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THE fear and confusion surrounding the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine donated by China and brought into the country this week reflects the failure by government to relay information to the citizens. Health practitioners, teachers and trade unionists have expressed fears over being used as guinea pigs to prove the efficacy of the vaccine amid reports that it had resulted in complications in some countries it has been rolled out. Among some of the concerns, the drug has not been approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO), but is still undergoing tests and the highest efficacy rate it has had is 75% compared to other drugs that are now in wide use, AstraZeneca, Modena, Pfizer, the Russian Sputnik 5 which have had higher efficacy rates. Suddenly, the Sinopharm drug received amid much pomp and fanfare, is now presenting more headaches for government than solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic that has wreaked havoc in the country, claiming more than 1 400 lives since March last year. Government can only blame itself for the dearth of information around the Chinese vaccine. Comments by the head of monitoring and evaluation in the Health and Child Care ministry, Robert Mudyiradima, which circulated widely on social media, to the effect that they still didn’t have full knowledge of the vaccine have worsened the uncertainty over its safety. A well-organised and detailed information campaign about the drug will go a long way in allaying fears over the safety of the vaccine. This should include the public vaccination of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his two deputies Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi. Government’s messaging deficit has long been its Achilles heel and could severely hamper its efforts to curb the pandemic. Its pathetic messaging and double standards have not only been limited to the Sinopharm vaccine. Doesn't it raise eyebrows that while government is preaching the need to limit movement of people and public gatherings, the ruling Zanu PF party continues to hold face-to-face meetings? The glaring double standards were also laid bare when First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa ignored her husband’s order to avoid public gatherings by organising a cooking contest in Chinhoyi in blatant defiance of the national lockdown regulations. That this was held a day after government warned citizens to brace for more restrictions in light of the highly fatal and fast-spreading South African variant, not only exhibits absence of leadership, but is also an insult to the country’s citizens. With such deplorable messaging, the government can forget about successfully curbing the COVID-19 pandemic.
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.
[RFI] West Africa is facing the first reported resurgence of Ebola since the end of a devastating outbreak in 2016. Guinea Conakry is dealing with a situation described by the national health authorities as an \"epidemic\" after seven cases were confirmed.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU GOVERNMENT has committed itself to operationalise many information centres to enable citizens, especially in rural areas, to have access to correct information on the COVID-19 pandemic. Information Technology, Postal and Courier Services minister Jenfan Muswere said COVID-19 had exposed how misinformation posed the “greatest security threats of our time”, while also militating against efforts in the fight against pandemic. “Indeed, as government, we have an obligation to ensure that citizens are protected from this barrage of misinformation by providing the public with facilities where they can access reliable, evidence-based information,” Muswere said yesterday at the opening of a community information centre (CIC) in Maphisa, Matabeleland South province. The Maphisa CIC was equipped with computers and internet service. “By visiting CICs, the public can access reliable information on COVID-19 published by the World Health Organisation and the Health and Child Care ministry,” Muswere said. “My ministry will, therefore, spare no efforts in operationalising as many CICs as we can, during this pandemic to ensure that more Zimbabweans are kept informed of the pandemic and have access to other ICTs services.” Communities in rural areas lack access to ICT services owing to poor network connectivity. The need for government to bridge the digital divide has been more pronounced now in the face of COVID-19, particularly for learners who risk losing out on online lessons as schools remain closed. Speaking on behalf of the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz) director-general Gift Machengete, the deputy director Alfred Marisa said the statutory body was seized with ensuring that marginalised areas have access to ICTs to bridge the digital divide. “By way of background, in support of the government policy to provide access ICT and postal services to all the people of Zimbabwe, Potraz came up with the concept of CICs, which are housed at post offices throughout the country,” he said in his address. “In places where there are no post offices, or where the post offices were too small to accommodate a CIC, the authority deployed containerised village information centres (CVICs).” To date, Potraz has operationalised 114 CICs and 24 CVICs. “Twelve CICs and one CVIC have been established in Matabeleland South province alone. Eight CICs in the province are already operational including Maphisa,” Marisa added.
