Coronavirus updates As it happens
Dec 7, 2020
China's Covid-19 vaccine maker gets $500M boost to speed up rollout
Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech has secured half a billion dollars in extra funding to produce its Covid-19 vaccine, as the country races to roll out a jab for general use.
Beijing has largely brought the virus under control, with only 281 active cases still receiving treatment, according to official figures.
Dec 6, 2020
Britain's Queen Elizabeth to get coronavirus vaccine 'in weeks'
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine "within weeks", after UK regulators granted emergency approval and the world's first roll-out begins next week, reports late Saturday said.
The monarch, 94, and her 99-year-old husband Prince Philip are in line to get the jab early due to their age and will not receive preferential treatment, the Mail on Sunday reported.
Adrian DENNIS AFP/File
Dec 6, 2020
Ghana's Covid-19 death toll now 325
Two more persons have succumbed to covid-19.
This brings the total death toll to 325.
Dec 6, 2020
Covid-19 hits England cricket tour of South Africa
Two members of England cricket's touring party in South Africa have returned unconfirmed positive tests for Covid-19, forcing Sunday's first one-day international to be cancelled and placing the rest of the tour in jeopardy.
The match in Paarl was to have opened the one-day series after Friday's scheduled first match in Cape Town was scrapped just before play was to begin after a South African player tested positive for coronavirus.
Dec 5, 2020
Italy faces more rules over Christmas in its fight against coronavirus
Italians are preparing themselves for a very different Christmas due to newly announced restrictions to combat the coronavirus. But a recent survey has revealed that the public is largely in favour of the limitations being adopted to personal freedom – if it is in aid of protecting public safety.
Nearly 60 percent of those who participated in the Cencis survey accepted that the government should decide “when and under what conditions they can leave their houses, what they can or cannot do, who they can see and where” to protect the health of the Italian population.
Dec 5, 2020
Poor, vulnerable demand pipe water to fight COVID pandemic
Tamale, Dec 05- Some poor, vulnerable, and marginalised persons have appealed to the government to extend pipe-borne water to their communities to enable them to stay clean and healthy, as well as protected in the event of any pandemic in the future.
They said access to pipe-borne water would also empower them to religiously adhere to the COVID-19 safety protocols especially hand washing.
Dec 4, 2020
GEPA supports Industrial Arts and Craft in Sunyani with COVID-19 items
In an effort to consolidate the gains made in the fight against the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country, the Ghana Exports Promotion Authority (GEPA) has presented assorted items to Industrial Arts and Craft groups in Sunyani to help control the spread of the virus at their workplaces.
The items were made up of veronica buckets, alcohol-based hand sanitizers, paper towels, dustbins, nose masks, and soaps among others.
Dec 4, 2020
French opposition to Covid-19 vaccine grows as government unveils campaign
More than 50 percent of French people do not intend to get vaccinated against Covid-19 when the jab becomes available, according to several surveys, which show a reticence on the rise. It comes as France is set to roll out its nationwide vaccination campaign on 1 January.
One of the polls, conducted by Ifop for the weekly Journal du Dimanche on 28 November found that 59 percent of French people do not intend to get vaccinated against Covid-19 once it becomes available in the coming weeks and months.
Dec 4, 2020
Ep7: Ghana’s election campaigning, Covid-19 vaccine in Africa, Liberia’s controversial referendum & rogue MPs in Tanzania
Africa Calling podcast looks at some of the week's top stories from the African continent, including reports from the field and analysis with regional experts. This week we're talking about the end of election campaigning in Ghana, and finding out about the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines across the African continent. We also hear about a controversial constitutional referendum in Liberia; how opposition MPs in Tanzania have gone rogue, efforts to eliminate HIV-AIDS in São Tomé, rising child abuse in Mozambique during the Covid-19, and the Cameroonian winner of a French literary prize.
Ghana
Voters prepare to go to the polls on 7 December in presidential and parliamentary elections, with incumbent President Nana Akufo-Addo up against former President John Mahama, two long-standing rivals. As campaigning draws to a close, the two political heavyweights trade barbs over policy including free education, agriculture, small-scale mining and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ghana's economy has been hit hard by coronavirus lockdowns and both candidates have vowed to implement measures to kickstart job creation and protect the most vulnerable from the economic fallout. Correspondent Zubaida Mabuno Ismail reports from the Ashanti and Eastern regions as the campaign draws to a close.
Dec 4, 2020
Funding, climate and fear trouble Africa's Covid vaccine plans
The struggle to get Covid vaccine to the world's population has often been likened to a race -- in which case, Africa finds itself hobbled by an array of financial, technical and cultural problems.
Of these, funding is predictably Hurdle No. 1 for Africa, home to some of the world's poorest countries.