By Jerry Omondi South Africa and Botswana should be thanked for detecting, sequencing and reporting the Omicron COVID-19 variant, not penalized, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom. The WHO chief made the call on Thursday as part of his opening remarks at the Special Session of the World Health Assembly. The call…
By AP Ghana is ordering access to beaches, restaurants, night clubs and stadiums be prohibited unless one has been vaccinated against COVID-19. The new mandate is part of the country’s efforts to fight the spread of the virus. While the Omicron variant has not yet been identified in Ghana, the government health service is “taking steps…
By David Ochieng Mbewa Authorities in Malawi have stepped up their COVID-19 surveillance and response mechanisms following the emergence of the new COVID-19 variant, Omicron, which is suspected to be more infectious than previous variants of the virus. The B.1.1.529 variant was first reported to the World Health Organization from South Africa on November 24 and…
By XINHUA The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) is an efficient and robust means of promoting China-Africa cooperation, Ethiopian Finance Minister Ahmed Shide has said. “In the past two decades, the FOCAC mechanism has been proven to be an effective and robust platform in promoting Africa-China cooperation by supporting critical infrastructure development to engender greater connectivity,…
By Reuters Ghana will ramp up its COVID-19 inoculation campaign next month and make the vaccine mandatory for targeted groups including all public sector and health workers from January 22, this is according to the health service director-general Patrick Kuma-Aboagye has said. Ghana, like most African nations, has seen a sluggish uptake in COVID-19 vaccinations despite…
By AP Cases of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus popped up in countries on opposite sides of the world Sunday and many governments rushed to close their borders even as scientists cautioned that it’s not clear if the new variant is more alarming than other versions of the virus. The variant was identified days ago…
By CGTN Africa Rwanda on Sunday became the latest country to suspend direct flights to southern Africa in a bid to prevent the entry of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant. This is despite the Africa Centre for Disease Control statement that travel bans serve little purpose in managing the spread of the coronavirus. The Omicron variant,…
By AFP Next week’s World Trade Organization (WTO) 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 organization, which has been stuck for years trying…
By David Ochieng Mbewa South Africa on Saturday defeated the United States 42-7 to win the opening event of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series season at the Dubai Sevens at the Sevens Stadium. It was South Africa’s eighth title victory in Dubai and extended their winning streak in the HSBC World Series to 18 matches. Victory…
By AP The new potentially more contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus popped up in more European countries on Saturday, just days after being identified in South Africa, leaving governments around the world scrambling to stop the spread. The U.K. on Saturday tightened its rules on mask-wearing and on testing of international arrivals after finding two…