[Lesotho Times] Health workers will be prioritised when Lesotho receives its consignment of the Covid-19 vaccine in April this year Ministry of Health expanded programme on immunisation (EPI) nurse, 'Mamonaheng Posholi has said.
(Jamaica Star) A herb which is allegedly treating persons infected with COVID-19 is now in high demand in Portland and St Thomas.
The article People flock ‘magic’ herb -Jamaicans turning to vervine for COVID cure appeared first on Stabroek News.
There are also unconfirmed reports that the MPs in the deal will sooner or later receive another Shs60m each as a token for last week's resolution in which Parliament appreciated Mr Museveni for fighting Covid-19.
Many of the MPs had not followed Mr Museveni's directive, which the High Court reinforced, to refund the Shs20m each got in that appropriation until the Clerk to Parliament, Ms Jane Kibirige, gave them a deadline of May 27 to file accountability for the cash.
Addressing a press conference at Parliament on Friday, Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo and Kumi Municipality MP Monica Amoding, said they had been informed by their friends that money was being dished out but that they had failed to access the venues where the distribution was taking place.
Some of the NRM party MPs from Busoga Sub-region about two weeks ago accused the President of fighting Ms Kadaga when he castigated Parliament over the Shs20m.
During the press conference, Mr Ssewungu said the President aims to destroy the institution of Parliament by fighting the Speaker and the MPs.
\"There are over 123,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent - with more than 50,000 recoveries and 3,600 deaths,\" it said.
The figures show that South Africa, Algeria and Nigeria have the highest reported cases in the continent.
According to the report, South Africa has 25,937 cases and 552 deaths, followed by Algeria with 8,857 cases and 623 deaths, while Nigeria has 8,733 confirmed cases and 254 deaths.
It said that Lesotho had only two confirmed cases with zero death.
Seychelles had 11 reported cases and zero death, while Namibia recorded 22 confirmed cases with no death.
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.
So far, Africa has recorded more than 1,8 million cases of the coronavirus. The death toll is inching closer to 45 000 while 1,535,747 people have managed to recover
[allAfrica] Analyses by researchers at the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (Accord) warn that Covid-19 has provoked responses that violate human rights, slow effective responses to the pandemic and, ultimately, threaten peace.
The African Union (AU) will test the controversial herbal remedy for Covid-19 from Madagascar.
“I am excited to update you that the Republic of Madagascar, through its Ministry of Health, has agreed to collaborate with the African Union and Africa Centres for Disease Control (Africa CDC) to explore further the remedy they have discovered for the treatment of Covid-19 to benefit the continent at large,” Mr Kwesi said on Twitter.
Last week, South Africa’s health minister Zweli Mkhize confirmed that they had received a scientific research request from Madagascar on the remedy.
Last week, the AU received data on the remedy for review based on global technical and ethical norms.
“Once furnished with the details, the Union, through the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, will review the scientific data gathered so far on the safety and efficacy of the Covid-19 Organics.
South West Governor, Bernard Okalia Bilai told the students not to panic as the State has put in place all measures to ensure their studies unfold hitch free.
South West Governor, Bernard Okalia Bilai, inspected the reopening and saluted all students who challenged all odds to be in school on Monday June 1, 2020.
In Government High School Buea Town, the Principal, Mary Like showed a recorded attendance of 23 students out 127 expected.
All 200 students in Baptist High School Buea answered present.
Okalai Bilai told the students not to hesitate to complain to school authorities if they have any health challenge.
With over half of Kenya’s population made up of youth, some of the most active internet sites are social media platforms.
The youth get all their information from social media accounts often run by non-journalist individuals.
For instance, TikTok a Chinese social media app popular with youth and young adults worldwide, announced earlier this month that it would be partnering with the WHO to spread verified information on the virus and information on best practices.
Social media platforms have in the past been blamed for not acting against misinformation or hate speech content.
In South Sudan in 2013, hate speech content posted on social media from the diaspora instigated violence.
