South Africa
WHO: Africa’s coronavirus cases hit 123,000
Flickr The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday reported that COVID-19 cases in Africa as at May 26 had risen to over 123, 000. The WHO Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, gave the update on its official twitter handle @WHOAFRO. “There are over 123,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent – with more than 50,000 recoveries and 3,600 deaths,’’ it said. The figures show that South Africa, Algeria and Nigeria have the highest reported cases in the continent. According to the report, South Africa has 25,937 cases and 552 deaths, followed by Algeria with 8,857 cases and 623 deaths, while Nigeria has 8,733 confirmed cases and 254 deaths. It said that Ghana had 7,303 reported cases and 34 deaths, while Cameroon recorded 5, 436 confirmed cases and 177 deaths. The ...
Iconic DJ and Producer Black Coffee Buys Significant Portion of South Africa’s Oldest Indie Label
Earlier in the year, Gallo Record Company, South Africa’s oldest independent record label, was purchased by Lebashe Investment Group. Recently, it was revealed that iconic South African DJ and producer Black Coffee has acquired a significant stake in the label. Gallo Record Company was founded in 1926 and has been going strong ever since, with many major releases under its belt. Black Coffee used his investment arm FlightMode Digital to acquire the shares. Since its inception in 2017, he has used FlightMode to fund businesses in Africa. In a quote obtained by Music Business Worldwide, Black Coffee shared his views on how the purchase goes beyond business and how he hopes to change the landscape of music in the continent. “T...
President Ramaphosa: South Africa’s coronavirus outbreak will get worse
The president of South Africa has warned that the country’s coronavirus outbreak is going to get much worse, while announcing that lockdown measures are to be eased. Cyril Ramaphosa said a third of the country’s more than 22,000 cases had been recorded in the last week. Despite that, the president said the current lockdown could not be sustained indefinitely. He announced that, from 1 June, more restrictions would be lifted. Mr Ramaphosa was speaking after a mining company in South Africa said 164 workers at a gold mine near Johannesburg had tested positive for coronavirus. There have so far been 429 recorded Covid-19 deaths in the country. An overnight curfew will no longer be in place, more businesses will be allowed to open and schools will re-start, the president said. A controversial ...
South Africa’s confirmed coronavirus cases top 20,000
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in South Africa has reached 20,125, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Friday. The country recorded 988 cases over the past 24 hours, Mkhize said in his daily update. The death toll related with Covid-19 reached 397, up by 28 from Thursday, the minister said. The total number of recoveries to date is 10,104, he said. The Western Cape province, the epicentre of the outbreak in the country, led all other provinces with 12,888 confirmed cases, followed by Gauteng with 2,521, the Eastern Cape with 2,459, and KwaZulu-Natal with 1,735. Nationwide, a total of 543,032 tests have been conducted so far, with 17,599 done in the last 24 hours, said Mkhize. South Africa is preparing to ease the lockdown from level four to level three of a five-level system...
WHO: Africa’s confirmed coronavirus cases top 95,000
Flickr The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday reported that COVID-19 cases in Africa as at May 21, had risen to over 95, 000. WHO Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, gave the update on its official twitter account @WHOAFRO. “There are over 95,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent – with more than 34,000 recoveries and 2,995 deaths,” it said. The figures showed that South Africa, Algeria and Nigeria had the highest reported cases in Africa. According to the report, South Africa had 18,003 cases and 339 deaths followed by Algeria with 7,542 cases and 568 deaths, while Nigeria had 6,677 confirmed cases and 200 deaths. It stated that Ghana had 6,096 reported cases and 31 deaths, while Cameroon recorded 3, 733 confirmed cases and 146 deaths. The report sai...
House of Reps urges speedy production of local coronavirus vaccines in Nigeria
The House of Representatives has stressed the need for speedy production of local vaccines for the treatment of COVID-19 in Nigeria. The House also mandated its standing Committees on Healthcare Services, Health Institutions and Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria to invite the Hon. Minister, Federal Ministry of Health, the Executive Director/CEO, National Primary Health Care Development Agency, the Director General, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and the Executive Director, May and Baker Nigeria PLC to brief the Committees and deliberate on possible ways of getting the needed legislative support to fast track the production of vaccines in Nigeria and report back within four (4) weeks for further legislative action The resolutioms followed the adoption of a motion on notice, moved by Rep. J...
