Coronavirus updates As it happens (2020-08-18)

Sep 7, 2020

India overtakes Brazil with second highest number of coronavirus infections

India's Covid-19 tally of cases went past 4.2 million with a record 90,802 people being infected in a day to surpass Brazil and become the second worst-hit country after the United States.

India recorded more than 90,000 cases for the second consecutive day as the total number of deaths rose to 71,642.

Sep 7, 2020

Intensive care beds fill up around southern city of Marseille as Covid-19 spreads

The number of patients in intensive care beds in the area around France's second-largest city has more than doubled in less than a week and is reaching full capacity as vulnerable patients contact serious cases, hospital officials said Monday.

The coronavirus causing Covid-19 is circulating at a higher-than-average rate in Marseille and the surrounding Bouches-du-Rhone administrative department, where hospitals have seen a spike in serious cases over the past week, doctor and hospital official Dominique Rossi told media on Monday.

REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes

Sep 7, 2020

Australia strikes deals to roll out 85 million Covid-19 vaccine doses

Australia says it has struck deals that could see it roll out potential Covid-19 vaccines as early as January.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday his government has reached a deal that would see Australian biotechnology giant CSL manufacture two separate vaccines.

REUTERS - DIEGO VARA

Sep 7, 2020

Takoradi Kidnappings: Court Adjourns Case After COVID-19 Hit Legal Aid Office

The Sekondi High Court today, September 7, adjourned Takoradi kidnapped/murdered girls' case due to COVID-19 infections at the Western Regional office of Legal Aid.

The court was expected to sit today to continue hearing witnesses’ accounts but had to adjourn to October 5, 2020, as one of the two defense counsel from Legal Aid, Mark Bosia, representing John Orji had gone into quarantine following a case of COVID-19 infection in his office.

Sep 7, 2020

The $150 Covid-19 Test Has Recorded Six Covid-19 Cases At KIA – Minister

Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye, has justified the $150 Covid-19 test for passengers arriving at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

He indicated that six positive covid-19 cases have been recorded at the KIA with the help of the $150 Covid-19 test instituted by government.

Dr. Bernard Okoe Boye

Sep 7, 2020

French government considers reducing quarantine as Covid-19 epidemic accelerates

With nearly 25,000 new cases in three days, and deteriorating indicators, the Covid-19 epidemic is accelerating in France. Despite this worrying context, the French government is considering shortening the quarantine to one-week isolation.

After a peak of nearly 9,000 new cases on Friday, a record since the start of the epidemic and large-scale tests in France, about 8,500 cases were confirmed on Saturday and then just over 7,000 on Sunday, according to Santé Publique France.

Sep 7, 2020

Newmont Ghana Akyem Mines Supports New Abirem Government Hospital With COVID-19 Supplies

Newmont Ghana’s Akyem Mine has donated GHC 360,000 worth of medical supplies to the New Abirem Government Hospital to further support COVID-19 relief efforts in the mine’s host communities.

The donation included Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), hospital equipment and consumables. The items included 270 boxes of assorted gloves, 100 coveralls, 100 packets of disposable gowns, 20 gumboots, 140 boxes of surgical and N95 nose masks, 150 pieces of rebreather face masks, 30 bottles of disinfectant, 1 automatic external defibrillator.

Sep 7, 2020

Tokyo Olympics will be the 'Games that conquered Covid', vows IOC boss

Tokyo will host the Olympic Games next year regardless of how the coronavirus pandemic plays out, the vice president of the International Olympics Committee has said.

Speaking to AFP, John Coates said the Tokyo Games would start “with or without Covid” on 23 July, 2021 adding that they would be the "Games that conquered Covid".

AFP/File

Sep 6, 2020

France moves seven more departments into Covid-19 'red zone'

French health authorities have put seven more departments, which include key hubs like Lille, Strasbourg and Dijon, on high alert as Covid-19 infections continue to rise nationwide.

Of France's 101 mainland and overseas departments, 28 are now considered "red zones" where authorities will be able to impose exceptional measures to slow the number of new coronavirus cases.

