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A leading US Intelligence advisor has taken a firm stance on the origins of COVID-19, insisting that the virus came from a biological weapons lab in Wuhan.
A November 26 letter from the presidency asked the head of Uganda's national drug authority to 'work out a mechanism' to clear the importation of the vaccines.
China has about five COVID-19 vaccine candidates at different levels of trials. It was not clear what vaccine was being imported into Uganda.
One of the frontrunners is the Sinopharm vaccine developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Product, a unit of Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
On Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates said the vaccine has 86% efficacy, citing an interim analysis of late-stage clinical trials.
China has used the drug to vaccinate up to a million people under its emergency use program.
On Tuesday, Morocco said it was ordering up to 10 million doses of the vaccine.
Record cases
Uganda on Monday registered 701 new COVID-19 cases, the highest-ever daily increase, bringing its national count to 23,200.
The new cases were out of the 5,578 samples tested for the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, the country's health ministry said in a statement.
Tuesday's tally was 606, the second-highest ever number of new infections, bringing the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the east African country to 23,860.
Health authorities have blamed ongoing election campaigns which have drawn huge crowds for the rise in infections.
The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) says its members will not go back to the classroom to teach unless government accede to their proposals of ensuring maximum safety of staff and learners in line with COVID-19 protocols.
The proposals include: the government ensuring a mandatory testing of all teachers and learners to ascertain their status, provision of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Veronica handwashing buckets, alcohol-based hand sanitisers and regular flow of water for all schools in the country.
The President of GNAT, Ms Philippa Larsen said this at the launch of the association's impact assessment of COVID-19 on the education sector in Ghana.
Ms Larsen said the association has also recommended adequate numbers of health personnel to be provided in the schools to handle the health needs of teachers and learners.
The Deputy General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr Joshua Ansah said the union had also researched into COVID-19 and its impact on businesses and urged the government to collaborate with the teacher unions for a collective way forward towards the reopening of schools.
African leaders have lauded the launch of the continent's first medical supplies platform as the \"jewel in the crown of Pan-African cooperation\".
LIVE | All the latest coronavirus and lockdown updates
On Thursday, African Union (AU) chairperson President Cyril Ramaphosa, AU Commission chairperson Moussa Faki and the director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) Dr John Nkengasong held a media briefing, giving an update on the platform.
Zimbabwean businessman Strive Masiyiwa, who was appointed as the AU special envoy leading global mobilisation of medical test kits and protective equipment for the continent this month, gave a brief presentation of how the Africa medical supplies platform would operate.
Vera Songwe, the executive secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, said the platform was initially developed to assist with maternal and childcare in a bid to connect mothers to women pharmaceutical producers on the continent as big pharmaceutical companies refuse to deliver to small islands with ports that are seen as too small.
The Africa CDC director said the organisation regularly engaged with African countries seeking data on the spread of the pandemic, and the approach was to emphasise cooperation and the sharing of information in a timely fashion.
The World Health Organization earlier this week (June 17) reiterated concerns over the rate at which covid-19 exposes women in Africa “to a higher risk of abuse and gender-based violence.”
This comes after hundreds of cases on rape and other forms of violence against women have been recorded in parts of the continent.
Dr. Matshidiso Moeti is WHO regional Director for Africa: “The physical distances associated with home stay orders have affected women’s businesses, their ability to earn a living on a daily basis and, in some cases, have unfortunately exposed women involved in abusive relationships to a higher risk of violence, gender-based violence.”
“So, definitively, I can say that the impact of COVID-19 has the face of women in particular on our continent.
According to the World Health Organisation, 35% of women around the world have already experienced some form of sexual and gender-based violence in their lifetime.
Programs in training and skills development were availed to refugees without a clear integration into the local labour market realities or the same opportunity availed to host communities.
This was followed by the adoption of the Global compact on refugees (GCR) implemented through the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF) that recognizes the need for increased international responsibility sharing, easing pressure on host countries and communities while working towards self-reliance of refugees while perusing peace in countries of origin that would enable a return of those displaced.
The International Labour Organisation, ILO together with its partners (namely UNHCR, UNICEF, IFC and the World Bank), financially supported by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, have joined forces to support the government of Kenya's efforts towards the realization of the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework, with the spirit and letter of the Global Compact on Refugees.
That is the reason for being of ILO Recommendation 205 on Employment and Decent Work for Peace and Resilience Recommendation (2017) and of the Guiding principles on the access of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons to the labour market (2016) that outline key considerations fostering social cohesion while engaging both communities in the labour market.
