Geneva, Switzerland | Xinhua | The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that the COVID-19 pandemic still constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), the WHO’s highest alert level. The announcement came amid the recent increase of weekly reported deaths worldwide. After its quarterly assessment meeting on the …
Read More »South Sudan launches COVID-19 vaccination drive to boost coverage
Juba, South Sudan | Xinhua | South Sudan, the World Bank, and two UN agencies on Saturday kicked off a COVID-19 vaccine campaign following the arrival of 3.9 million vaccine doses into the country. Yolanda Awel Deng, Minister of Health of South Sudan said vaccination coverage remains low in the country and …
Read More »Namibia blames COVID-19 for poor 2022 high school academic results
Windhoek, Namibia | Xinhua | COVID-19 is blamed as one of the causes of the poor results of the 2022 senior secondary certificate ordinary level and senior secondary certificate advanced subsidiary in Namibia due to the loss of face-to-face teaching and learning time at the pandemic’s peak. Out of more than 38,000 …
Read More »Preparing for the next epidemic
Kampala, Uganda | PATRICIA AKANKWATSA | When COVID-19 broke, the world was caught unprepared despite decades of warnings of the threat of global pandemics and years of international planning. The failure to adequately fund and execute these plans has exacted a heavy human and economic price. Uganda has been battling Ebola …
Read More »WHO official urges science-based, non-discriminatory COVID entry restrictions
Copenhagen, Denmark | Xinhua | A senior official of the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged countries to take science-based precautionary COVID-19 entry restrictions that are proportionate and non-discriminatory. Hans Kluge, WHO’s regional director for Europe, made the appeal at a press conference here on Tuesday. “For those countries in our …
Read More »Gov’t starts payment of Shs2.5 trillion matured securities
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The government is to pay Shs2.5 trillion to the Bank of Uganda (BoU) in matured securities after its repayment was disrupted by the advent of COVID-19. The money is a domestic loan acquired by the government through the Bank of Uganda as an intermediary for individuals …
Read More »Six global issues to resolve in 2023
Beijing, China | Xinhua | The year of 2022 saw a world in turmoil: the United States fueled one conflict after another, the Ukraine crisis dragged on, the COVID-19 pandemic lingered on with Omicron emerging as the new strain. Inflation, food crisis, energy security, a sluggish world economic recovery, a worrisome …
Read More »Mbarara Covid-19 isolation unit turned into Infectious diseases and research centre
Mbarara, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Covid-19 isolation centre at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital is to be renamed the Infectious Diseases and Research Centre. The construction of the isolation centre that started during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020 cost up to two billion Shillings. The centre which is now awaiting …
Read More »Education sector yet to recover from two years closure
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Schools are yet to recover fully from the effects of the COVID-19-induced closures nearly a year after their reopening. Uganda had the longest closure of schools anywhere in the world. The 22-month closure caused profound disruptions to children’s learning and overall well-being, exacerbating the pre-existing …
Read More »What should be the yardstick to assess countries’ COVID responses?
Beijing, China | Xinhua | The COVID-19 pandemic has put health policies and governance capacities of countries around the globe to the test. When evaluating a nation’s performance in such a test for all of humanity, it is important to consider how well the lives and health of its citizens have …
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