

Ghana orders vaccinations for beach, restaurant, nightclub access
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

Omicron COVID-19 variant raises new fears for pandemic-hit world economy
By AFP The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has led to a raft of new travel restrictions and threatens to deliver a blow to a global economy that is still trying to recover from the pandemic. First reported to the World Health Organization in South Africa less than a week ago, the new strain has rapidly

Malawi on high alert following emergence of Omicron COVID-19 variant
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

FOCAC proves robust platform for promoting China-Africa ties, says Ethiopian finance minister
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,

Ghana to make COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for targeted groups from January
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

More Omicron cases pop up as world rushes to learn more
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