Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The progress made by countries to achieve Sustainable Development Goals-SDGs is going to be interrupted by the effects of the COVID-19. The pandemic is causing a significant loss of life, disrupting livelihoods and threatening to undo much of the progress made over the years, according …
Read More »COVID-19: Burundi expels top WHO team
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Burundi has ordered the expulsion of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) expert team backing the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, just days before a presidential election. The foreign ministry, in a letter to WHO Africa headquarters and seen by AFP on Wednesday, said the …
Read More »A pledge for Africa
To overcome the current global public-health and economic crisis, rich countries must support Africa COMMENT | ABIY AHMED | The world will not be free of the COVID-19 pandemic until all countries are free of the coronavirus that causes it. This simple fact underscored the urgent need for the …
Read More »Coronavirus creeps along East Africa’s trucking corridors
Nairobi, Kenya | AFP | Every day hundreds of trucks fan out from East Africa’s main ports in Kenya and Tanzania carrying cargo to the landlocked hinterland, and fears are rising they are becoming a major vector for the coronavirus. Their drivers gather at truckstops, weighbridges and customs points, socialising …
Read More »Now that we appreciate health workers, it’s time to improve staffing norms Mr. President
COMMENT | Rebecca Nalwoga Mukwaya | During one of his recent national addresses on the status of COVID-19, President Yoweri Museveni thanked health workers who have worked tirelessly to treat patients. He described their work as ‘world class’ as no death from the pandemic had occurred yet. Admittedly, the health workers …
Read More »COVID-19 hits White House, Fauci self isolates
Washington, United States | AFP | Top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci is among three members of the White House’s coronavirus task force who will self-isolate after potential exposure to the pathogen, US media reported Saturday. On Friday, reports that Vice President Mike Pence’s press secretary had tested positive heightened …
Read More »Benin starts testing school teachers for virus
Cotonou, Benin | AFP | Benin on Saturday was conducting mass coronavirus testing of teachers ahead of the reopening of schools as part of a plan to loosen measures against the pandemic. The West African nation of 11 million is set to end six weeks of travel restrictions to key …
Read More »Obama: COVID-19 handling a ‘chaotic disaster’
Washington, United States | AFP | Former president Barack Obama has launched a scathing attack on Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, calling it an “absolute chaotic disaster.” In a leaked web call Friday night with former members of his administration, Obama also said the Justice Department’s decision to …
Read More »Dresden squad placed in 14-day quarantine, Bundesliga restart blow
Berlin, Germany | AFP | Dynamo Dresden placed their entire squad into a 14-day quarantine on Saturday, just a week from the restart of the Bundesliga season, after the club reported two more cases of coronavirus. The decision means that Dynamo, who are bottom of the second division, will not …
Read More »IN THE INDEPENDENT: Herbal medicine for COVID-19?
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | These are the top stories in this week’s THE INDEPENDENT. COVER STORY Herbal medicine for COVID-19: Is this hope or gloom for Africans? COMMENT Is parliament immune from punishment? Unlike past occasions where MPs controversially paid themselves despite public outcry, they should be punished ANALYSIS …
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