Caroline Njuki is the Chief Technical Advisor on Inclusive Jobs and education for host communities, refugees and other forcibly displaced persons at ILO Kenya
Now that Nigeria is gradually easing restrictions, the main question is what realistic public health measures can be taken to ensure infection, and fatality rates, remain at the low end of the spectrum?
For example, the time lapse between sample collection and test results received for suspected cases sometimes exceeds the approximately two week recovery period for mild cases of the disease, instead of the 48 hours benchmark.
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, 60,825 tests had been conducted as at the end of May 2020, in a population of over 200 million people.
Ensuring continuous training of health personnel to operate isolation centres, training of private health care facilities on high index of suspicion of cases, and well disseminated protocol on referral of suspects.
Within the context of a strengthened primary health care system, a rapid process of sample collection, result verification and contact tracing can be developed for the management of COVID-19 in post-lockdown Nigeria.
Botswana has signed an agreement with the global vaccine distribution scheme co-led by the World Health Organisation, giving it the option to buy coronavirus vaccines for 20% of its population, a senior health official told Reuters
Described as an onset of high blood pressure during pregnancy, the exact reason for the prevalence of preeclampsia in Uganda is unknown due to the fact that detailed clinical records of all births are lacking.
Also responsible for cases of miscarriage and low birth weight, the condition usually begins after the fifth month of pregnancy in women whose blood pressure had been normal, according to experts.
Dr Ononge said preeclampsia is basically managed in hospital where the blood pressure is controlled.
According to Dr Richard Idro, preeclampsia raises the blood pressure and it starts damaging the kidney and so protein starts leaking into the urine.
\"If the blood pressure rises too high it starts affecting the blood vessels in the brain and the mother can die,\" Dr Idro said.
Lesufi tested for the virus on Tuesday and went into self-isolation after two staff members from the department's offices in Johannesburg tested positive for Covid-19.
READ | Lesufi self-isolating after two staff members test positive for Covid-19
Staff are expected to return to the head office on Monday once the process is complete.
READ | 29 Eastern Cape schools close due to positive Covid-19 cases, 48 more have suspected cases
Staff members, who were in contact with those who contracted the virus, have been tested and will follow protocols to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
\"Once a staff member tests positive, we also trace their contacts.
The department said that Lesufi and Gauteng MEC of Health Bandile Masuku will on Sunday visit the family of a Grade 7 pupil from Kokosi Primary School in Fochville.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has temporarily suspended trials of hydroxychloroquine from its global study into experimental Covid-19 treatments, saying that its experts need to review all available evidence to date.
The UN health agency in March launched a multinational trial on a variety of repurposed drugs to kick-start the search for a treatment for Covid-19.
Speaking on Monday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that in light of a paper published last week in the Lancet that showed people taking hydroxychloroquine were at a higher risk of death and heart problems, there would be “a temporary pause” on the hydroxychloroquine arm of its global clinical trial.
He said the concern related only to the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for Covid-19, adding that the drugs are accepted treatments for people with malaria and auto-immune diseases.
The US National Institutes of Health is also running a clinical trial to establish whether the drug, administered with the antibiotic azithromycin, can prevent hospital admissions and death from Covid-19.
BATSA have accused Fita's members of benefiting from the cigarette ban, as they lament their cataclysmic drop in market performance.
Thailand is conducting tests on macaque monkeys as it races to produce a cheaper, alternative coronavirus vaccine it hopes will be ready by 2021, a top researcher said Monday.
More than 100 candidate vaccines are currently in various stages of development around the world, at least eight of which are in clinical trials with humans, according to the World Health Organisation.
Oxford University researchers are considered the frontrunners in the race, starting clinical trials last month on a version based on a different virus that causes infections in chimpanzees.
At least two other companies -- pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and US-based Moderna -- are developing vaccines using the same technology, with the latter reporting positive preliminary results last week from clinical trials.
If the tests on the macaques go well, human trials should start in October, said Dr. Kiat Ruxrungtham, chair of the Chula Vaccine Research Center at Chulalongkorn University.
China has pledged to supply any vaccine against Coronavirus to African first free of charge.
Five out of 10 potential vaccines undergoing clinical trials have been developed by Chinese scientists, while a sixth is the result of a partnership between a Chinese company and a German biotech firm, according to the World Health Organisation
\tChinese President Xi Jinping spoke to an online coronavirus forum with the leaders of several African nations on Thursday.
