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BRAZZAVILLE, Congo (AFP) — Africa must boost the vaccination rate against Covid-19 “six times” to reach the target of 70 percent vaccine coverage set for the end of the first half of 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday. Africa has received “more than 587 million vaccine doses” but it “is still struggling to expand rollout, with only 11 percent of the population fully vaccinated”, explained the WHO regional office for Africa. “The world […]
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AFP) — The death toll from a storm that struck three southern African countries rose to 70 on Thursday as emergency teams battled to repair damaged infrastructure and help tens of thousands of victims. Packing torrential rains, Tropical Storm Ana made landfall Monday in Madagascar before ploughing into Mozambique and Malawi. Rescue workers and authorities across the three countries were still assessing the full extent of the damage. Madagascar has reported 41 dead, […]
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — South Africa’s Covid-19 infections surged to a record three million on Friday as a new wave driven by the Omicron variant rips through parts of the country, official figures showed. The government on Friday reported 16,055 new cases over a 24-hour period, taking the cumulative laboratory-confirmed cases to 3,004,203. “This increase represents a 24.3 percent positivity rate,” the government run National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said in a […]
by Agnès PEDRERO Next week’s World Trade Organization ministerial conference, the global trade body’s biggest gathering in four years, was postponed at the last minute Friday due to the new Omicron Covid-19 variant. The WTO hoped the four-day gathering in Geneva would breathe new life into the crippled organisation, which has been stuck for years trying to make progress on resolving issues like fishery subsidies. New director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was also hoping, against the odds, […]
BRAZZAVILLE, Congo (AFP) — Only a quarter of health workers in Africa are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, the World Health Organization said Thursday warning that majority of the continent’s frontline medical workforce were dangerously exposed. By contrast, a recent study of 22 predominantly high-income countries revealed that more than 80 percent of healthcare workers there were fully vaccinated against coronavirus, according to the WHO. “The majority of Africa’s health workers are still missing out on […]
by Aurelia End and Shaun Tandon WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a major new Covid vaccine donation for Africa and promised greater commitment to the continent as he welcomed his first African leader, Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta. Meeting at the White House, Biden and the Kenyan president promised to work together on climate change and ending violence on the Horn of Africa, although there appeared to be no headway […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Joe Biden will welcome Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday, in the first visit by an African leader to the White House during his presidency. The summit will be part of “Biden’s commitment to the US partnership with Africa based on principles of mutual respect and equality,” a White House statement said Tuesday. It said Biden and Kenyatta would discuss “the need to bring transparency and accountability to domestic and […]
BRAZZAVILLE, Congo (AFP) — Just two percent of the population, or fewer, have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus in half of the countries in Africa, the World Heath Organization said on Thursday, Fifteen of the continent’s 54 nations have managed to vaccinate at least 10 percent of their people, thereby achieving the global goal for September 30, set in May by the World Health Assembly, the world’s highest health policy-setting body. “The latest data shows […]
by Sofia CHRISTENSEN JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — More than 200,000 people have died from Covid-19 in Africa since the start of the pandemic, according to an AFP tally compiled from official records as of 1700 GMT. The 54 countries of the region may not have suffered as badly as other parts of the world — at least according to the officially recorded figures. They seem to have avoided the catastrophic scenarios some feared at […]
CONAKRY, Guinea (AFP) — Guinea has recorded the first known case of Marburg virus, a lethal cousin to Ebola, the UN’s World Health Organization (WHO) says. Here is a factfile on the disease (source: WHO, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). – What is Marburg? – Marburg virus is a highly dangerous pathogen that causes haemorrhagic fever. According to past outbreaks, the average fatality rate is 50 percent, in a range of 24-88 […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Guinea confirmed a case of Marburg disease, the World Health Organization said on Monday, the first recorded in West Africa of the lethal virus that’s related to Ebola and, like Covid-19, passed from animal hosts to humans. The virus, which is carried by bats and has a fatality rate of up to 88 percent, was found in samples taken from a patient who died on August 2 in southern Gueckedou prefecture, […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Coronavirus is surging in Africa with a record average number of new cases according to an AFP tally based on official sources on Tuesday at 1815 GMT. It said 6,009,854 cases have been officially counted in Africa’s 54 nations and territories since the virus was first discovered in December 2019 in China. The number of new cases is growing at more than 41,400 per day — a 13 percent increase over […]