DENIS CHARLET / AFP

Sep 6, 2020

‘How we spent N31bn in 4 months to fight COVID-19’, FG replies SERAP, CODE

The Federal Government of Nigeria has disclosed that it “spent N30,540,563,571.09, representing 84% of the N36.3 billion public funds and donations received to respond to COVID-19 between 1st April, 2020 and 31st July, 2020, leaving the balance of N5.9 billion.”

The Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr. Ahmed Idris stated this in response to the Freedom of Information request dated 10 August, 2020 and sent to him by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and Connected Development (CODE).

Sep 6, 2020

France surpasses 8,000 new coronavirus infections for second day

France has recorded 8,550 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, health authorities reported on Saturday. The latest tally is slightly down from the previous day's 8,975 – the highest since the outbreak began.

Twelve more people died from the disease on Friday, bringing France's total to 30,698. The cumulative number of cases now totals 317,706, the health ministry said.

REUTERS - STEPHANE MAHE

Sep 5, 2020

GHS Organises COVID-19 Quiz For Children

As part of efforts to ensure that children are not left out of COVID-19 health education, the Health Promotion Division of Ghana health service (GHS) and The African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) organised a COVID-19 Children’s quiz at the ground auditorium of Health Promotion Division Headquarters.

This was the first of its kind in a series tailored towards educating children on the safety protocols on COVID-19. The Division embarked on this new mission emphasizing that children as Ambassadors of change need to be engaged in health education and promotion, and social marketing of health.

Sep 5, 2020

Ghana Health Service (GHS) Organises Covid-19 Quiz For Children

Sep 5, 2020

COVID-19 Active Cases Drop To 801, Three More Die

Three more people have succumbed to COVID-19 in Ghana.

This pushes the death toll to 283.

Sep 4, 2020

France registers nearly 9,000 new Covid cases in record high daily tally

France has recorded 8,975 new cases of Covid-19 in the last 24-hour period, the highest number since the start of the outbreak of the virus that spread from China and began manifesting itself in Europe in February.

France's registered its previous record of new infections at the peak of the first outbreak. On 31 March, the French health ministry counted 7,578 new cases -- some 1,500 fewer than on the latest count.

REUTERS - Benoit Tessier

Sep 4, 2020

COVID-19 Free Water For All Relief Faces Threat

President Akufo-Addo's COVID-19 “free water for all intervention” faces a serious threat as some service providers in rural areas begin to sell water to sustain their economic activities.

According to the Association of Small Towns Water Supply Systems-Ghana (ASTOWAS), many service providers in the rural communities could not continue to provide water relief because they were financially bankrupt.

Sep 4, 2020

France tops 7,000 Covid cases for second day as intensive care admissions rise

As France completes the first week of "la rentrée", when kids return to school and adults go back to work, the public health service has reported another spike in new daily coronavirus infections, in levels comparable to the height of the epidemic in March.

For the second day in a row, France registered more than 7,000 new Covid-19 cases.

AFP - LUDOVIC MARIN

Sep 4, 2020

Noguchi Distances From It's Own Comments On KIA Covid-19 Testing System

The Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), University of Ghana, has disassociated itself from comments made by one of its researchers on the Covid-19 testing system deployed at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA).

The Institute, in a release signed by the Director, Prof. Abraham K. Anang indicated, “… the institute has not put out any official communication on the Covid-19 testing system set up at the Kotoka International Airport.”

Sep 4, 2020

Nigeria's Covid-19 Death Toll Hits 1048

Nigeria's deaths have increased from 1027 on September 2, to 1048 on September 3.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reported the new deaths in a tweet on Thursday night, September 3, 2020.

Sep 4, 2020

France closes 22 schools days after reopening due to Covid-19 outbreaks

The French government has shut 22 schools in metropolitan France and the overseas territory of Réunion due to fresh cases of Covid-19.

Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer insisted that back-to-school had gone smoothly for the vast majority, but parent associations are concerned that too much is being left up to families to manage.

AFP