“We gathered here with our new and old friends through video to discuss anti-epidemic cooperation and cement China-Africa brotherhood,” said Xi in a speech on Wednesday aired on state media.
Xi added China would push the Group of 20 to slow down debt repayment for African nations and that China’s construction of a new Africa Center of Disease Control headquarters would start “ahead of schedule” this year, despite the pandemic.
State media reported China has sent 30 million testing kits, 10,000 ventilators 80 million masks monthly to Africa, in addition to teams of experts to help nations fight the coronavirus.
South Africa will ease the Covid-19 lockdown from level four to level three beginning from June 1, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Sunday amid a surge in confirmed cases.
Level three will allow the opening of the economy and the removal of a number of restrictions on the movement of people, while significantly expanding and intensifying the public health interventions, said Ramaphosa.
President Ramaphosa said the decision was based on wide consultations with various stakeholders across the country and guided by advice from the World Health Organisation and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Even as the country moves to alert level three, it is important that South Africans should be aware that there are a few parts of the country where the disease is concentrated and infections continue to rise, the president said.
By Sunday, South Africa has recorded 22,583 confirmed Covid-19 cases, up by 1,240 from Saturday, the highest daily surge since March 5 when the country reported its first case.
Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina this week announced the start of clinical trials of an injectable solution based on extracts of the artemisia plant, a herbal treatment the Malagasy leader has been promoting for treatment of Covid-19.
Nevertheless, the World Health Organisation at the start of May told RFI that they were yet to receive any data from Madagascar about the Covid-Organics product and its effectiveness against presidency somewhat backtracked over claims about starting an artemisia clinical trial, describing a misunderstanding by the media about what Rajoelina was saying.
\"The second protocol concerns Covid-Organics, the improved traditional remedy, developed on the basis of WHO guidelines for clinical studies of traditional medicine in Africa,\" Sahondrarimalala added, referring to the artemisia herbal tea Rajoelina has been promoting.
No injections of artemisia
The third protocol, which is the one involved in clinical trials, is a combined treatment for Covid-19 patients, said Sahondrarimalala.
These comments from an official within Madagascar's presidency appear to directly contradict Rajoelina's announcement about clinical trials on an injectable artemisia-based product.
Barely 24 hours after the World Health Organisation (WHO) suspended all clinical trials for hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for COVID-19, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has said the trial will continue in Nigeria.
The UN agency had on Monday said it had 'temporarily' suspended the clinical trials of hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for COVID-19 over safety concerns.
Clinical trials in Nigeria
Mrs Adeyeye, however, said there are proven records that hydroxychloroquine has been effective in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
\"There is data to prove that hydroxychloroquine worked for many COVID-19 patients.
The governor said COVID-19 patients in the state would, henceforth, be treated with the drugs.
[Cameroon Tribune] The African Nations Football Championship that was planned to take place in April will now take place in January 2021 in Cameroon while the 2021 AFCON still in Cameroon has been pushed forward to January 2022. These are some of the major decisions taken on Tuesday June 30, 2020 by members of the Executive Committee of (CAF) in a video Conference in Cairo. The decisions did not come as a surprise to African countries as many had predicted a possible postponement of the two competitions. Cameroon had prepare
Stay informed and up to date with the latest news in South Africa by reviewing all major headlines on Tuesday 15 September.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has questioned the modality Uganda is using to deduct numbers of Covid-19 positive foreign cases, especially of trans-border cargo truck drivers.
On May 20, President Museveni directed the Ministry of Health to deduct numbers of foreign truck drivers from the total sum of Ugandan coronavirus cases.
\"The President directed that in addition to testing all long-distance truck drivers before entry into the country, and only allowing in the negative ones, all the foreign drivers who had tested positive and had been added to the confirmed cases of Uganda should be deducted from Uganda's total confirmed Covid-19 cases.
WHO Uganda representative, Dr Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam, worries that the numbers could be lost in the counting if the country where the Covid-19 positive truck driver comes from does not include the cases in their total counts.
But there was no mention or discussion on whether or not each country should deduct numbers of foreign positive coronavirus cases from their total cases.
FILE PHOTO | NMG
On June 10, 2020, the Ministry of Health launched protocols for home-based isolation and care for Covid-19 positive cases.
The 22-page booklet dubbed “Home Based Isolation and Care Guidelines for Patients with Covid-19” was developed by the Ministry of Health in conjunction with the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council, the Kenya Health Professionals Oversight Authority, the World Health Organisation and other stakeholders in the health sector.
