Carrying an unvaccinated passenger? Pay $3,500. Ghana’s new directive to airlines.
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Carrying an unvaccinated passenger? Pay $3,500. Ghana’s new directive to airlines.

In a bid to stem the spread of the omicron variant of COVID-19, Ghana’s health and aviation authorities have issued, what could be, the harshest ever imposed guidelines, to airlines flying passengers into the country. In a statement announcing the sweeping directives, health authorizes said effective Tuesday, December 14, 2021, all persons flying in and…

AfCFTA could ignite Africa’s post-COVID economic recovery, says UNCTAD
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AfCFTA could ignite Africa’s post-COVID economic recovery, says UNCTAD

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) could help drive economic growth and reduce inequalities widened by the pandemic, a newly released report by UNCTAD indicates. The AfCFTA came into operation on January 1st, and all countries except Eritrea have signed up. It consists of 1.3 billion people with a combined GDP of $3.4 trillion….

China’s vaccine diplomacy in Africa
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China’s vaccine diplomacy in Africa

Over the last decade, China has outgunned Western powers in cementing its ties with the continent, and now it is winning the COVID-19 vaccine diplomacy war. Vaccine diplomacy is a relatively new term that has entered our lexicon primarily due to the pandemic that began in Wuhan, China. It employs vaccine delivery and distribution to…

Burundi leaves behind Eritrea as Africa’s last remaining vaccine denier
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Burundi leaves behind Eritrea as Africa’s last remaining vaccine denier

Burundi has accepted the World Bank’s offer to deliver COVID-19 vaccines into the country, a remarkable reversal that has now left Eritrea as the only Africa country without such a plan. “Anyone who wants will be vaccinated,” Health Minister Thaddee Ndikumana told a presser. “We have accepted the request of the World Bank to avail…

After months of denial, Tanzania begins COVID-19 vaccinations
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After months of denial, Tanzania begins COVID-19 vaccinations

Despite months of repeated denials over the presence of COVID-19 infections in Tanzania, health authorities in the semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago have begun immunizations. According to Zanzibar’s Health Ministry Permanent Secretary Omar Shajak, frontline workers began receiving Sinovac Biotech shots last week, and they plan to give a second dose after two weeks. “The Sinovac vaccines…

Covid behind drop in foreign direct investments to Africa in 2020
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Covid behind drop in foreign direct investments to Africa in 2020

Foreign direct investments into Africa plunged by $7 billion in 2020, a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) indicates, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The investment flowing into the continent dipped to $40 billion in 2020, compared to $47 billion in 2019. However, the Asian continent was able to…

Why Africa’s coronavirus cases will hit record highs in coming week
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Why Africa’s coronavirus cases will hit record highs in coming week

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa are rapidly rising exacerbating fears that the continent may soon hit its worst week since the start of the pandemic in March last year. The rising cases are blamed on the more infectious delta variant of the disease that began in Wuhan, China in December 2019. According…

Why Kenya has increased its security budget in a pandemic year
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Why Kenya has increased its security budget in a pandemic year

Kenyan 2021-2022 national budget has increased allocation to the security sector by Sh6 billion ($60 million), bucking a trend that has endured over the last decade. According to the Sh3.63 trillion budgetary estimates presented to Parliament by the Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani, the government is planning to spend a huge Sh340 billion on internal…

Battling political instability, Uganda agrees deal with IMF to receive $1 billion bailout
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Battling political instability, Uganda agrees deal with IMF to receive $1 billion bailout

Uganda will receive a $1 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund as the East African country grapples with economic difficulties due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and political instability that has rocked the country since last year. The loan provided to Uganda comes just four days after the Washington-based lender agreed to provide $1.5…

1.5 million COVID-19 infections and a worst economic recession in 70 years, how can South Africa recover?
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1.5 million COVID-19 infections and a worst economic recession in 70 years, how can South Africa recover?