Nigeria overtakes Ghana as confirmed coronavirus cases hit 84,000 in Africa
The World Health Organization, WHO, regional office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo, says the number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Africa has risen to over 84,000 in the past 24 hours. The UN health agency gave the update on its official Twitter account on Monday morning. According to the tweet, COVID-19 has killed 2,700 people on the continent, while 32,000 people have recovered from the virus. “Over 84,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent – with more than 32,000 recoveries & 2,700 deaths,” it said. Nigeria is now the highest country in West Africa, with 5,959 cases and 182 deaths, followed by Ghana with 5,735 cases and 29 deaths. The Africa CDC COVID-19 dashboard showed that South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco have continued to top the list of countries w...
Super Eagles goalie targets Euro move
Super Eagles goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi hopes to fulfil his ambition of playing for an European club soon. Akpeyi has been linked with clubs in Europe and Asia after impressing in the South Africa Premier League with Kaizer Chiefs. ”Well, the dream of every player, or let me just say the dream of some African players is to actually play in Europe, where football was being invented,” Akpeyi declared in an interview with an online medium . “So if I have the opportunity, yes I will, when the opportunity comes, why not? I would like to finish my career in Europe. “There are possibilities that it can happen and I look forward to it. Akpeyi joined Chippa United from Nigeria Professional Football League outfit Warri Wolves in 2015. The 33-year-old spent four years with Chippa United before switchin...
Osaze Odemwingie regrets missing out on 2013 AFCON winning team
Former Super Eagles forward Osaze Odemwingie says he regretted missing out on the team that won the 2013 African cup of Nations in South Africa. Odemwingie was reportedly omitted from the squad late Stephen Keshi after fallen out with officials of the team. Nigeria went on to lift the tournament for the third time in South Africa without Odemwingie who was one of the most important players in the squad at the time. While speaking with Super Eagles media team in a live Instagram interview, the former Stoke City striker said he regretted missing the opportunity to win a major title with his country. “I dreamt of the team winning the trophy before it kicked off the tournament. But you know when you’re young and believe your decision is true, you just want to stick to it. Okay, now it’s past b...
No ‘miracle cure’ for coronavirus until clinical trials prove Madagascar’s herbal medicine
Scientists are putting an herbal remedy from Madagascar, purported to cure COVID-19, to the test. Researchers at Germany’s Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, in Potsdam, are collaborating with a U.S. company, ArtemiLife, to test an extract from the plant Artemisia annua to determine its effectiveness in speeding recovery from the virus. “We are working with two independent laboratories to ensure the highest possible quality and exclude any bias in the results,” Peter Seeberger, lead researcher, told VOA in an email response. Seeberger is hopeful the first results will be back soon. “We have collected a significant body of data but are again repeating the work to make sure any results are reproducible multiple times,” he said. “Within the next couple of weeks, we will be in a ...
South Africa’s mass testing hits limits as virus spreads
With an expert flick of the wrist, South African nurse Bhelekazi Mdlalose collected throat swabs from young men lining up for coronavirus testing at a run-down hostel in downtown Johannesburg. Health workers were sent to the overcrowded block of single-room flats — mainly occupied by men from rural areas doing odd jobs in the city — as part of a mass community screening and testing (CST) campaign launched by the government last month. Mdlalose, who is employed by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), left her family and usual job in the northwestern town of Rustenberg in March to support community work in Johannesburg. Aged 51, she trains government health workers to handle suspected coronavirus patients correctly, checking in on CST teams deployed to townships, offices and shopping malls. “We id...
Lesotho records first coronavirus case
Lesotho recorded its first case of COVID-19 on Wednesday, the health ministry said, becoming the last country in southern and East Africa to be afflicted by the virus. The ministry said it had conducted 81 tests for COVID-19 from travellers from South Africa and Saudi Arabia, of which one was positive. The remote, high-altitude kingdom, nestled in a South African mountain range, had previously been spared the coronavirus, although its bigger, more industrialised neighbour has recorded more than 10,000 cases. The disease has struck at a time of political uncertainty in Lesotho, with embattled Prime Minister Thomas Thabane due to step down by the end of next week after his coalition collapsed in parliament. His exit would clear the way for a solution to a political crisis that erupted late l...
