HEALTH - The African Mirror

Jun

02

2021

Carrot or stick? How countries are tackling COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy

COVID-19

SONIA ELKS GET a COVID-19 jab in California and you could walk away with a lot more than a sore arm - a $1.5 million lottery jackpot is up for grabs for residents of the state who get vaccinated. From dollars to donuts, a dizzying array of incentives are being offered by authorities and companies around the world in a bid to win around the vaccine hesitant as they seek to turn a page on the pandemic. But as countries strive to reach 'herd immunity' - where enough people are protected against a disease that it becomes difficult for infections…

Jun

02

2021

By The African Mirror

Chile midfielder Vidal recovering from COVID-19 in hospital

COVID-19

CHILE and Inter Milan midfielder Arturo Vidal is recovering in hospital after contracting COVID-19, the Chilean national team has announced. A statement said that the 34-year-old tested positive for the virus after initially being hospitalised with severe tonsilitis. "The medical team of the Chilean national team emphasises that at the request of the player Arturo Vidal, it is announced that he has been diagnosed positive for Covid," a statement on the Chile national team website said. "Arturo has been hospitalised and isolated from the group for more than 72 hours in a preventive measure indicated by the medical team, due…

Jun

01

2021

By The African Mirror

‘Time has come’ for pandemic treaty as part of bold reforms – WHO’s Tedros

COVID-19

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY THE head of the World Health Organization (WHO) called on Monday for launching negotiations this year on an international treaty to boost pandemic preparedness, as part of sweeping reforms envisioned by member states. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, told its annual ministerial assembly that the U.N. agency faced a "serious challenge" to maintain its COVID-19 response at the current level and required sustainable and flexible funding. Earlier in the day - the last of the week-long assembly - health ministers agreed to study recommendations for ambitious reforms made by independent experts to strengthen the capacity of both the…

May

27

2021

By The African Mirror

Zambian bans campaign rallies

COVID-19

ZAMBIAN President Edgar Lungu has banned campaign rallies ahead of elections scheduled for August 12, saying large gatherings risked spreading the COVID-19 virus. Lungu, a lawyer, is pitted against economist Hakainde Hichilema of the United Party for National Development (UPND), whom he narrowly beat in the 2016 elections. Zambia, Africa's No.2 copper producer, is in the grips of an economic crisis after it failed to make payment of a coupon on one of its dollar bonds in November, dragging it into sovereign default. Opposition parties have pilloried Lungu's handling of the crisis. Last year, police shot dead two people after…

Jun

01

2021

By The African Mirror

Is it all Greek to you? Variants get new names

COVID-19

EMMA FARGE CORONAVIRUS variants with clunky, alphanumeric names have now been assigned the letters of the Greek Alphabet in a bid to simplify discussion and pronunciation while avoiding stigma. The World Health Organization revealed the new names on Monday amid criticism that those given by scientists such as the so-called South African variant which goes by multiple names including B.1.351, 501Y.V2 and 20H/501Y.V2 were too complicated. As such, the four coronavirus variants considered of concern by the U.N. agency and known generally by the public as the UK, South Africa, Brazil and India variants have now been given the letters…

Jun

01

2021

By The African Mirror

Burkina Faso receives first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines

COVID-19

BURKINA Faso, one of several countries in Africa that has yet to launch a COVID-19 vaccination campaign, received its first shipment under the global vaccine-sharing scheme COVAX, according to the health ministry. The 115,200 AstraZeneca doses were flown into the airport of the capital Ouagadougou and were welcomed by a local delegation led by health minister Charlemagne Ouedraogo. "In a few weeks other vaccines will probably arrive to supplement what we have," Ouedraogo said. The vaccination campaign, which will first target health workers, aims to eventually inoculate over 15 million of the West African nation's 21.5 million citizens, the ministry…

Jun

01

2021

By The African Mirror

Opponents resist vaccine patent waiver

COVID-19

EMMA FARGE A deal on an intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines at the World Trade Organization (WTO) was no closer to acceptance yesterday despite Washington's backing, due to expected scepticism about a new draft, sources close to the talks told Reuters. Negotiations reopened at the WTO on Monday, focused on a highly anticipated revised draft submitted by India, South Africa and dozens of other developing countries last week. A surprise U.S. shift earlier this month to support a patent waiver heaped pressure on remaining opponents like the European Union and Switzerland that are home to numerous drugmakers. But Monday's…

May

26

2021

By The African Mirror

No camel rides in Tunisian town as COVID slowly kills tourism

COVID-19

TAREK AMARA and ANGUS McDOWALL Two Bulgarian visitors stood in the ancient El Jem amphitheatre, one of Tunisia's top attractions, alone apart from swallows flitting under stone arches -- a sight foretelling another tourist season wrecked by COVID-19. The 3rd-century structure, so symbolic of Tunisia that it features on the 20-dinar note, usually receives about 190,000 visitors a year, but in 2020 only 45,000 came, and so far this year it has been deserted most of the time. Over the past two weeks numbers have picked up a little after the government relaxed quarantine rules for package tours to salvage…

May

26

2021

By The African Mirror

Consensus reached on pandemic treaty

COVID-19

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY SOUTH Africa has revealed that consensus had been reached to hold a special ministerial session of the World Health Organization (WHO) at the end of the year to consider negotiating a new international treaty on pandemic preparedness. The WHO, whose handling of the COVID-19 pandemic is under scrutiny, has endorsed a proposal, initially made by the European Union, to negotiate a global treaty as a way to ensure countries' political commitment to fighting outbreaks of new or particularly dangerous diseases. The WHO's World Health Assembly will meet from November 29 to December 1. A report by an independent…

May

25

2021

By The African Mirror

Bid to end ‘scandalous vaccine inequity’

COVID-19

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY THE COVID-19 pandemic is being perpetuated by a "scandalous inequity" in vaccine distribution, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said yesterday as he set new targets for protecting people in the poorest countries. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that no country should assume that it's "out of the woods", no matter its vaccination rate, as long as the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its variants spread elsewhere. "The world remains in a very dangerous situation," Tedros told the opening of the annual assembly of health ministers from its 194 member states. "As of today, more cases have…