Vienna, Austria | AFP | President Donald Trump voiced hope Friday that a coronavirus vaccine will be available by late 2020, cushioning dire US economic news as parts of Europe re-open despite fears of a second wave of the pandemic. Several nations have eased restrictions to stem the economic damage from …
Read More »WHO takes the plunge with COVID-19 knowledge pool
Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The World Health Organization on Friday urged countries, companies and researchers to pull down the barriers and open up their findings on COVID-19 as it unveiled a global knowledge-sharing platform. The information pool is intended to be a voluntary worldwide repository of intellectual property and open-sourced data, allowing everyone involved …
Read More »Q&A: Africa’s coronavirus enigma
Abidjan, Ivory Coast | AFP | Three months ago, Africa recorded its first case of coronavirus, sparking fears that the world’s poorest and least-equipped continent faced a catastrophe. But so far, the virus has not come anywhere close to wreaking the same damage in Africa as in Europe and the US …
Read More »UN ‘deeply’ regrets Burundi expulsion of WHO team
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 …
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