WHO Regional Office for Africa / Press Release

Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa | Feb 18, 2022

WHO announces first technology recipients of mRNA vaccine hub with strong support from African and European partners

Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia to establish mRNA vaccine production

At the European Union - African Union summit in Brussels today WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced the first six countries that will receive the technology needed to produce mRNA vaccines on the African continent. Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia all applied and have been selected…

Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa | Aug 05, 2021

Coronavirus – Africa: Record weekly COVID-19 deaths in Africa

Over 6400 deaths were recorded, a 2% rise compared with the previous week, with South Africa and Tunisia accounting for over 55% of the fatalities

Weekly COVID-19 deaths in Africa reached a record peak in the week that ended on 1 August, marking the highest seven-day toll since the onset of the pandemic in the continent, new data from the World Health Organization (WHO) shows. Over 6400 deaths were recorded, a 2% rise compared with…

Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa | Jun 10, 2021

Coronavirus - Africa: Nine in 10 African countries set to miss urgent COVID-19 vaccination goal

At 32 million doses, Africa accounts for under 1% of the over 2.1 billion doses administered globally

As COVID-19 cases in Africa rise for the third week running and vaccines are increasingly scarce, 47 of Africa’s 54 countries—nearly 90%—are set to miss the September target of vaccinating 10% of their people unless Africa receives 225 million more doses. The new global targets were announced recently at the…

Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa | Feb 04, 2021

Coronavirus - Africa: COVAX expects to start sending millions of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa in February

The roll-out of the AstraZeneca/Oxford AZD1222 vaccine is subject to the vaccine being listed for emergency use by WHO

COVAX has notified countries in Africa of the estimated dose allocation for the first phase of COVID-19 vaccine delivery. The global initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO), Gavi the Vaccine Alliance and The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) aims to start shipping nearly 90 million COVID-19 vaccine…

Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa | Sep 10, 2020

Coronavirus - Africa: COVID-19 Genome Sequencing Laboratory Network Launches in Africa

Ongoing sequencing is already providing crucial information for determining the type of SARS-CoV-2 lineage circulating in some countries

With several African countries now expanding COVID-19 testing, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have launched a network of laboratories to reinforce genome sequencing of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, in Africa.…

Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa | Jul 30, 2020

Coronavirus: Africa closes in on one million COVID-19 cases

Overall, the pandemic is accelerating with the number of new cases increasing by 50% during the last 14 days compared with the previous fortnight

COVID-19 infections in Africa will exceed one million cases in the coming days as the pandemic surges in several hotspot countries. In a little more than three weeks, the number of cases on the continent almost doubled to 889 457, with 18 806 deaths. Overall, the pandemic is accelerating with…

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- Dr Edith NKWEMBE, Microbiologist of INRB DRC using laboratory reagents to identify COVID-19
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Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa | Mar 11, 2020

First case of COVID-19 confirmed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The DRC is one of ten countries in Africa to have confirmed a case of COVID-19

The Ministry of Public Health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has reported the country’s first case of COVID-19. Health authorities said tests found that a Congolese national, who had recently returned to Kinshasa from his residence in France had tested positive for the virus. The DRC is…