Health

South Africa preparing health facilities to cope with Omicron variant: Minister

South Africa’s government is doing everything possible to prepare its health facilities to cope with the newly identified Omicron variant, Health Minister Joe Phaahla told a news conference on Monday.

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Phaahla added that officials were engaging with countries that imposed travel restrictions on southern African countries to try to get them to reverse them.

Oman suspends entry from seven countries including South Africa over COVID-19

UAE bans travelers from southern African states over COVID-19 concerns

Health

WHO urges China to be ‘transparent’ in sharing COVID-19 data

The World Health Organization (WHO) continues to call for China to be ‘transparent’ in sharing COVID-19 data in efforts to determine the disease’s origins, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated on Friday in Geneva.

Health

Burundi announces first polio outbreak in more than 30 years

Health authorities in Burundi on Friday said that they had detected eight samples of polio, officially declaring the landlocked African nation’s first outbreak in more than 30 years.

Health

Cocaine trafficking surges following COVID-19-related slowdown

Routed through new hubs and expanded criminal networks, cocaine trafficking has made a dramatic comeback following an initial slowdown caused by the emergence of COVID-19, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said on Thursday in a hard-hitting new report.