Kenya’s Ministry of Health, on Sunday, confirmed 23 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections to 672. Rashid Aman, Chief Administrative Secretary for Health, told journalists in Nairobi that the latest cases involving 22 Kenyans and a Burundian who were detected from 1,056 samples that were tested in the last 24 hours. He said 32 patients recovered from the deadly respiratory disease, bringing the total number of those who have been discharged from...
Queen Sono may be Netflix’s most popular series, but it may not be the right home for the new wave of African film and television. Netflix has landed in Africa! Traveling through Johannesburg’s downtown and suburbs, it’s hard to ignore that indeed, Netflix has arrived. Johannesburg’s cityscapes have been painted with posters, billboards and murals promoting the streaming giant’s first script-to-screen production in Africa, Queen Sono. Netflix partnered with Johannesburg-based production company Diprente, and with creator/executive...
There’ve been several reminders in recent weeks about the pledge African leaders made to dedicate 15% of their budgets to healthcare back in April 2001 at an African Union meeting. The pledge is known as the Abuja Declaration (pdf). The reason for those stories or social media posts is that few of these countries have come close to matching that reasonable target and we’re all in the middle of a health crisis. As Quartz Africa covered last week, many...
FREETOWN – Sierra Leone’s president Julius Maada Bio has accused the main opposition party of orchestrating a spate of violent incidents, deepening a political standoff that risks undermining the country’s efforts to contain a coronavirus outbreak. At least 18 people have died in three riots in separate parts of the country in recent weeks, including a disturbance at Freetown’s central prison on April 29 which started after an inmate tested positive for the virus. In...
The ECOWAS Commission had denied the reports that its health institution, West African Health Organisation had ordered medicine developed by the Malagasy Institute of Applied Research, Madagascar, for COVID-19 treatment. The regional body affirmed that it was aware that several COVID-19 cures had been claimed to have been made in a different part of the world. It added that it could endorse only proven effective drugs through scientific study. Madagascar before now had boosted organic...
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says Covid-19 cases have risen to over 51,000 in Africa as at Thursday, May 7. The WHO Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, gave the update on its official twitter account @WHOAFRO. “There are over 51,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent – with more than 17,000 associated recoveries and 1,900 deaths,” it said. The figures showed that South Africa, Algeria and Nigeria had the highest reported cases...
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says there has been a 47 per cent increase in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the African Region in the past week. The WHO Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, gave the update on its official twitter account @WHOAFRO on Thursday. The agency said the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak continued to evolve in the WHO African Region since the first case was reported on February...
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday rejected claims by Tanzanian President John Magufuli that coronavirus tests in his country had been faulty. WHO Africa director Matshidiso Moeti rejected the claim at a media briefing. “We are convinced that the tests … are not contaminated with the virus. “We are not in agreement with (Magufuli’s) point of view,” Moeti said. This is coming after Magufuli said on Sunday that Tanzania’s COVID-19 test kits had been...
Mr. Stephen Karingi, Director, Regional Trade and Integration, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), says African economy will lose 65 billion dollars if there is a full lockdown of the continent due to COVID-19. Karingi said this during the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) virtual joint press briefing on Thursday. The director said that the African economy would contrast as much as three percent in 2020. According to him,...
The World Health Organisation (WHO), Regional Office for Africa, has confirmed seven new cases of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The UN’s health agency confirmed the development on its official twitter account @WHOAFRO on Wednesday. “Seven Ebola cases have been reported in Beni, DRC since the resurgence of this outbreak in April. “WHO continues to support the Ministry of Health in the country to detect, isolate, test and treat suspected...
