coronavirus pandemic - The African Mirror

Apr

2021

WHO wins dismissal of lawsuit in New York over pandemic response

JONATHAN STEMPEL A U.S. judge has dismissed a lawsuit by residents of a suburban New York City county who accused the World Health Organization of gross negligence in responding to the coronavirus pandemic. U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel yesterday said the WHO was immune under its own 1948 constitution and the International Organization Immunities Act from the proposed class-action lawsuit by the seven Westchester County plaintiffs. The plaintiffs, including a New Rochelle doctor and six Mount Vernon residents who contracted COVID-19, sought damages for Westchester adults over the WHO's alleged downplaying of the coronavirus early in the outbreak, and failure…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Egypt received 500,000 tourists in January-March 2021

NEWS

EGYPT received 500,000 tourists in the first three months of 2021 and earned tourism revenues of between $600 million and $800 million, deputy tourism minister Ghada Shalabi told Sky News Arabia yesterday. Tourism revenues plunged 70% in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, with numbers of visitors sinking to 3.5 million from 13.1 million in 2019.

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Pandemic treaty idea for future emergencies

COVID-19

LEADERS of 23 countries and the World Health Organization yesterday backed an idea to create an international treaty that would help deal with future health emergencies like the coronavirus pandemic by tightening rules on sharing information. The idea of such a treaty, also aimed at ensuring universal and equitable access to vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for pandemics, was floated by the chairman of European Union leaders, Charles Michel, at a summit of the Group of 20 major economic powers last November. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has endorsed the proposal, but formal negotiations have not begun, diplomats say. Tedros told…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Hard hit by COVID-19, migrants seen facing ‘invisible wall’

HUMAN RIGHTS

ANASTASIA MOLONEY FROM Australia to Egypt, migrants and refugees have been especially hard hit by job losses and economic pain during the coronavirus pandemic, with many struggling to access healthcare and state aid, a survey showed on Tuesday. The survey, published in a report by the Red Cross Red Crescent (RCRC) Global Migration Lab, included 3,250 interviews with migrants in eight countries - Australia, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Sudan, Sweden and Britain. Migrant workers are over-represented in hard-hit sectors such as food production and hospitality, meaning they have been disproportionately affected by layoffs and wage losses linked to COVID-19, the…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

COVID-19 traps more girls in sex work

COVID-19

JORDAN MAYENIKINI WHEN Naomie's mother asked the teenager to join her as a sex worker in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo last September, she knew it was a matter of survival for the family. The fallout from the coronavirus pandemic - from rising food prices to a curfew resulting in fewer clients for her mother -left the 15-year-old with no choice but to take to the streets. "I am fatherless, and I have an eight-year-old brother," Naomie - whose name has been changed to protect her identity - said one evening this month in the Tshangu district…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Whose mental health suffered the most during COVID-19 lockdown in Nigeria

HEALTH

THE toll of the coronavirus pandemic on physical health and lives worldwide is enormous. But the disease and the lockdown measures have had an impact on mental health too. DR ABIODUN MUSBAU LAWAL, Lecturer, Department of Psychology , Federal University, Oye Ekiti Some of the mental health issues that have been reported due to COVID-19 include anxiety, depression, anger, confusion, insomnia, post-traumatic disorders, boredom, loneliness and adjustment problems. The phases of COVID-19 lockdown in Nigeria spanned between early May 2020 and the end of July 2020. Movement was restricted during this period. Gradually, lockdown was eased but a curfew of…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Sudanese couple feed struggling migrants

NEWS

WHEN a Sudanese couple started a charity to support fellow migrants in Egypt's capital in 2017, the focus was on teaching children and vocational skills for adults. After economic pressures caused by the coronavirus pandemic put many out of work, Maysoun Abdelsalam and her husband Moataz Ibrahim pivoted to serving them food. "We felt we were the support for each other, between us refugees. One person brings rice, one brings pasta," said Abdelsalam. The couple, who were working as a journalist and a lawyer, left Sudan because of political pressures and came to Egypt with their three children in 2017…

Mar

2021

By The African Mirror

Coronavirus pandemic spawns Nigeria banking agent boom

BUSINESS

NNEKA CHILE and ALEXIS AKWAGYIRAM WHEN Lagos imposed a lockdown last year, Nigerian civil servant Ruth Oladimeji saw a way to earn extra money. With people unable to visit banks due to the coronavirus pandemic, she became an agent providing local banking services. Oladimeji signed up with Moniepoint, a mobile money platform on whose behalf she helps customers with services such as opening accounts and withdrawing cash. "It has increased my standard of living. It has helped me be able to support people financially," said the mother-of-two, adding that she previously struggled to pay school fees and support elderly relatives…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Algerian protesters march for a second time this week

NEWS

THOUSANDS of people demonstrated in central Algiers yesterday for a second time this week, confirming the resumption of street protests that had been in abeyance for nearly a year because of the coronavirus pandemic. Weekly street protests from February 2019 prompted the army to force a veteran president from power in the biggest shock to Algeria's political system in decades, stopping only for a COVID-19 lockdown in March last year. The protesters are demanding a complete overhaul of the old ruling elite, an end to corruption and the army's withdrawal from politics. Marchers chanted "peaceful, peaceful" and "our demands are…

Feb

2021

By The African Mirror

Air Cote d’Ivoire says 2020 turnover fell 42% during coronavirus pandemic

BUSINESS

IVORY Coast's national airline Air Cote d'Ivoire reported a turnover of 48 billion CFA Francs ($88.7 million) in 2020, down 42% from 83 billion the previous year because of the coronavirus pandemic, an official has said. The airline received 14 billion CFA francs from the government last June to keep it afloat as flights were halted. Travel curbs have hit heavily-indebted airlines in the region, forcing some into liquidation. The Ivorian flag carrier took delivery of a new Airbus A320neo on Thursday and aims to start serving South Africa in the second half of this year, said Laurent Loukou, deputy…