WASHINGTON, DC, United States (CMC) - Director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) Dr Carissa Etienne Wednesday warned that countries should continue public health measures such as social distancing, hand-washing and wearing masks in public, as it may take time before people recive a vaccine to treat the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The justified uprisings we see erupting across the nation — from New York City to Philadelphia to Atlanta to Minneapolis to Louisville to Salt Lake City to Los Angeles — are in fact the rebellion of a people who are responding to the daily massacres that they have experienced for generations in a long list of past and present injuries that include abusive police tactics, stagnant wages, lack of contracts with black businesses, growing health disparities, discriminatory housing practices, the denial of mortgages and loans, and other offenses that are repeatedly addressed only with symbolic gestures rather than substantive action.
Today, black people are fighting battles seemingly on every front, from ensuring we can survive the health and economic stresses that COVID-19 has put on our businesses and communities, to fighting that other virus that this nation has long given up finding the vaccine for: systemic racism.
In the long history of black rebellion in the United States, protests have never been solely about police violence, but about the system, the way of life, the philosophies and the policies that produce and condone this violence.
On behalf of the leadership of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts, we send our deepest sympathies and warmest embrace to the families of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and the countless others not ingrained in our mental catalogs as hashtags or videos whom we have lost to police violence.
Segun Idowu is the executive director of the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts (BECMA).
DISASTERS have a tendency of showing the best and worst of humankind. Wars or natural disasters usually create new heroes/heroines and villains and the COVID-19 pandemic has done exactly that. Disasters expose the inner selves of people — whether they are empathetic or indifferent. In some cases, disasters reaffirm and strengthen perceptions already held by the people. In March this year, the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 — a flu-like health crisis a pandemic — forcing many governments across the globe to declare states of disaster or emergency depending on their statutes. Many countries, including Zimbabwe, declared national lockdowns — laws that closed everything else except essential services. Citizens were ordered to stay indoors or within their properties, workers were ordered to work from home if they could or just sit out the pandemic and people could not travel across cities or towns. The initial lockdown in Zimbabwe was declared on March 27 and was for two weeks effective from March 30, 2020. The government, in announcing the lockdown, claimed the move was meant to flatten the curve of infections. Zimbabwe wanted to flatten the curve when at that moment it had nine cases and one death. Zimbabwe’s economy is fragile from lack of investment and reduced production in the past five years or so and lack of policy consistency even on crucial issues like the currency. Nearly 90% of the working population, according to the International Labour Organisation, are engaged in the informal economy — meaning they survive generally from hand to mouth. The few that formally work are mostly underpaid and as high as 85% of them earn below the datum poverty line that currently stands at slightly over $8 000 a month for a family of six. The International Monetary Fund estimates that nearly 70% of the population in Zimbabwe are in abject poverty as they live on less than US$2/day — the scientific threshold of poverty across the globe. President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime made the perfunctory promises to help the indigent population by introducing social safety nets. It proposed to give $200 cash transfers to the most affected one million families over a period of three months. Finance minister Mthuli Ncube, in announcing the monetary support, said: “Vulnerable groups in our society are the most exposed under this COVID-19 crisis. Accordingly, the Treasury has set aside resources to cover one million vulnerable households under a cash transfer programme and payment will commence immediately. The Social Welfare Department will use its usual mechanisms to identify the beneficiaries.” The value of the grant at the time it was announced was equivalent to US$8, an amount so meagre that it could not buy breakfast for a week, especially in the hyperinflationary economy that the country is going through. As of Tuesday this week, the grant value was more than halved to US$3,20 after the US dollar traded at 1:57 to the local currency at the inaugural forex auction trading system. Ironically, it is the same Tuesday that Ca
World Suicide Prevention Day is on 10 September. The day is observed to raise awareness about suicide.
[This Day] Nigeria's former Finance Minister and leading candidate in the race for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director General, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been announced as the recipient of the 2020 African of the Year award.
