HEALTH - The African Mirror

May

03

2021

Nigeria bans travellers from India, Brazil, Turkey over COVID-19 fears

COVID-19

NIGERIA will ban travellers coming from India, Brazil and Turkey because of concerns about the rampant spread of coronavirus in those countries, a presidential committee has announced. "Non-Nigerian passport holders and non-residents who visited Brazil, India or Turkey within Fourteen (14) days preceding travel to Nigeria, shall be denied entry into Nigeria," Boss Mustapha, chairman of the presidential steering committee on COVID-19, said in a statement. The ban will take effect from May 4, the statement said. Nigeria announced 43 confirmed new coronavirus cases on Saturday, bringing its total to 165,153, with 2,063 deaths. Indian hospitals, morgues and crematoriums have…

Jun

14

2021

By The African Mirror

My battle with COVID-19: Robert Marawa

COVID-19

AFRICAN MIRROR REPORTER ROBERT Marawa, one of Africa’s popular broadcasters, has described his harrowing battle with COVID-19 and has pleaded with fellow South Africans not to take the pandemic lightly. Marawa, host of Marawa Sports World, has been absent for two weeks from his broadcasting duties while fighting COVID-19. In a statement, Marawa said he took the unusual step of disclosing a personal matter, his illness, because he believes that his journey with COVID-19, which has claimed the lives of over 57 900 South Africans, could help educate and “perhaps even save someone’s life”. Marawa said what started out as…

May

03

2021

By The African Mirror

Pandemic and war hit tourism in Lalibela, holy Ethiopian site

COVID-19

AS they have done for hundreds of years on the Orthodox Easter weekend, priests wrapped in traditional white robes read the Bible by candlelight on Saturday evening in the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela in northern Ethiopia. The ancient ritual has been a tourist draw in recent years. Tens of thousands of visitors from around Ethiopia and abroad usually come to Lalibela, home to a UNESCO World Heritage site of 12th and 13th-century monolithic churches, to celebrate and witness the most important holiday in the Orthodox calendar. But they were missing this year. Even many local worshippers stayed home, reflecting the…

Jun

15

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 delays Sierra Leone v Benin match

COVID-19

THE 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between Sierra Leone and Benin that was rescheduled from March descended into farce yesterday after it was alleged minutes before kickoff that six of the Leone Stars players had tested positive for COVID-19. The match in neutral Guinea has been postponed again to Tuesday after Confederation of African Football (CAF) officials sought to quell the angry protests of Sierra Leone, having relayed to them during their warm-up that six players and two members of the technical team had tested positive. According to local media, the team management disputed the results supplied by the…

May

03

2021

By The African Mirror

New drugs work against the many strains of hepatitis C found in African countries

HEALTH

AROUND the world, 71 million people have been infected with the hepatitis C virus. The primary route of infection is through direct contact with another person’s blood. This means the virus can be transmitted in a number of ways, including intravenous drug use, tattooing, contaminated blood or blood products and surgical procedures. JOHN MCLAUCHLAN, Professor of Viral Hepatitis, University of Glasgow Infection with this virus can lead to severe disease of the liver. Annually, there are about 400,000 deaths resulting from the effects of infection. If the body fails to naturally clear the virus within a few weeks of initial…

Jun

15

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Africa to be a priority for G7’s vaccines’

COVID-19

AFRICA will get priority treatment for the Group of Seven's pledged 870 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, a senior World Health Organization adviser has said. "You will see that Africa is one of the most vulnerable, under-served (areas), so the priority would be for doses to go... to the African continent writ large. Those numbers will be sorted out in the coming weeks," Bruce Aylward, a senior WHO adviser and coordinator of the ACT (Access to COVID-19 Tools) Accelerator, told an online news briefing from Geneva. The WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has welcomed the G7's weekend pledge of 870…

Jun

15

2021

By The African Mirror

J&J to send S.A 300,000 vaccine doses

COVID-19

PROMIT MUKHERJEE JOHNSON & Johnson (J&J) will export more ready-to-administer COVID-19 vaccines to South Africa beyond the 300,000 doses already pledged, the CEO of Aspen Pharmacare has announced. South African regulator SAHPRA on Sunday said that J&J would supply the country with 300,000 finished doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in the next few days as a means to compensate for a loss of 2 million ready doses that Aspen, J&J's local contract manufacturer, will have to destroy. The watchdog's statement came a day after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) asked the global pharmaceuticals giant to destroy millions of…

May

02

2021

By The African Mirror

Kenyan president lifts COVID-19 lockdown imposed last month

COVID-19

KENYAN President Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday lifted the COVID-19 lockdown he imposed last month, allowing for a reopening of bars and restaurants, religious services and schools, as the rate of infections eases in the East African country. Curbs on travel in the capital Nairobi and four surrounding counties would be lifted, schools will be allowed to reopen following an Education Ministry calendar. Religious services will resume with some restrictions, while political gatherings would still be banned, he said in a speech. An evening curfew that currently starts at 8 p.m. will be revised to 10 p.m.. The changes will be in…

May

02

2021

By The African Mirror

Latest developments in COVID science

COVID-19

NANCY LAPID THE following is a roundup of some of the latest scientific studies on the novel coronavirus and efforts to find treatments and vaccines for COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus. Vaccine protects COVID-19 survivors against variants In COVID-19 survivors, the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine protects not only against the original virus strain but also against worrisome variants, two studies show. UK researchers analyzed immune responses after a single dose of the vaccine in 51 people, including 25 people previously infected with an early version of the novel coronavirus. Survivors showed enhanced antibody responses against the newer, more infectious…

Jun

14

2021

By The African Mirror

SA holds back unsuitable vaccines

COVID-19

South African health inspectors have said they will not release Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccines that may have been contaminated during production at a U.S. plant. The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) said it made the decision after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) raised concerns over manufacturing practices at the Baltimore plant. "SAHPRA reviewed the data provided by the FDA and has made a decision not to release vaccine produced using the drug substance batches that were not suitable," SAHPRA said in a statement. The findings by the FDA would impact two million vaccines that are…