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Chairperson of the African Union (AU) President Cyril Ramaphosa said efforts to secure a COVID-19 vaccine for the continent were always collaborative
A November 26 letter from the presidency asked the head of Uganda's national drug authority to 'work out a mechanism' to clear the importation of the vaccines.
China has about five COVID-19 vaccine candidates at different levels of trials. It was not clear what vaccine was being imported into Uganda.
One of the frontrunners is the Sinopharm vaccine developed by the Beijing Institute of Biological Product, a unit of Sinopharm’s China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
On Wednesday, the United Arab Emirates said the vaccine has 86% efficacy, citing an interim analysis of late-stage clinical trials.
China has used the drug to vaccinate up to a million people under its emergency use program.
On Tuesday, Morocco said it was ordering up to 10 million doses of the vaccine.
Record cases
Uganda on Monday registered 701 new COVID-19 cases, the highest-ever daily increase, bringing its national count to 23,200.
The new cases were out of the 5,578 samples tested for the novel coronavirus over the past 24 hours, the country's health ministry said in a statement.
Tuesday's tally was 606, the second-highest ever number of new infections, bringing the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the east African country to 23,860.
Health authorities have blamed ongoing election campaigns which have drawn huge crowds for the rise in infections.
Africa Day will go virtual this year with a star-studded benefit concert hosted by English actor Idris Alba, an online how-to video for jollof rice, and a U.N. call for a global ceasefire issued by the Secretary General, Antonio Guterres.
African countries have “demonstrated commendable leadership” battling the COVID-19 pandemic, he said in a Monday message, “but more nations across the continent where conflict prevails should heed the UN call for a global ceasefire to push back the deadly virus.”
Africa Day is observed annually on May 25 to commemorate the founding of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) which was created on May 25, 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Besides celebrating Africa’s decolonization, Africa Day is also a time of sober reflection on how African countries can consolidate peace and democracy on the continent.
The U.N. leader welcomed support for his global ceasefire call which reflects the African Union’s 2020 theme: “Silencing the Guns: Creating Conducive Conditions for Africa’s Development.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa said he had met with police to discuss the scourge of violent crime in 'the various places where our people live'.
The leaders of the federal government of Somalia and the self-declared republic of Somaliland held a landmark meeting in the neighboring Djibouti on Sunday.
“The resumption of the talks between Somalia and Somaliland is a perfect illustration of the continued determination of the leaders of the region to resolve differences through dialogue,” Guelleh said via Twitter.
Guelleh acknowledged the meeting is a follow-up of the initiative by Ahmed, who brokered a meeting between Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo and Somaliland President Muse Bihi Abdi in Addis Ababa in February.
Sunday's talks coincide with preparations by Somalia and Somaliland to celebrate their 60th anniversary of independence from Britain and Italy.
In February, Farmajo acknowledged atrocities committed by the previous government of Somalia in the northern regions and apologized to the people of Somaliland.
Nairobi — Africa will know its third non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for 2021-2022 after Thursday's run-off vote by the United Nations General Assembly to elect new temporary members.
This is after both Kenya and Djibouti failed to garner more than 128 votes of all the 193 member states to capture the seat in the first round election which was conducted last night.
Kenya, the African Union endorsed candidate, polled 113 votes against Djibouti's 78 votes, falling short of the threshold by 15 votes.
If Kenyan wins in Thursday evening's vote it will be the third time the country will be serving on the Council.
The Security Council has 10 non-permanent members in addition to the veto-wielding Big Five - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.
Architectural Association of Kenya(AAK) president Mugure Njendu said post-Covid, major changes must be made within private and public buildings to create spaces that enable people to observe social distancing to deter new Covid-19 infections.
Speaking at the same event, AAK’s Town Planners Chapter chair Juliet Rita called for a fresh examination of all public spaces from markets, bus stages and termini as well as public offices, health centres, educational and sports facilities to inform mitigation measures that enhance healthy living within urban areas.
AAK’s honorary secretary Marylyn Musyimi called for increased investments in social public infrastructure to ease queues at watering points and reduce jostling for space along footpaths used by bodaboda operators as well as pedestrians.
Restaurants and retail chains are already taking steps towards making their spaces safe, having installed plexiglass in key service areas to minimise human contact while allowing operations to go on
Fast-food restaurant operator Simbisa Brands has opened a takeaway section at its latest outlet at a petrol station on Eastern bypass, Ruiru that incorporates Pizza Inn, Chicken Inn and Creamy Inn awaiting inspection and advises on the sitting arrangement on its first floor dining area.
