CDC - The African Mirror

Jun

2022

U.S. drops COVID testing for incoming international air travellers

DAVID SHEPARDSON THE United States rescinded a 17-month-old requirement that people arriving in the country by air test negative for COVID-19, a move that follows intense lobbying by airlines and the travel industry. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Rochelle Walensky issued a four-page order lifting the mandate, effective at 12:01 a.m. ET (0400 GMT) Sunday, saying it is "not currently necessary."Advertisement · Scroll to continue The requirement had been one of the last major U.S. COVID-19 travel requirements. Its end comes as the summer travel season kicks off, and airlines were already preparing for record demand. Airlines have said…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

‘War has changed’, CDC says, calling for new response to Delta variant

WORLD

THE "war has changed" against COVID-19 because of the highly contagious Delta variant, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said, proposing a clearer message, mandatory vaccines for health workers and a return to universal masking. An internal CDC document said the variant, first detected in India and now dominant across the globe, is as contagious as chickenpox and far more contagious than the common cold or flu. It can be passed on even by vaccinated people and may cause more serious diseases than earlier coronavirus strains. The document, entitled "Improving communications around vaccine breakthrough and vaccine effectiveness", said the…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Hard-won gains at risk as Delta variant spreads- WHO

COVID-19

STEPHANIE NEBEHAY and MICHAEL SHIELDS THE world is at risk of losing hard-won gains in fighting COVID-19 as the highly transmissible Delta variant spreads, but WHO-approved vaccines remain effective, the World Health Organization has warned. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has described the Delta variant of the coronavirus as being as transmissible as chickenpox and cautioned it could cause severe disease, the Washington Post said, citing an internal CDC document. COVID-19 infections have increased by 80% over the past four weeks in most regions of the world, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. Deaths in Africa…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Americans shed their masks

COVID-19

DAVID SHEPARDSON THE U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has advised that fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks outdoors and can avoid wearing them indoors in most places, updated guidance the agency said will allow life to begin to return to normal. The CDC, which hopes the guidance will prod more Americans to get vaccinated, also said fully immunized people will not need to physically distance in most places. The turnaround came just 16 days since CDC issued revised guidance that left many restrictions in place for vaccinated people. The agency came under fire in…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

Vaccines due in weeks or months not yet Africa’s way out of pandemic, officials say

COVID-19

VACCINES are not yet Africa's way out of the pandemic as it may be weeks or even months before first doses start to arrive, health officials said, after the African Union (AU) secured 270 million doses for the continent where about 30,000 a day are becoming infected. Africa has not started vaccinations and there is concern that more prosperous regions are getting an unfair head start in the global fight against COVID-19. Africa's second coronavirus wave is infecting twice as many people per day as the height of the first wave last year, and has not peaked, John Nkengasong, director…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Africa needs about $9 billion for COVID-19 vaccines, access is big problem – Afreximbank

NEWS

OMAR MOHAMMED AFRICA needs about $9 billion to finance enough of COVID-19 vaccines to halt the pandemic on the continent, but a bigger problem is accessing that supply amid the global race for doses, an African Export Import Bank official has said. Hippolyte Fofack, Afreximbank chief economist, told Reuters the Cairo-based bank and other development finance institutions are working with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to obtain vaccines for the novel coronavirus. But African nations cannot compete with wealthier governments that have secured huge supplies of inoculations, he said. "If the supply of COVID-19 vaccines is…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

U.S. vaccine near, but deaths rising by 9/11 proportions each day

WORLD

SUSAN HEAVEY A mounting U.S. death toll has tempered enthusiasm about a coming COVID-19 vaccine with 9/11-like fatalities projected every day for the months ahead, even with a rapid rollout of inoculations, which could start as soon as Monday. Another 2,902 U.S. deaths were reported on Thursday, a day after a record 3,253 people died, a pace projected to continue for the next two to three months until the vaccine can be widely distributed. Those daily tolls are roughly equivalent to the 2,996 killed in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and greater than the 2,403 killed in the 1941…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Africa disease control head calls on rich nations to share excess COVID-19 shots

COVID-19

OMAR MOHAMMED COUNTRIES that have ordered more COVID-19 vaccines than they need should consider distributing excess doses to Africa, the head of the continent's disease control body has said. As African countries begin to feel the effects of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said it was unlikely to secure enough vaccine shots. Many African states are relying on COVAX, a global COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is working to lower prices and discourage hoarding. "Some countries have got…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Africa must prepare for second COVID wave’

COVID-19

GUILIA PARAVICINI and DUNCAN MIRIRI COVID-19 cases are accelerating in some parts of Africa and governments should step up preparations for a second wave, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday. Over the past four weeks, cases have increased by 45% per week on average in Kenya, by 19% in the Democratic Republic of Congo and by 8% in Egypt, the African Union-run organisation's head John Nkengasong said. "The time to prepare for a second wave is truly now," he said, urging governments "not to get into prevention fatigue mode." The continent of 1.3 billion people…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Afreximbank ready to raise up to $5 bln for COVID-19 vaccines for Africa – CDC head

BUSINESS

DAVID LEWIS and GIULIA PARAVICINI THE African Export-Import Bank is ready to raise up to $5 billion to purchase COVID-19 vaccines for African countries, according to the head of the continent's disease control body. John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said Africa needs to be pro-active in the race to secure vaccines for the novel coronavirus that has infected more than 41 million people globally. COVAX, a global COVID-19 vaccine allocation plan co-led by the World Health Organization (WHO), will only be able to secure shots for less than 10% of the continent's…