Further, some health facilities like the Kenyatta National Hospital isolation unit in Mbagathi and Kenyatta University Teaching Referral and Research Hospitals are already overstretched and cannot cope with the ever-increasing number of Covid-19 positive patients.
The Kenya medical Practitioners and Dentists Council, which serves as the National Co-ordination Centre for Isolation and Quarantine Facilities, headed by Dr. Eva Njenga, is working closely with the Council of Governors and respective county governments to ensure that the above directive is realized.
The home-based protocols mean that these people can be managed at home provided proper laid down procedures are followed, paving way for the release of a majority of patients being held in isolation facilities, thereby decongesting health facilities.
Many in Kenya's health circles however argue that the COVID-19 crisis has simply highlighted the underfunding of the sector in past years.
In a 10 year review conducted in 2010, the World Health Organisation (WHO) rated Kenya, along with 26 other African countries, as having made 'insufficient progress' in achieving the declaration's goals.
So Kenya, like many other African countries, closed its borders and introduced preventative measures that other countries only introduced well into their individual crises.
While many African countriesseem to have been able to curb the spread of the virus, both Mbiti and Gitau agree that the strict measures, which countries like Kenya had to take, highlighted the shortcomings of an already vulnerable health care system.
Warutere, on the other hand, believes that while this year's budget still reflects pre-Covid priorities, Kenya will see a stronger focus on health in the years to come.
HUMAN rights doctors have laid into government over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying they had noted a “sad scenario” where the fight against the dreaded pandemic was being hampered by the poor living conditions at the quarantine facilities, resulting in the recent spike in cases.
“This sad scenario is further compounded by the poor state of the quarantine facilities whose standards fall far below the World Health Organisation minimum standards,” the Zimbabwe Association of Doctors for Human Rights (ZADHR) said in a statement yesterday.
“ZADHR strongly suspects that the recent spike in cases in quarantine centres is a result of the poor living conditions at the quarantine facilities.”
“ZADHR received reports that the Girls High quarantine centre, where a group of about 96 returnees — including pregnant women and an infant who were quarantined at Harare Polytechnic College on May 10, 2020 and later moved to Girls High School in Harare for further quarantining, upon arrival at Harare Polytechnic College — were not tested despite some individuals clearly exhibiting flu-like symptoms,” the doctors said.
ZADHR said it was concerned about reports that about 150 returnees were released from a Gweru facility four days ahead of schedule on May 24, 2020, after returnees threatened to protest against poor living conditions.
Uganda’s president on Monday expressed his frustration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), saying they are not gods and should be modest as they set out guidelines to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Museveni, who was addressing the country on the latest government efforts to deal with the coronavirus pandemic specifically took issue with WHO’s protocols on the tally of confirmed cases in Uganda.
“While I am not like Trump who is fighting the World Health Organisation, I think it should be modest. We cannot be responsible for people that got infected from another country,” Museveni said.
Museveni in May this year directed the country’s health ministry to deduct from the country’s tally, all positive tests from neighbouring countries. WHO on the other hand insists that such cases should be recorded and treated in the territory or country where they are detected.
“Following a Presidential Directive of deducting all foreign truck drivers from Uganda’s case count,” the ministry said at the time.
Uganda has sent back at least 167 nationals of neighbouring countries who tested positive in Uganda, and Museveni advised WHO to interest itself in Africa’s cultural context where hosts have a right to welcome or reject visitors.
By the time the president addressed the nation, Uganda had 774 confirmed cases, of which Museveni pointed out that nearly half (373) are truck drivers transporting good across the East African region.
The president also congratulated Ugandans and specifically the doctors on working tirelessly to keep the Covid-19 losses at a minimum. The country has not recorded any coronavirus deaths and registered 631 recoveries.
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This was highlighted by Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion, Assumpta Ingabire ahead of the International Day of Families.
This year, the day is celebrated globally under the theme- 'Families in Development: Copenhagen & Beijing + 25' while in Rwanda, celebrations are to be held under the theme of 'Let's build a resilient and safe family.'
In Rwanda, there will be no national celebrations by officials from the ministry and other stakeholders will use the media to discuss issues affecting families in the country.
Ingabire stressed that the family is the foundation for a country's development and hence should possess the foothold in the fight against the current pandemic.
To ensure resilience and safety of families, the ministry has carried out continued awareness through the media mobilising communities on the need to stay safe as well as maintaining peace and harmony in families.
DESCENDANT of the Ndebele monarch, King Lobengula, Prince Peter Zwide Khumalo yesterday slammed plans by Bulawayo City Council (BCC) to pump the heavily-polluted Khami Dam water into households to alleviate supply problems.