Ms Njendu said future construction designs of buildings will have to incorporate larger spaces and more doors as well as new restroom designs to accommodate the social distancing rule, while buttonless elevators might become the norm with more people preferring to walk up and down the stairs.
Governments can take the opportunity of COVID-19 to change Africa's place in global economic structures, but it will take pan-African coordination.
Since the 16th century, Africa has been a place of both resource extraction - in the form of enslaved people, gold and minerals - and of external financing as European traders provided credit to their African counterparts to help finance the expansion of the Atlantic trade.
The structural adjustment policies promoted by the IMF and World Bank following the 1970s oil crisis may have further entrenched African economies' dependency on the export of raw materials.
Rather than trying to return to normal - albeit with even greater debt and mass unemployment - African governments should take this rare chance to rebalance Africa's relationship to global capital.
Although they would be just a start, these twin policies of a debt cancellation campaign and increased credit - financed through the diaspora and pan-African banks - would bring money into African economies and significantly ameliorate the current crisis.
Plans to deploy national ministers to the Western Cape to assist in the fight against Covid-19 are under way, according to a report in the Sunday Times.
Their duties are still unclear, however, Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu told Sunday Times that ministers would be sent to Covid-19 hotspots – a decision which the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) made.
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde confirmed the deployment to Sunday Times, saying he had not spoken to President Cyril Ramaphosa about the ministers' mandate but hoped consultations would take place before the deployment.
While some DA insiders raised concerns that the national government was attempting to micromanage the DA-run province, both Winde and Mthembu denied this, saying politics should not come into play during the fight against Covid-19, the report said.
As of Saturday night, the Western Cape recorded 66.1% of the national figure, with cases sitting at 30 379, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement.
Some governments across the African continent are cautiously coming out of Covid-19 lockdown, such as Nigeria, which on Tuesday reopened churches and mosques, with social distancing restrictions in place.
In Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni announced that schools for final-year students would be postponed one more month as not enough test kits are available to test students every two weeks as proscribed.
Boda boda's employ over 1.2 million youths in Uganda, their source of income provides a livelihood to over 6 million Ugandans,how will they survive if they are to wait for the Covid pandemic to subside, President Museveni should rethink his decision #WhatIMissAboutMyBodaGuy pic.twitter.com/p8ZnXBISFu
- Nick Spartan (@nicksakwa) June 2, 2020
Part of the government concern is the slight spike in coronavirus cases over the weekend, with 84 new infections.
Nigeria returns to places of worshippers
While churches and mosques in Uganda remain shut, Nigeria has decided to open all places of worship on Tuesday as part of lifting its Covid-19 restrictions.
Surge in Covid-19 cases in Africa after lockdowns lifted in some countries
Nigeria needs to increase food production to feed itself, experts say
The coronavirus task force stipulated that only regular religious gatherings would be possible, and social distancing necessary in order to keep the churches and mosques open.
The EFF said the country should return to lockdown Level 5 as over 40 000 COVID-19 cases have been reported in the last seven days alone.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) had estimated that Mauritius had the highest risk of exposure in Africa and would have the second highest rate of infections.
Increases in new cases in Africa have been relatively slow and death rates much lower than in other parts of the world.
In explaining why, some point out that many African countries have the advantage of low population densities and young populations.
A big part of the answer is that - like in many countries in Africa and unlike many in the Global North - the government in Port Louis heeded early warnings and acted promptly.
Among other things, the bill removes the night shift extra payment allowance, reduces annual leave from 21 to 7 days, makes overtime pay optional, and allows the police to arrest people without a warrant in cases of \"reasonable doubt\".
In a lengthy conversation with Black Press USA, it was easy to see why Vanessa R. Williams has earned the description of the “glue that holds 650 African American mayors together.”
The International Association of Mayors of African Descent is visionary mayors and leaders united for the purpose and vision of establishing the platform in which education, empowerment, and economic development through trust, trade, training, and tourism.
“The next step for me was an international step because as we began to grow the organization domestically, we started seeing the similarities of conditions of the quality of life or the lack thereof both with Africans living on the continent of Africa,” Williams stated.
Today, the International Conference of Black Mayors represents the well over 39,000 African American, African, Afro-Caribbean, Latino and European mayors and local elected officials located throughout the African Diaspora.
“What we’ve done over the last 10 to 15 years is really quietly organize mayors of African descent throughout the globe,” Williams said.
Among some of the major announcements were that National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) students would receive 10GB free data from June through to August; all students and staff members returning to campuses will be screened upon entry; and one third of students will be allowed back on campuses and in residences under Level 3 of the lockdown.
The students who will be allowed back under Level 3 should be in their final year and must require access to laboratories, technical equipment, data, connectivity and access to residence as well as private accommodation.
