An international non-profit organization, Merck Foundation, has produced a song to celebrate health workers in Africa who are in frontline fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The song entitled “My White Army” is aimed at acknowledging the great sacrifices of medical doctors, nurses and all other health workers during the coronavirus tough times in Africa and across…
A Cuban medical brigade arrived in Guinea-Bissau to assist in the fight against COVID-19. The group of 21 health workers included 11 doctors and 10 nurses are also expected in Guinea Conakry, where the south American country already fought Ebola between 2014 and 2016, and with which Cuba has several cooperation agreements. “Today we received this…
More than 10 million cases of the new coronavirus have been officially declared around the world, half of them in Europe and the United States, according to an AFP tally at 0930 GMT Sunday, June 28, based on official sources. At least 10,003,942 infections, including 498,779 deaths, have been registered globally. Europe remains the hardest hit continent with 2,637,546…
Congolese Health Minister Eteni Longondo on Thursday officially proclaimed the end of the Ebola epidemic in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the second most serious since the discovery of the virus in 1976. Declared on 1 August 2018, this tenth epidemic of haemorrhagic fever on Congolese soil has killed 2,277 people, said the Minister of…
Merck KGaA Germany partners with African First Ladies to announced the call for entries for coronavirus ‘Stay at Home” Media Recognition Awards for African countries. The theme of the awards is to raise awareness on how to ‘Stay Safe and keep Physically and Mentally Healthy during Coronavirus Lockdown’. The African First Ladies involved are Ghana, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of…
Members of the East African Community (EAC) will implement joint strategies to boost recovery of the tourism sector after months of downturn linked to COVID-19 pandemic, officials said on Tuesday. Christophe Bazivamo, deputy secretary general of productive and social sectors at EAC, said the bloc has engaged with governments and industry to facilitate a coordinated…
Zambia’s cabinet approved a 8 billion kwacha ($439 million) economic stimulus package financed through a COVID-19 bond in an effort to alleviate the pandemic’s impact, the presidency said on Tuesday. Zambia, Africa’s second largest copper producer, has been wrestling with growing public debt even before the coronavirus outbreak forced lockdowns across the globe, crimping international…
Researchers in South Africa and Brazil have initiated clinical trials to assess a Covid-19 vaccine candidate, ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222), developed by the University of Oxford and licensed to AstraZeneca. Sponsored by Lemann Foundation, the trial in Brazil will assess the vaccine candidate in 2,000 health workers in Sao Paulo and 1,000 people in Rio de…
As South Africa prepares to launch the continent’s first coronavirus vaccine trial, the Rainbow Nation has opened a new field hospital for people with COVID-19 in a de-commissioned Volkswagen plant. According to the country’s health authorities, 3,300 beds have been installed in the new field hospital, bringing the total number of beds across the country to…
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, became the third African country to record over 10,000 cases of COVID-19. The milestone was reached on May 31 when 307 new cases took its tally to 10,162. As Africa’s biggest economy, the federal government has continued to enforce regulations across the board even though most state governments have moved to…