BY MOSES MATENGA THE ruling Zanu PF and opposition MDC Alliance yesterday said they were going ahead with preparations for by-elections despite the recent poll ban imposed by Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga. In announcing the ban, Chiwenga, who doubles as Health minister, cited COVID-19 fears, but his decision has been widely dismissed with the World Health Organisation last week saying elections could still be safely held as long as authorities enforce certain safety measures. Some voters have challenged the ban in court, with constitutional law experts saying they stood a greater chance of winning the case. At the weekend, both parties were in the trenches holding primary elections in various parts of the country, saying they were confident the ban would be reversed soon. Several constituencies are without representation in Parliament after Thokozani Khupe recalled 32 MDC Alliance MPs accusing them of defecting from her MDC-T party. Zanu PF national commissar Victor Matemadanda said his party was on the ground for any eventuality, insisting that the people needed representation “at all times”. “The ban doesn’t have anything to do with the preparation because COVID-19 will come to an end and elections will be there, but meanwhile, people want service, so we can’t have a time we say politics is on leave in a constituency where there are people,” Matemadanda said. “Therefore, we are preparing until elections are called for so we remain prepared.” Zanu PF held primary elections in Epworth where Kudakwashe Damson emerged victorious. This was the second primary election after Chiwenga’s declaration, with the one held in Kwekwe Central to replace the late National Patriotic Front MP Masango Matambanadzo being aborted due to intra-party violence. The Epworth seat fell vacant following the recall of MDC Alliance MP Ethenrige Kureva by Khupe. The MDC Alliance also held primary elections in Kuwadzana to choose a candidate to replace Miriam Mushayi who passed on in September. Party secretary-general Chalton Hwende said the ban was unconstitutional and by-elections would be held anytime. “We held a primary election for Kuwadzana where we lost Honourable Mushayi. We are not doing primary elections for the recalled MPs because we have maintained that the move was unconstitutional,” Hwende said. Hwende is one of the 32 MPs recalled by the MDC-T. “We have maintained that the ban on by-elections is unconstitutional and Parliament has weighed in and also stated that it is unconstitutional. “We insist the law must be upheld and that is why we are busy preparing and also Zanu PF is preparing because they know that they cannot violate the Constitution. Zanu PF is also holding primary elections and it means they are preparing for elections anytime.” Last month, Chiwenga announced postponement of the by-elections indefinitely before Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda told Parliament on Thursday that Statutory Instrument 225A of 2020 had been deemed unconstitutional by the Parliamentary Legal Committee. He, however, appeared to make a
The mayor of the municipality has created a committee which carries out a door-to- door campaign to educate the population on the deadly pandemic.
This is the message, the Mayor of Yaounde I, Jean Marie Abouna and his team, is telling inhabitants of his municipality in a door-to-door campaign to educate and empower the population in a bid to prevent the Coronavirus.
From the Emana neighbourhood to Etoudi, Mballa I, II, III, going to Bastos, Etoa-Meki, Nkol-Eton, Ntougou and Nyom neighbourhoods in the Yaounde I Municipality, Jean Marie Abouna and his team have met inhabitants at their homes with the true gospel against Covid-19.
During the door-to-door cam- paigns, the Chief of Service of the Environment and Hygiene at the Yaounde I Council, André Marce Ateba un- derscores that they teach the population in a manner to ensure that the hygienic measures prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Head of State become a part and parcel of each inhabitant in the municipality.
During such campaigns, André Marce Ateba says they work with traditional rulers, associations within different neighbourhoods and local development communities, to distribute face masks, wash- hand buckets placed in public places, soaps and hand sanitizers to the population.
Speaking at a briefing on Wednesday, WHO emergencies director Dr Mike Ryan warned against trying to predict when the virus would disappear.
The United Nations health agency has been releasing a raft of guidelines as to how operations should resume as lockdown measures continue to be eased across different countries globally.
Some of these guidelines include public health and social measures in schools and the workplace.
Since Covid-19, an infectious disease that primarily affects the lungs, was declared a pandemic on March 11, countries have implemented a raft of measures like restriction on movement, partial closure or closure of schools and businesses, quarantine in specific geographic areas, and international travel restrictions.
The international health agency advises that protective measures, including physical distancing, handwashing, respiratory etiquette, and, potentially, thermal monitoring, have to be established.
[This Day] With 930 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in a single day, Nigeria yesterday recorded its worst certified transmission of the deadly virus that has so far killed 1,200 people and infected a total of 75,062 since the first case was reported on February 28.
Over the past few months, technology has been making society more resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic. Technology has also played a crucial role in keeping many economies functional and accelerated IT trends in areas of telemedicine, online/e-...
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.
Merck, the original manufacturer of ivermectin, has said there is not enough data available to support the use of the medication for Covid-19 patients.
