Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | UN investigators said Thursday they deeply regretted Burundi’s expulsion of World Health Organization experts who were supporting the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Burundi booted out the experts as the country prepares to go to the polls on Wednesday to choose a new president, parliamentarians …
Read More »Coronavirus vaccine may be ready in a year: EU agency
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | A vaccine for the novel coronavirus could be ready in a year’s time under an “optimistic” scenario, based on trials that are underway, the European Medicines Agency said Thursday. The Amsterdam-based EU agency also played down fears expressed by the WHO that the virus might …
Read More »COVID-19 threatens to undo global health progress on SDGs
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 »Coronavirus may never go away: WHO
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The new coronavirus may never go away and populations around the world will have to learn to live with it, the World Health Organization warned Wednesday. As some countries around the world begin gradually easing lockdown restrictions imposed in a bid to stop the novel coronavirus …
Read More »WHO ‘surprised’ by states’ lack of pandemic preparation
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Sylvie Briand, the World Health Organization’s infectious hazards management chief, said the UN body was surprised by certain countries’ lack of preparation for a pandemic before the coronavirus crisis. Here is a question-and-answer with the French scientist: – Are you surprised by how quickly the pandemic …
Read More »WHO stresses need to find source of coronavirus
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Pinning down the source of the coronavirus pandemic should help in working out how COVID-19 has “invaded the human species” so quickly, a senior WHO official told AFP. The outbreak has triggered a fierce diplomatic spat between China and the United States — with the World …
Read More »Health workers getting infected with COVID-19 outside hospitals – WHO
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | As the number of people infected with COVID-19 continues to raise globally, so does the number of health workers who have been exposed to the disease with some eventually succumbing to it. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), majority of the nurses have been …
Read More »New resolution on pandemic truce presented to UN Security Council
United Nations, United States | AFP | Germany and Estonia submitted Tuesday a resolution to the UN Security Council on a ceasefire in various conflicts around the world during the coronavirus pandemic, to replace one drafted by France and Tunisia that the United States has blocked. Encompassing five major points — …
Read More »China’s lack of transparency on virus fuelling rumours: US expert
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Renowned US epidemiologist Larry Brilliant has urged China to be “radically transparent” if it wants to fend off suspicion over the origin of the novel coronavirus. Theories abound about the provenance of the virus that has sparked the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed nearly 300,000 people worldwide in a …
Read More »Herbal medicine for COVID-19
Is this hope or gloom for Africans? COVER STORY | THE INDEPENDENT | The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said it encourages innovations in the search for potential treatments for the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) including repurposing drugs, traditional medicines, and developing new therapies. COVID-19, a newly identified strain of …
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