Health

South Africa’s health minister says country entering fourth wave of COVID infections

South African Health Minister Joe Phaahla said on Friday the country was entering its fourth wave of COVID-19 infections due to the Omicron variant, but hospitals were not under threat at this stage.

Phaahla told a media briefing that infections with the new variant were now present in seven out of the country’s nine provinces, and hoped that the variant could be managed without causing too many deaths.

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He urged South Africans to be fully vaccinated, saying that was the best protection against Omicron.

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Ban smoking and vaping in schools worldwide urges WHO

Young people continue to be “relentlessly” targeted with tobacco and nicotine products, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Tuesday, in a call to ban smoking and vaping “whether sitting in class, playing games outside or waiting at the school bus stop”.

Health

New global action pledge to end TB by 2030

Applause rang out in one of the main conference rooms at UN headquarters on Friday as world leaders, civil society representatives and other stakeholders approved a declaration to advance efforts to end tuberculosis (TB) by 2030.