Health

Health officials and scientists in South Africa said the country may be entering a fifth COVID wave as there is rise in infections over the past 14 days. According to scientists and health officials, the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants may be responsible for this increase. Health Minister Joe Phaahla …

Authorities in the Chinese city of Beijing have closed most schools following the detection of new cases of covid-19 which continues to wreak havoc in the country. After Shanghai, Beijing, the Chinese capital, which is on high alert against the “Omicron” variant. Since the beginning of the week, 22 million …

The World Health Organization (WHO) says it has identified more 100 people who came into contact with a new case of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo, local media reported. The WHO says those identified are being monitored for symptoms and vaccinations will begin in the coming …

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the lifting of COVID restrictions, imposed since the beginning of the pandemic. In a televised address, the president said the national state of disaster would end at midnight on Monday. “Masks will still be required indoors for another month,” he said. He said …

Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo on Sunday announced the lifting of the mandatory wearing of wask masks in public citing a steady decline in Covid infections in the country and neighboring countries. Ghana joins dozens of African countries that have eased most Covid containment measures. President Akufo-Addo also scrapped the requirement …

Health officials in Cameroon say 29 people have died from cholera in one week as more than 300 cases of the disease have been registered in the south-west of the country. The governor of the affected region, Bernard Okalia Bilai, said the outbreak had been caused by a lack of …

The World Health Organization (WHO), has warned African countries leaders against easing restrictions against the coronavirus pandemic. The WHO is concerned as most African countries are rolling back Covid-19 surveillance and quarantine measures. It says this is especially “worrisome in a continent that still has the lowest rates of vaccination …

South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir has sacked health minister, Elizabeth Acuei Yol, according to a decree announced by state media on Wednesday night. No reasons were given for the firing of the minister. Ms Yol is the first cabinet minister from the party of the First Vice-President Riek Machar, the …

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 …