First-year students in all undergraduate programmes will be allowed back as well as students in all years of study who require laboratory and technical equipment to complete the academic year.
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students will return by specific dates, but if their campuses are in areas that are still on Level 4 during that time - they will remain closed.
Nzimande added the government was not in a position to subsidise data to students who fall within the so-called \"missing middle\" category - those who did not qualify for NSFAS bursaries, but came from households who might have been hit hard by the pandemic.
Since protestors and demonstrators have taken to the streets around the globe in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, many businesses and organizations have issued statements and taken measures to communicate their stand against racial injustice.
On Wednesday, June 10, NASCAR joined that ever-growing list with the announcement that it’s removing the Confederate flag from all of its events.
“The presence of the Confederate flag at NASCAR events runs contrary to our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all fans, our competitors and our industry,” NASCAR officials wrote in a statement.
The display of the Confederate flag will be prohibited from all NASCAR events and properties.”
“The people who insist the Confederate flag is an important part of that pageantry are not amplifying the values inherent to American sports.
There are a few examples that show that African institutions of higher learning and many other organisations can play their part in collectively helping fellow Africans face the pandemic head-on.
In recent history, other pandemics such as SARS (2002), H1N1 Swine flu (2009), and MERS (2012) did cause a global response and disruption, but it is probably fair to say that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused a global response like never seen before, with terms such as \"lockdown\", \"social-distancing\" and \"the new-normal\" now part of our common vocabulary.
Indeed, many parts of Africa are scarcely populated, but according to the United Nations, around 40 to 45% of Africans live in urban areas, with many living in a number of mega-cities such as Lagos, Kinshasa, Addis Ababa, Cairo, and Johannesburg.
Since a major focus of the Makerere University team is doing research and outreach related to refugee health, much of their current focus is monitoring for Covid-19 among refugee communities and camps in the country.
These are just a few examples that show that African institutions of higher learning and many other organisations can play their part in collectively helping fellow Africans face the pandemic head-on and \"rise like lions\", to use the words of the renowned African poet, Ben Okri.
A Covid-19 vaccine that has been developed by an American biotechnology company has been found to be safe and able to stimulate an immune response in the humans against the virus, its manufacturer, Moderna, announced on Monday.
In the phase one clinical trial, eight patients who received the vaccine at the lowest and middle doses developed neutralising antibodies to the virus.
Meanwhile, Kenyan researcher Dr F. George Njoroge and his team of scientists at Merck Pharmaceutical Company have said that a drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for treatment of hepatitis C has now demonstrated good potency in inhibiting Covid-19 proliferation in cells.
Dr Njoroge said the drug, boceprevir, had a strong binding to the enzyme that Covid-19 uses to process its proteins.
Dr Njoroge said he was excited to undertake further studies on the drug.
The new Malawi Electoral Commission, MEC, chief Chifundo Kachale also urged the public to observe necessary legal processes in dealing with electoral grievances.
June 23: Malawians vote in crucial presidential poll rerun despite virus
\tVoters in Malawi have already started casting their ballots today in crucial presidential election rerun pitting incumbent Peter Mutharika and opposition coalition leader Lazarus Chakwera.
Malawi joins a number of African countries that went ahead with elections despite the virus .
Confirmed cases = 749
\t\tActive cases = 480
\t\tRecoveries = 258
\t\tNumber of deaths = 11
\t
John Hopkins Uni stats valid as of June 22, 2020
\tU.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on “all political actors and stakeholders to renew their commitment to credible and peaceful elections, while observing all preventive measures against the spread of COVID-19,” the U.N. spokesman said.
VIDEO
\tA number of local and international organizations will observe the new elections, in an effort to make sure that they are free and fair, the newly-elected chairman of the Malawi Electoral Commission Chifundo Kachale said.
By JAMEY KEATEN and MARIA CHENG, Associated Press
GENEVA (AP) — China will provide $2 billion over two years to fight the coronavirus pandemic and the economic fallout from it, President Xi Jinping said Monday, rallying around the World Health Organization even as the United States has slashed funding for the U.N. health agency and sought to undermine its credibility.
The European Union’s 27-member bloc and other countries, meanwhile, called for an independent evaluation of WHO’s initial response to the coronavirus pandemic “to review experience gained and lessons learned.”
In a speech to the World Health Assembly, Xi said China had provided all relevant outbreak data to WHO and other countries, including the virus’s genetic sequence, “in a most timely fashion.”
In his address to the annual meeting of WHO’s member countries, director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned there is still “a long road to travel” before the pandemic is contained, noting that the majority of the world’s population remains susceptible to the virus.
