COVID pandemic - The African Mirror

Mar

02

2023

China scoffs at FBI claim that Wuhan lab leak likely caused COVID pandemic

THE FBI has assessed that a leak from a laboratory in the central Chinese city of Wuhan likely caused the COVID pandemic, director Christopher Wray said, a claim China said had "no credibility whatsoever". "The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan," Wray told Fox News. His comments follow a Wall Street Journal report on Sunday that the U.S. Energy Department had assessed with low confidence the pandemic resulted from an unintended lab leak in China. Four other agencies, along with a national intelligence…

Oct

27

2022

By The African Mirror

Crime, COVID and climate change – South African tourism faces many threats, but it’s resilient

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

SOUTH Africa’s tourism industry has been rocked by the murder of a German visitor during an attempted robbery. The development resulted in negative media publicity, with a potentially adverse impact on the country’s image as a safe tourist destination. This comes at a time when the sector is recovering from the devastating effects of the COVID pandemic. The Conversation Africa’s political editor Thabo Leshilo asked Kaitano Dube, an expert in ecotourism, about tourism’s place in South Africa’s economy. Author KAITANO DUBE, Ecotourism Management Lecturer, Vaal University of Technology How important is tourism to South Africa’s economy? Tourism is critical to…

Jun

28

2022

By The African Mirror

Male voices dominated South African COVID reporting: that has to change

COVID-19

THE onset of the COVID pandemic and the many months of uncertainty, anxiety and push for scientific breakthroughs sent journalists all over the world on the hunt for expert voices. They wanted sources who could explain to audiences what was happening and why. Authors MARINA JOUBERT, Science Communication Researcher, Stellenbosch University LARS GUENTHER, Postdoc in Science Communication at University of Hamburg; Extraordinary Associate Professor at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch University LILI RADEMAN, PhD candidate in Science and Technology Studies, Stellenbosch University Research has shown that when journalists look for sources, they often focus on already visible – and accessible – experts…

Jun

02

2022

By The African Mirror

Here’s how much learning South African children lost in the pandemic

COVID-19

WHEN a state of disaster was declared in South Africa in 2020 in response to the COVID pandemic, a hard lockdown was instituted and schools were shut. This was followed by varying periods of lockdowns, school closure and rotational timetables to maintain social distancing across different grades. Administrative data show that children in South Africa missed at least three-quarters of a year of school in the past two school years. This reduced their opportunities to learn and allowed more time to forget what they had learnt. Authors SERVAAS VAN DER BERG, Professor of Economics and South African Research Chair in…

May

20

2022

By The African Mirror

South Africa has entered a new phase of the COVID pandemic: what that means

COVID-19

CONFIRMED cases of SARS-CoV-2 have been increasing in South Africa in recent weeks. This has been largely driven by two offspring – known as the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages – of the Omicron variant first identified in South Africa late last year. What’s notable about the most recent spike is that there are a number of differences between what the country is currently experiencing and the first four waves of COVID-19 in South Africa. Authors MICHELLE J. GROOME, Head of the Division of Public Health Surveillance and Response, National Institute for Communicable Diseases JULIET PULLIAM, Director: SACEMA, South African Centre…

May

11

2022

By The African Mirror

Making COVID vaccines in Africa: advances and sustainability issues

COVID-19

Author BENJAMIN KAGINA, University of Cape Town THE history of vaccine manufacturing capacity in Africa dates back to 1881 when Egypt’s Vacsera company was established. Before the COVID pandemic was declared, there were eight African countries that, to our knowledge, had a record of vaccine manufacturing facilities (see the map). They were: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia (North Africa); Nigeria and Senegal (West Africa); Ethiopia (East Africa); and South Africa. Between them, they had 14 facilities. Few were involved from end to end (discovery, fill and finish, pack and distribute) production process. Instead, the focus was largely on the late…

Sep

17

2021

By The African Mirror

How will the COVID pandemic end?

COVID-19

AFTER over 18 months of this pandemic, with the social distancing, mask-wearing and on-off lockdowns, what we all want to know more than anything else is when it will all be over and how it will end. While nothing is certain, we have a lot of evidence on which to build some realistic expectations about how the pandemic will progress over the next year or so. PAUL HUNTER, Professor of Medicine, University of East Anglia COVID-19 may not be the first time a coronavirus has caused a dreadful global pandemic. It’s been hypothesised that the “Russian flu”, which emerged in…

Jul

30

2021

By The African Mirror

In Haiti, COVID pandemic rages amid political crisis

WORLD

DAVID ALIRE GARCIA LAYING on her side in a sleeveless peach-coloured dress, an elderly patient groaned as she gasped for air in one of the Haitian capital's few medical units equipped to care for those hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic. The 81-year-old wore a clear plastic mask on her face attached to a metal tank providing 21 liters of oxygen per minute, the maximum reserved for the most serious COVID-19 cases at St. Luke's Hospital on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. "Each breath she takes, every respiratory movement, is very painful," said Dr Nathalie Colas, the hospital's medical director, on…

Jul

11

2021

By The African Mirror

Arab countries pledge aid as Tunisia struggles with COVID pandemic

COVID-19

TAREK AMARA SEVERAL countries have promised to help Tunisia fight the coronavirus as the north African country recorded its highest daily death toll since the pandemic began, putting its health care system under severe stress and depleting oxygen supplies. President Kais Saied said in a statement that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had pledged to send vaccinations and whatever medical equipment Tunisia needed. Libya also pledged to send medical aid, the president's office said in a separate statement. Officials and local media said that Kuwait, Turkey and Algeria had promised to help. Qatar had already sent a military plane…

Jun

05

2021

By The African Mirror

G7 nations ‘just one millimetre’ from historic tax deal

WORLD

DAVID MILLIKEN SOME of the world's richest nations are within touching distance of a historic deal to close the net on large companies which do not pay their fair share of tax, France and Germany said yesterday after a day of talks in London. Finance ministers from the Group of Seven rich nations are meeting in person for the first time since the start of the COVID pandemic after U.S. President Joe Biden's administration gave fresh impetus to stalled global tax talks this year. Rich nations have struggled for years to agree a way to raise more tax from large…