***another update on the “four foreign nationals” - now we have their ages (drip drip), but still no detail as to where they were from!
1 Dec: Business Day, South Africa: Most Omicron cases in Botswana have been asymptomatic, health official says
by PROMIT MUKHERJE AND SIYANBONGA SISHI, REUTERS
A senior Botswana health official said on Tuesday that 16 of the total 19 cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant detected in the country were asymptomatic, and it was “unfair” to treat the country as ground zero of the new vari
Pamela Smith-Lawrence, acting director of health in the ministry of health and wellness, told Reuters in an interview that the majority of the 19 people who were found to be infected with the new Omicron variant had already tested negative.
While 16 people were asymptomatic, the remaining three had “very, very mild” symptoms.
On Friday, Botswana said the country was investigating certain mutations of the coronavirus that were found in four foreign nationals who were in the country on a diplomatic mission...
The four foreign nationals, ***aged between 30 years and 65 years who had come to Botswana on November 7, tested positive on November 11 and on further investigation their samples showed new mutations on November 22, said Smith-Lawrence. She added that the government uploaded the data on the international database the next day.
“Unfortunately ... finger now points to Botswana to say it originated in Botswana, or it is a Botswana variant, which I think is quite unfair and unnecessary at this time,” she said, adding that 14 of the 19 people so far detected with the variant were foreign nationals.
She declined to name the nationalities of the people or from where they had flown...
https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2021-12-01-most-omicron-cases-in-botswana-have-been-asymptomatic-health-official-says/
***low vaxxed numbers, less virus?
24 Nov: SA People: South Africa Asks J&J and Pfizer to Delay as Vaccine Inoculations Slow
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa has asked Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer to delay delivery of COVID-19 vaccines because the country now has too much stock, health ministry officials said, as vaccine hesitancy slows an inoculation campaign.
By Promit Mukherjee
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Additional reporting by Maggie Fick / Reuters and Jenni Baxter / SAPeople; Editing by Josephine Mason and Edmund Blair / Reuters and Jenni Baxter / SAPeople. Sources also include SANews.gov.za)
About 35% of South Africans are fully vaccinated, higher than in most other African nations, but half the government’s year-end target...
Now deliveries have been delayed due to oversupply, making the country an outlier in the continent where most are still starved of vaccines.
Across Africa, vaccination rates are lower than much of the rest of the world, with many countries struggling to secure enough doses. But some countries are now seeing rising supplies while vaccine campaigns are not gathering pace, such as Kenya...
Stavros Nicolaou, a senior executive of Aspen Pharmacare, which is packaging 25 million doses a month of J&J vaccines in South Africa, said most of the vaccines bound for South Africa would now go to the rest of the continent.
Nicolaou, who is also chairman of public health at business lobby Business for South Africa (B4SA), said deliveries would likely be deferred until the first quarter of next year.
Vaccines packaged at Aspen’s plant are part of the African Union’s agreement to buy 220 million doses from J&J...
“There is a fair amount of apathy and hesitancy,” said Shabir Madhi, who led the clinical study for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in South Africa...
The Department of Health said a further 51 COVID-19 related fatalities have been reported, bringing the official death toll to 89,635. Only 14 million people (OUT OF 60 MILLION) have been fully vaccinated in South Africa...
Global View
Globally, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said the numbers of weekly COVID-19 cases and deaths have increased for more than a month.
The European region logged an 11% increase in new weekly cases, while other regions reported a decrease or similar incident to the previous week.
The Western Pacific and Americas recorded “relatively” stable case incidence, but both reported a large spike in new weekly deaths, 29% and 19% respectively.
***In contrast, the African and the South-East Asia regions reported a 30% and 19% decrease in new weekly deaths...
https://www.sapeople.com/2021/11/24/south-africa-asks-jj-and-pfizer-to-delay-as-vaccine-inoculations-slow/
no surprise Reuters’ keeps churning out the covid porn.
1 Dec: National Pulse: CONFLICT: Reuters Chairman is Pfizer Investor and Board Member
by Kay Smythe
The chairman and former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Reuters news agency – James C. Smith – is a top investor and board member for pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer. He was elected to the board in 2014, as well as joining Pfizer’s Corporate Governance and Science and Technology Committees...
Smith is currently the Chairman of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the London-based charity known for providing news and information to billions of readers. He was also the President, Chief Executive Officer, and on the Board of Director of Reuters from 2012 until his retirement in 2020...
Smith is also linked to the World Economic Forum (WEF), where he serves on the board of Partnering Against Corruption Initiative. He’s also a member of WEF’s International Business Advisory Boards of British American Business and the Atlantic Council...
https://thenationalpulse.com/news/conflict-reuters-chairman-is-pfizer-investor-and-board-member/
it’s all about Big Pharma:
1 Dec: Reuters: China’s Xi pledges another 1 bln COVID-19 vaccine doses for Africa
By Edward Mcallister and Tom Daly
DAKAR/BEIJING, Nov 29 (Reuters) - China will deliver another 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Africa and encourage Chinese companies to invest no less than $10 billion in the continent over the next three years, President Xi Jinping said on Monday.
The country has already supplied nearly 200 million doses to Africa...
Xi said 600 million doses would be donations and 400 million doses would be provided through other means such as joint production by Chinese companies and relevant African countries. China will also build 10 health projects in Africa and send 1,500 health experts, he said...
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/chinas-xi-pledges-10-bln-credit-line-african-financial-institutions-2021-11-29/