“The Bulawayo community read with shock in one of the papers about the city’s proposal to use Khami Dam water to supplement the city’s potable water supply,” he said.
“After a series of tests of Khami Dam water, it was recommended that it would never be suitable for public consumption because of its high chemical, organic and microbiological pollution load which was not possible to bring down to World Health Organisation (WHO) standards required for potable water,” he said.
He said the Khami Dam water had high sewage content coming through public water courses such as Khami and Phekiwe rivers and was abused by the Rhodesian security system.
He added that the Bulawayo city fathers should inform the public what methods of treatment they proposed to use to deal with high BOD/COD, E-COLI, suspended solids, odours and water colour to meet WHO standards.
Major African stats: May 31 at 7:00 GMT:
\t
\t\tConfirmed cases = 141,599
\t\tNumber of deaths = 4,070
\t\tRecoveries = 59,191
\t\tActive cases = 78,338
SUGGESTED READING: rolling coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in Africa I
\t\tLesotho confirms index case
\t\tComoros records first case
\t\tUS support for Kenya, South Africa; Africa’s equipment crunch
\t\tAfrica case increase worries experts
May 31: China to support Africa with virus logistics
\tChina will give Africa 30 million test kits per month, as well as 10 000 ventilators and 80 million masks, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa disclosed on Sunday during a virtual meeting with top editors in the country.
Back in South Africa, Ramaphosa who is the chairperson of the African Union also defended the decision to reopen the economy of Africa’s most industrialized nation despite being the most impacted and the having carried out the most tests.
The South African president is also current chairperson of the African Union, AU; he is leading Africa’s most impacted country and the continent’s effort to get international support to fight the pandemic.
Africa dangerously behind in global race for virus gear
\tAs Africa braces for a surge in coronavirus cases, its countries are dangerously behind in the global race for scarce medical equipment.
AP
April 23: Africa’s 43% jump in virus cases in 1 week worries experts
\tAfrica registered a 43% jump in reported COVID-19 cases in the last week, highlighting a warning from the World Health Organization that the continent of 1.3 billion could become the next epicenter of the global outbreak.
HEALTH experts and civil society organisations have warned of a possible spike in COVID-19 cases due to reckless behaviour by citizens who are moving around without masks and ignoring social distancing regulations.
Since Monday, Bulawayo experienced an influx of people in the city centre as police removed roadblocks which helped restrict movement and enforce wearing of face masks.
While it has been easier for the urban populace to adhere to lockdown regulations, rural communities are going out in their large numbers to give a send-off to their departed and in most instances failing to exercise social distancing and wearing masks,” the trust said in a report on Tuesday.
Community advocacy action team members who also attended the funeral expressed concern over the limited understanding of the need to adhere to the COVID-19 precautionary regulations.
They observed that few people were wearing face masks and social distancing was not being practised at the funeral.”
Bayard Rustin (17 March 1912- 24 August 1987) was a social and civil rights activist. However unlike many civil rights activists and advocates of the time, Rustin believed in a pacific combination of the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi, African-American socialism and the peaceful culture and staidness that formed such a big part of the Quaker belief system.
This is evinced by the fact that Rustin was actually a central figure where Martin Luther’s 1963 ‘I have A Dream’ speech- one of the most iconic civil rights speeches in the world, is concerned. Not only did he attend this speech but he was also involved with Martin Luther King where the Ride to Freedom Challenge in 1947 is concerned. The challenge took place in order to reverse the legalized racial segregation that commonly took place on American buses in the 50s.
Other than that, Rustin was also a strong advocate of homosexuality which at the time was not just condemned in terms of the physical act; the very subject was taboo in the 1950s with gays being referred to as ‘sexual deviants’. Against this backdrop of homophobia and the onslaught of so-called ‘educational’ videos that promoted the criminalization of homosexuals, broke forth Rustin’s ideas.
Where Martin Luther King was at one point was at one point, fearful of being implicated in a sexual scandal with Rustin, Rustin simply declared that it was time to quit running away from things and deal with them head-on; a bold statement in the mid-twentieth century when most psychiatrists still referred to homosexuality as a mental illness.
Rustin also believed that the time had arisen for the empowerment of the African-American and that the right way to do so was to involve the native African-American in the practices of the labor party which would also explain the march he took part in, in England in 1963.
The 1950s was the time when the empowerment of not just black people, but African-Americans also began. As the champion of minorities’ rights, Rustin stated that they were now in an era where
