwe imposes dusk to dawn curfew

COVID-19

ZIMBABWE’S President Emmerson Mnangagwa has imposed a dusk to dawn curfew, banned inter-city travel and cut business hours with immediate effect in response to increasing coronavirus infections. The southern Africa nation, which has recorded more than 47,000 cases since the outbreak last year, has seen its 7-day average infection rate increasing five times to 727 compared to two weeks ago. Mnangagwa said businesses would now open between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. while a curfew would start from 6:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. Companies would be required to only have 40% of their workforce, he said. The measures would be…

Apr

18

2021

By The African Mirror

Guatemala blocks travel from Brazil, UK and South Africa

COVID-19

GUATEMALA will restrict entry to visitors who have recently been to Brazil, the United Kingdom and South Africa in an effort to control a jump in coronavirus cases, President Alejandro Giammattei has announced. The measure will go into effect on Saturday and last through April 30, applying to tourists who have been to those countries within the prior two weeks, Giammattei said in a public address. He noted that Guatemala had registered 5,813 new COVID-19 infections in the last five days, bringing the total in the Central American country to 210,667 confirmed cases. "That has triggered our alerts and forces…

Jun

30

2021

By The African Mirror

AU wants Covishield approved

COVID-19

THE African Union has criticised an EU decision not to include Covishield, a version of AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine used by the global COVAX facility, on a list of approved vaccines for a digital certificate meant to ease travel in the bloc. Covishield is produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII) and has been distributed to African nations as part of the COVAX initiative to give poor and developing countries access to COVID-19 vaccines. But Covishield is not one of four vaccines approved by the European Union for its planned digital vaccination certificate, which is intended to allow people to…

Apr

17

2021

By The African Mirror

‘COVID-19 infection rate approaching highest of pandemic so far’

COVID-19

THE number of new COVID-19 cases per week has nearly doubled globally over the past two months, approaching the highest rate seen so far during the pandemic, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday. "Cases and deaths are continuing to increase at worrying rates," Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a briefing focused on Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the western Pacific region. He said he was very worried about the potential for a much larger epidemic in PNG, and it was vital the country received more COVID-19 vaccines as soon as possible. PNG has now reported…

Apr

17

2021

By The African Mirror

Concerns mount over rival vaccines

COVID-19

CARL O’DONNELL WEALTHY governments are looking to COVID-19 shots from Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc to keep their vaccination programs on track, as safety concerns and production problems sideline vaccines from AstraZeneca Plc and Johnson & Johnson, public health experts and industry analysts say. Countries in Europe and Asia, as well as South Africa, are limiting or halting use of AstraZeneca's shot over safety concerns. Rollout of J&J's one-shot vaccine was paused in the United States and Europe this week over a handful of cases of very rare but dangerous blood clots in the brain, much like AstraZeneca's safety issue.…

Jun

29

2021

By The African Mirror

SA businesses, people gripped in fear

COVID-19

DESERTED streets, empty restaurants and shut liquor stores greeted the first day of South Africa's move back to a harder lockdown, as a third wave of COVID-19 infections courses through a population less than 4% of whom have yet been partly vaccinated. Africa's most advanced economy recorded on Saturday 18,000 new infections, just 3,000 shy of its second wave peak seen in January. Government data shows that one in every four people being tested are showing a positive result. (Graphic on global cases and deaths) https://tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi A slow vaccination drive, brought about by a combination of bad luck, failure to…