Accra, Ghana | Xinhua | The Ghanaian government said Saturday that the country decided to further lift COVID-19 restrictions amid declining global and domestic trends for the infection. The West African country has witnessed a sustained decline in COVID-19 infections over the past five months, and based on the global and …
Read More »Circulating flu-like illness not COVID-19 related – MoH
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Health has confirmed that there is an ongoing wave of a viral influenza or flu illness circulating within the population. Refuting claims made on social media and several media reports that people are being hospitalized with a strange flu-like illness, Dr Henry …
Read More »Botswana officially ends COVID-19 public health emergency
Gaborone, Botswana | Xinhua | COVID-19 is no longer considered a public health emergency of international concern in Botswana, Christopher Nyanga, the spokesperson for Botswana’s Ministry of Health, announced in a statement Friday. “Botswana had actually de-escalated COVID-19 response activities over the past six months and has reduced measures and protocols …
Read More »COVID-19 no longer a global health emergency- WHO
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday declared that COVID-19 is no longer a public health emergency of International Concern. The decision which comes three years after a global alert was issued for countries to take precautionary measures over the acute viral respiratory disease spreading …
Read More »Italian wine sector recovering through high-end products
Rome, Italy | Xinhua | As Italy’s wine sector slowly recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, higher-end wines are out-performing the rest of the sector, industry experts say. While France remains the world leader in terms of the overall value of wine production, last year Italy was …
Read More »Uganda drops requirement for COVID-19 test certificates for travelers
Kampala, Uganda | Xinhua | Uganda’s aviation authority has said that travelers arriving at Entebbe International Airport no longer need to present COVID-19 test certificates. The new policy has been in effect since March 7, Vianney Luggya, spokesperson of Uganda Civil Aviation Authority, said in a statement Thursday. The airport is located …
Read More »Sh1.5Bn COVID-19 research equipment lies idle in warehouse in Ntinda
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee-Central Government has noted a possibility of the tax payer losing 1.59 billion Shillings in unutilized COVID-19 equipment purchased by the disbanded Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. The equipment identified as the Dr Oligo DNA Synthesizer Machine was procured for …
Read More »Uganda stranded with 13.4 million unutilized COVID-19 vaccines
Negative perceptions prevent Ugandans from taking up COVID-19 vaccines Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Health still has 13.4 million unutilized COVID-19 vaccines, the Public Accounts Committee – PAC Central Government has learned. The Health Ministry Permanent Secretary, Dr. Diana Atwine, says that the country risks losing huge sums of …
Read More »BANKS: We have failed to identify SMEs for COVID-19 relief fund
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Leaders in the banking industry say that they have failed to identify people who qualify for the government’s COVID-19 relief fund meant for small and medium enterprises. It comes a few days after the Bank of Uganda revealed that only Shillings 6 billion out of …
Read More »COVID-19 rescue facility for MSMEs performing miserably
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Bank of Uganda (BOU) has admitted that a package introduced to rescue small and micro enterprises from the effects of COVID-19, has hardly worked, almost one and a half years later. According to information from the Bank, just six billion shillings has been …
Read More »