HEALTH - The African Mirror

Apr

18

2021

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…

Jun

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Nigeria adds SA to its COVID-19 ‘red list’

COVID-19

NIGERIA is adding South Africa to its "red list" of countries for which there are stringent restrictions for arriving passengers, officials said during a briefing. Nigeria is introducing the restrictions due to the spread of the Delta variant in South Africa, Chikwe Ihekweazu, the head of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, said. The country joins India, Brazil and Turkey on the list. "In Nigeria, we haven't found the Delta variant yet," Ihekweazu said during the briefing. Non-Nigerian passport holders and non-residents who visited the countries on the list within 14 days are barred entry from Nigeria, while passport holders…

Jun

29

2021

By The African Mirror

Tanzania to spend $470 million on vaccines

COVID-19

TANZANIA will spend $470 million buying vaccines and supporting economic sectors hit hard by the coronavirus, President Samia Suluhu Hassan said has announced. Since Hassan took office after the death of then-president John Magufuli in March, the government has changed tack from playing down the pandemic to calling for social distancing and emphasising mask wearing in public. Issuing the first data on infections since May 2020, Hassan said there were more than 100 COVID-19 patients in Tanzania as of last Saturday, with 70 of them being provided oxygen. Half of the cash will be spent on vaccines, protective gear and…

Apr

16

2021

By The African Mirror

Africa CDC cannot predict date for 2nd shots

COVID-19

MANY Africans who have received their first COVID-19 vaccine do not know when they will get a second shot because deliveries are delayed, the continent's top public health official has said. "We cannot predict when the second doses will come and that is not good for our vaccination programme," John Nkengasong, the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), told reporters. Africa lags behind most other regions in COVID-19 vaccinations, with just less than 14 million doses having been administered on the continent of 1.3 billion, according to the Africa CDC. Ghana, for example, has…