By AFP Swiss pharma giant Roche announced Tuesday promising results from clinical trials of an anti-Covid cocktail developed with U.S. biotech firm Regeneron. The results of the Phase 3 trial showed that the combination of the antibodies casirivimab and imdevimab “reduced hospitalisation or death by 70 percent in non-hospitalised patients with COVID-19,” it said in…
By AFP Children who are 10 years old and younger produce more antibodies in response to coronavirus infection than adolescents and adults, a study has shown. The authors of the paper, which appeared in JAMA Network Open, said the finding helped illuminate why children are less susceptible to severe COVID-19 than adults – though this…
By CGTN Africa South Africa concluded the sale of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines it had acquired but did not use, to other African Union (AU) member states, the ministry of health said on Sunday. The government suspended the AstraZeneca vaccine rollout program last month after a study by the Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg pointed to a…
By XINHUA Ghana’s fighting with COVID-19 has improved as the number of daily cases fell, an official with the health service said here on Sunday. “Active cases declined from over 8,000 daily to less than 3,500 over the past four weeks, and reported cases have declined from 800 cases daily to about 250,” the Director…
By AP The leading opposition presidential candidate in the Republic of Congo was receiving oxygen at a private hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19, a family member said, casting Sunday’s election into doubt. Kolelas, the president’s leading opponent, skipped his final campaign event on Friday after telling some reporters a day earlier that he feared…
By XINHUA The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa has reached 4,159,950 as of Saturday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said. The Africa CDC, the specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU), said the death toll related to the pandemic stood at 109,456, while 3,669,551 patients across the…
By XINHUA Three employees of the Ghana Health Service have been arrested for allegedly stealing COVID-19 vaccines, police said Saturday. The Greater Accra regional police arrested Stephen Dzisenu, a disease control officer, Cosmos Allotey, an occupational health, and safety officer, and Joseph Knight Gaissie, a laboratory assistant, for allegedly stealing 36 vials of Covishield vaccines….
By XINHUA Health Minister of Benin Benjamin Hounkpatin said Saturday his country plans to launch a nationwide immunization campaign against COVID-19 in the coming week with AstraZeneca vaccines, the national radio reported. “It is now time to go for immunization,” he said. On March 10, Benin received 144,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. However, the…
By CGTN The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday recommended vaccination using the AstraZeneca shot to continue, saying the benefits of the vaccine outweigh its risks at this time. Some EU countries have temporarily suspended the use of the vaccine amid growing concerns over blood clot disorders in persons who had received it. The WHO Global…
By Jerry Omondi Sniffer dogs trained in Thailand to detect COVID-19 in human sweat proved nearly 95% accurate during training, and could be deployed to identify infected persons at busy transport hubs within seconds, Reuters reports citing the head of a pilot project. Six Labrador Retrievers participated in a six-month project that included being tasked to…