Tedros said the pandemic has exposed critical fault lines between countries that could jeopardize stopping the virus.
Even before COVID-19, many African countries used libel and defamation laws, and internet shut downs to limit the freedom of expression of citizens and the media.
This recommendation can still be used to combat fake news as long as the impact on freedom of expression is minimal.
The Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa issued a recently press statement expressing concerns about internet shutdowns in African countries in the time of COVID-19.
And the African Commission recently published its Revised Declaration on Principles of Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa.
Finally, African governments must not use fake news during this pandemic as a shield to violate the freedom of expression of its citizens, or settle old scores with the press.
Uganda’s president on Monday expressed his frustration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), saying they are not gods and should be modest as they set out guidelines to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Museveni, who was addressing the country on the latest government efforts to deal with the coronavirus pandemic specifically took issue with WHO’s protocols on the tally of confirmed cases in Uganda.
“While I am not like Trump who is fighting the World Health Organisation, I think it should be modest. We cannot be responsible for people that got infected from another country,” Museveni said.
Museveni in May this year directed the country’s health ministry to deduct from the country’s tally, all positive tests from neighbouring countries. WHO on the other hand insists that such cases should be recorded and treated in the territory or country where they are detected.
“Following a Presidential Directive of deducting all foreign truck drivers from Uganda’s case count,” the ministry said at the time.
Uganda has sent back at least 167 nationals of neighbouring countries who tested positive in Uganda, and Museveni advised WHO to interest itself in Africa’s cultural context where hosts have a right to welcome or reject visitors.
By the time the president addressed the nation, Uganda had 774 confirmed cases, of which Museveni pointed out that nearly half (373) are truck drivers transporting good across the East African region.
The president also congratulated Ugandans and specifically the doctors on working tirelessly to keep the Covid-19 losses at a minimum. The country has not recorded any coronavirus deaths and registered 631 recoveries.
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President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on South Africans not \"to drink so much they injure others\" - and put undue pressure on the national health system.
When alcohol sales were legalised on Monday, \"we suddenly saw a spike in the utilisation of hospital beds\" due to alcohol-related harms, Ramaphosa said.
READ | Ramaphosa at opening of CTICC 'Hospital of Hope': We must pull out all stops for more beds
Ramaphosa praised the Western Cape government's transformation of the Cape Town International Convention Centre in a 'hospital of hope', and the partnership with the taxi industry, as welcome examples of innovation.
'Crossing the river by feeling our way'
Asked by News24 if he had personally made any mistakes in his leadership of the crisis, Ramaphosa replied: \"We are traversing unchartered waters.
Ramaphosa said as leaders, they had been glad to have had South Africans \"walking with us\", promising the government would try to \"minimise the mistakes\" and make \"more and more correct decisions\".
[SNA] The UN Security Council began, today Monday, a session of dialogues on the negotiations of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam between Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan, during which France will take charge of the June meetings, and chairs the session through a closed television circuit.
Maputo — Mozambique's National Director of Public Health, Rosa Marlene, announced on Tuesday that a further 20 cases of the Covid-19 respiratory disease have been diagnosed, bringing the total number of known Covid-19 cases in the country to 453.
Speaking in Maputo at the Health Ministry's daily press conference on the Covid-19 situation, Marlene said that, since the start of the crisis, 15,190 people have been tested in Mozambique for the coronavirus that causes the disease, 610 of them in the previous 24 hours.
The distribution of the 453 positive cases by province is as follows: Cabo Delgado, 164; Nampula, 136; Maputo City, 71; Maputo Province, 47; Sofala, 13; Niassa, 5; Tete, 5; Inhambane, 4; Manica, 3; Gaza, 3; Zambezia, 2.
As for the claim made by one World Health Organisation (WHO) official, Maria van Kerkhove, that transmission of Covid-19 by asymptomatic people is \"very rare\", the Director of Surveys of the National Health Institute, Sergio Chicumbe, politely dismissed it.
He pointed out that the reference to symptoms is often subjective - while the temperature of a patient can be readily measured, this was not the case with other Covid-19 symptoms, for which doctors depended on descriptions given by the patients themselves.
\"There are over 123,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent - with more than 50,000 recoveries and 3,600 deaths,\" it said.
The figures show that South Africa, Algeria and Nigeria have the highest reported cases in the continent.
According to the report, South Africa has 25,937 cases and 552 deaths, followed by Algeria with 8,857 cases and 623 deaths, while Nigeria has 8,733 confirmed cases and 254 deaths.
It said that Lesotho had only two confirmed cases with zero death.
Seychelles had 11 reported cases and zero death, while Namibia recorded 22 confirmed cases with no death.
