Health

The Nigerian government says fully vaccinated travellers coming into the country will no longer be required to take a pre-departure PCR Covid-19 test. This is the first major reversal to the public health safety protocols since Nigeria started seeing a decline in the number of infections. The chairman of the …

The UN’s Global Fund said hundreds of thousands of condoms, mosquito nets and tuberculosis drugs have disappeared from a warehouse run by the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA). The UN Global Fund to Fight HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria has accused KEMSA of stealing drugs. It said they were resold on …

The wearing of masks in public in Namibia and negative PCR tests for vaccinated visitors are no longer required, President Hage Geingob said on Tuesday, as active COVID-19 cases fall to just a couple of hundred. Infections peaked at more than 30,000 per month in June 2021 but the southern …

Kenyan authorities have announced the lifting of coronavirus restrictions and are now allowing people not to wear face masks in open places. The health ministry said mandatory quarantine and isolation of confirmed cases are also removed. The government however encouraged people attending events indoors to wear face masks and while …

Tanzania has launched a yellow fever vaccination campaign after the discovery the disease in neighbouring Kenya, the country’s health ministry announced. Authorities launched the vaccination campaign after about 15 people contracted the disease and three people died from it. Health Minister Ummy Mwalimu has directed provincial referral hospital officials to …

Pharmaceutical company Pfizer is set to supply Africa’s top health body with its coronavirus pill. The drug, Paxlovid, is intended for use soon after symptoms develop in people at high risk of severe disease. Africa CDC director John Nkengasong, said paperwork for the deal between the Africa Centres for Disease …

At least 60 people have tested positive for coronavirus among Nigerians evacuated from Ukraine, the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has said. More than 700 Nigerians have returned home from Ukraine as the government hopes to evacuate approximately 5,000 citizens. “60 people among them have tested positive for the …

Mozambique on Monday recorded its first day of zero Covid-19 infections since the outbreak of the disease in the country in March 2020. The country also recorded zero Covid deaths and zero hospitalisation in 24 hours throughout the country. “Some 18 people remain hospitalized across the country,” the health ministry …

The American vaccine manufacturer Moderna announced on Monday the construction of its first African vaccine factory in Kenya, after signing a preliminary agreement with this country which provides for the production of 500 million doses per year. The company plans to invest $500 million in this factory, which will produce …

Kenyan health authorities on Sunday declared a yellow fever outbreak after the death of three people and the detection of 15 other suspected cases in the northern county of Isiolo. The health ministry said it had dispatched a rapid response team to the area and others in a bid to …