Fueled by the new variant first discovered in neighboring South Africa, the cases have inundated much of its health infrastructure, leaving many families to make agonizing choices, and exposed the danger of deep inequalities in Covid-19 vaccine distribution. According to official government data, the record for confirmed single day Covid-19 cases was nearly seven times higher at the very peak of this second wave compared to the first. In the first three weeks of January, the number of severe Covid-19 patients at Queen’s hospital shot up from 12 to 107 cases, says Doctors Without Borders (MSF.) Healthcare workers have been hit particularly hard. Before the pandemic, the impoverished country in Southern Africa could only just manage its healthcare. Now doctors and nurses are calling in sick and several have died from the virus. Malawi’s national vaccination plan is dependent on COVAX, the World Health Organization-backed facility organized to help poor countries access Covid-19 vaccines. Its government promised last week that the first consignment of the AstraZeneca vaccine will arrive by the end of February. But healthcare workers are preparing for a much longer wait, skeptical they will be delivered anywhere near that schedule because of regulatory red tape, and worried by an announcement Sunday by South African scientists that show the vaccine provides “minimal protection” against the variant discovered there.
SOURCE: CNN
More Stories
How to Experience Lagos and Parts of Nigeria
From Former Refugee to Travel Fundi
Living Wild in Zambia’s National Park
A Traveller’s Guide to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
Rwanda is Home to Many other Thrilling Species – If you Know Where to Look
Akwasi Brenya-Mensa on Tatale: “My Work is About What African Cuisine Will Look Like in 30 to 50 Years’ Time”
Behold ‘The Woman King’: Viola Davis as a Real-Life Warrior General
10 Questions With… Nfemi Marcus-Bello
Meet the Ghanaian Author Documenting the History of African Designers
Beyoncé Has Helped Usher in a Renaissance for African Artists
Angola’s Privatisation Campaign is an Experiment
Trouble in Abuja’s Airspace