Last week, Statistics South Africa (SSA) gave out a breath of fresh air by announcing that the economy sprang back in the fourth quarter of 2020 driven by expansion in manufacturing, construction and trade. But that announcement did not end there. It was a precursor to the statement that the economy recorded its biggest annual…

Accused of “COVID denials” Tanzania recorded fastest economic growth in Africa in 2020
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Accused of “COVID denials” Tanzania recorded fastest economic growth in Africa in 2020

As economies across the continent slipped into recession in 2020, Tanzania reaped from its policy of not imposing COVID-19 related restrictions and nationwide curfews, recording the fastest economic growth in Africa. According to the World Bank, Tanzania’s economy grew by 2% in 2020 and Mara Warwick, World Bank country director for Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and…

What’s next for Africa’s struggling aviation sector?
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What’s next for Africa’s struggling aviation sector?

On March 5th, 2020 this writer took a flight from Nairobi to Cairo. As usual, the airport in Kenya’s capital, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, was busy and abuzz with activity; people from different nationalities all hassling to catch a flight to their various destinations. To have a seamless trip, I arrived at the airport three…

Despite doubts on effectiveness, Africa Union to plough ahead with using AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccines
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Despite doubts on effectiveness, Africa Union to plough ahead with using AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccines

The African Union has denied halting the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine but will target its use in countries that are yet to report cases of the South African strain of the disease, the head of the African Center for Disease Control (CDC) announced. South Africa’s temporary halt of the rollout of the vaccine because…

Burundi, Tanzania excluded from the WHO’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout to African countries
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Burundi, Tanzania excluded from the WHO’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout to African countries

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has excluded Burundi and Tanzania from the list of African countries set to receive COVID-19 vaccines through its COVAX scheme. The global health body aims to start shipping about 90 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to Africa in February, and the list of countries that will receive them, together with their…

Africa to receive COVID-19 vaccines by end of February, says WHO-led alliance
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Africa to receive COVID-19 vaccines by end of February, says WHO-led alliance

Africa will begin receiving COVID-19 vaccines from the COVAX scheme by the end of the month, with millions of doses of AstraZeneca shots already allocated to countries across the continent. Nigeria, the most populous nation, will receive 16 million doses, while Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the next two most populous states, are…

Ghana to get 17.6 million COVID-19 vaccine doses by June, says President Akufo-Addo
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Ghana to get 17.6 million COVID-19 vaccine doses by June, says President Akufo-Addo

Ghana will procure 17.6 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of June with the first doses slated to arrive in March, President Nana Akufo-Addo announced on Sunday. The West African nation is battling a second wave of the coronavirus that has swept through the continent and mutated. Ghana’s daily infection rate is rising…

Zimbabwe to spend $100 million on COVID-19 vaccines
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Zimbabwe to spend $100 million on COVID-19 vaccines

Zimbabwe’s government has allocated $100 million to acquire COVID-19 vaccine shots, though the plan awaits recommendation from local scientists on which type to buy, a state-owned newspaper reported on Sunday. The southern African nation has been grappling with an economic crisis that was in place before the pandemic began, and acute shortages of foreign exchange…

Africa secures another 400 million COVID-19 vaccines shots
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Africa secures another 400 million COVID-19 vaccines shots

The Africa Center for Disease Control (Africa CDC) has secured 400 million more doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, as the body aims to immunize 60% of the continent’s population over three years. The continent is in a disadvantaged position in the race to obtain vaccine shots for its 1.3 billion population as wealthier nations…

Battered by COVID-19 restrictions, Kenya’s economy slumps into first recession since 2000
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Battered by COVID-19 restrictions, Kenya’s economy slumps into first recession since 2000

Kenya slipped into an economic recession for the first time since the third quarter of 2020 as the restrictions introduced by the government in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on key sectors of the economy. The East African country’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell 1.1% compared with a year earlier, after…

The tech solution easing passenger travel at Kenya’s airport
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The tech solution easing passenger travel at Kenya’s airport

Kenya’s government has taken the fight against COVID-19 to a new high with the installation of new tech, the first of its kind on the continent, at its international airport, JKIA. The sophisticated system consists of automated cameras with inbuilt thermometers that measure the temperatures of dozens of people in the socially distanced queue, displaying…