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CONAKRY, Guinea (AFP) — The head of Guinea’s health agency said Sunday that the country was in the midst of an Ebola “epidemic situation” with seven cases confirmed in the West African nation, including three deaths. “Very early this morning, the Conakry laboratory confirmed the presence of the Ebola virus,” Sakoba Keita said after an emergency meeting in the capital. Health Minister Remy Lamah had earlier spoken of four deaths. It was not immediately […]
by Mouctar Ba with Philippe Siuberski in Dakar CONAKRY, Guinea (AFP) — West Africa faced its first known Ebola resurgence since the end of a devastating outbreak in 2016 on Sunday, with Guinea responding to what its health chief called an “epidemic” after seven cases were confirmed. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic stretching health resources across the world, Guinea and the World Health Organization (WHO) say they are better prepared to deal with Ebola now than […]
BRAZZAVILLE, Congo (AFP) — Deaths from Covid-19 in Africa surged by 40 percent over the last month, the World Health Organisation said Thursday, as the continent’s toll approaches 100,000. “Over 22,300 deaths were reported in Africa in the last 28 days, compared with nearly 16,000 deaths in the previous 28 days,” said the WHO Africa office based in the Republic of the Congo capital Brazzaville. “This comes as Africa battles new, more contagious variants […]
RABAT, Morocco (AFP) — At least 24 people died after heavy rain flooded an illegal underground textile workshop at a private house in the Moroccan port city of Tangiers, the state news agency reported Monday. Rescue workers recovered 24 bodies from the basement of the property and rescued 10 survivors, who were taken to hospital, the MAP agency said, citing local authorities. A search of the premises in the northern city was ongoing. One […]
by AFP Bureaus GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — South Africa suspended the start of its AstraZeneca inoculation programme over concerns the shot does not work on a new variant, with WHO experts due to meet Monday to discuss the vaccine already facing questions about its efficacy for over-65s. A trial showed the vaccine provides only “minimal” protection against mild to moderate Covid-19 caused by the variant first detected in South Africa, a setback to the global […]
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday said the country had “passed the peak” of its second coronavirus infection wave, allowing for the easing of restrictions ahead of first vaccinations this month. The country hit hardest in Africa had earlier taken delivery of its first shipment of coronavirus shots, paving the way to the first phase of inoculation. Ramaphosa said in an address to the nation that that “first good […]
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AFP) — At least five people were killed in an hours-long Al-Shabaab attack on a Mogadishu hotel which ended around midnight on Sunday, Somali police said. The Al-Qaeda-linked jihadists detonated a car bomb at the entrance to the Hotel Afrik at a busy junction near the airport before gunmen stormed the hotel, exchanging fire with security personnel. Somali police spokesman Sadik Dudishe told a press conference that four attackers had also died. “Among […]
NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) — The African Union has secured an additional 400 million doses of coronavirus vaccines for its members, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said Thursday. This comes on top of an earlier announcement by the AU that it had secured 270 million vaccine doses. Most African countries have not begun vaccinating their populations, lacking the financial means to purchase the drugs which have largely been scooped up […]
MAPUTO, Mozambique (AFP) — A tropical cyclone that hit central Mozambique on the weekend has displaced thousands of people and caused severe flooding in an area battered by two deadly cyclones in 2019, response teams and aid agencies said. Cyclone Eloise made landfall in the early hours of Saturday, bringing high-speed winds of up to 150 km/h followed by torrential rain over the port city of Beira, the capital of Mozambique’s Sofala province, and the […]
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — The African Union said on Wednesday it had secured 270 million doses of anti-Covid vaccine for the continent, in a deal that will benefit countries unable to finance their own immunization campaigns. Under the deal, the vaccines will be supplied by Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. The doses will complement the vaccines secured via Covax, the globally-pooled vaccine procurement and distribution effort which has struck agreements to secure two […]
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AFP) — The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) appealed on Tuesday for emergency aid of $35 million to fight hunger in southern Madagascar, hit by the coronavirus pandemic and a third consecutive year of drought. “Some 1.35 million people are projected to be food insecure — 35 percent of the region’s population,” the WFP said in a statement. “With severe malnutrition rates continuing to spiral and many children forced to beg in […]
CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — Egypt has approved the use of a Covid-19 vaccine developed by Chinese pharma giant Sinopharm with its rollout to start later in January, the health minister said. “The Egyptian pharmaceutical authority approved on Saturday the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine,” Hala Zayed said late Saturday, on the local MBC Masr channel. The first batch of the vaccine was delivered in December, with further doses expected this month. “The second shipment of this vaccine […]
