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by Sofia CHRISTENSEN Agence France Presse JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — The newly-discovered Omicron variant is likely to fuel a surge in South Africa’s coronavirus cases that could see daily infections treble this week, a top epidemiologist warned Monday. Health monitors reported over 2,800 new infections on Sunday, up from a daily average of 500 in the previous week and 275 the week before. “We can expect that higher transmissibility is likely and so […]
GABORONE, Botswana (AFP) –Botswana, the only African country outside South Africa to have reported Omicron cases, said Sunday it had detected 19 infections of the new Covid variant, including the first four declared last week. “As of today we have recorded a total of 19 cases of the variant,” Health Minister Edwin Dikoloti said at a press conference in the capital Gaborone. The southern African country had on Friday declared that the highly-mutated variant was […]
by Daniel Woolls with AFP bureaus The United States, Brazil, Canada, and Saudi Arabia became the latest countries Friday to restrict travel from southern Africa, where a new Covid strain labelled a “variant of concern” has been discovered in a potentially heavy blow to the world’s efforts to end the coronavirus pandemic. The World Health Organization said the new variant is more infectious than the dominant, highly transmissible Delta strain, and renamed this B.1.1.529 strain […]
by Paul RICARD Agence France Presse It is, scientists say, the most worrying Covid-19 variant since delta and perhaps ever. Here is what we know — and what we don’t — about the strain thought to have originated in Southern Africa. – How worrying? “This one is worrying and I’ve not said that since delta,” British virologist Ravi Gupta said on Twitter, about the variant labelled B.1.1.529. Concerns among disease experts stem from the variant’s […]
by Agnès PEDRERO Next week’s World Trade Organization 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 organisation, which has been stuck for years trying to make progress on resolving issues like fishery subsidies. New director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was also hoping, against the odds, […]
The new Covid variant, dubbed Omicron and originally detected in South Africa, poses a “high to very high” risk to Europe, the EU health agency warned on Friday. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) noted in a threat assessment report that there was still “considerable uncertainty related to the transmissibility, vaccine effectiveness, risk for reinfections and other properties of the Omicron variant.” However, the overall risk that Omicron posed to the European […]
JERUSALEM, Israel (AFP) — Israel has identified a case of a Covid-19 variant with a large number of mutations first detected in South Africa, the health ministry said Friday. “The variant discovered in southern African states has been identified in Israel,” the ministry said, adding it was recorded “in a person who returned from Malawi”. Two more cases were detected in “people returning from abroad”, it said, adding that they had been placed in quarantine. […]
by Susan NJANJI Agence France Presse JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — Scientists in South Africa said Thursday they had detected a new Covid-19 variant with a large number of mutations, blaming it for a surge in infection numbers. The number of daily infections in Africa’s hardest-hit country has increased tenfold since the start of the month. “Unfortunately we have detected a new variant which is a reason for concern in South Africa,” virologist Tulio […]
by Robbie COREY-BOULET ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP) — Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Wednesday reportedly joined the front line where government forces are battling rebels from the Tigray region, prompting US-led international calls for a diplomatic solution and immediate ceasefire to the conflict. The fighting in the north of Africa’s second-most populous country has killed thousands of people and forced hundreds of thousands into famine-like conditions. Foreign governments have told their citizens to leave […]
Sudan’s deposed prime minister and the top general who ousted him a month ago signed a breakthrough deal Sunday to reverse the military takeover, but protests continued and a teenager was killed. Thousands of demonstrators in multiple rallies rejected the deal, shouting “No to military power” and demanding the armed forces fully withdraw from government. A 16-year-old boy was shot and killed in Khartoum’s twin city Omdurman, medics said, bringing the overall death toll since […]
KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP) — Sudanese security forces shot dead at least 15 anti-coup protesters and wounded dozens more on Wednesday, medics said, in the bloodiest day since the military’s October 25 takeover. The fatalities — all in Khartoum, especially its northern districts — raised to 39 the death toll from unrest since the military seized power, a pro-democracy doctors’ union said. Hundreds more have been wounded. “The day’s massacre reinforces our slogans: no negotiations, no […]
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