AMBROSE Dlamini, the Prime Minister of eSwatini has become the first sitting head of state or government to succumb to COVID-19.

Dlamini, 52, passed on in a South African hospital, four weeks after he contracted the COVID-19 and two weeks after admission to a hospital.

In an announcement, eSwatini Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku said:  “Their majesties have commanded that I inform the nation of the sad and untimely passing away of His Excellency the Prime Minister Ambrose Manduvolo Dlamini. His excellency passed away this afternoon while under medical care in a hospital in South Africa.”

Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa has, on behalf of the government and people of South Africa, expressed his deep condolences to the government and people of the Kingdom of eSwatini.

Ramaphosa offered his sincere condolences to the family and friends of the late Prime Minister, the Swazi Royal Family, the government of the Kingdom, and the nation.

The President said: “Today, all South Africans and compatriots across our continent bow our heads in sadness at the passing of a leader who took pride in leading and representing his nation. His untimely passing is also a tragic reminder of the indiscriminate harm that is in our midst in the form of COVID-19. May his soul rest in peace.”

Dlamini became Prime Minister after a career in the private sector where he held senior executive positions at MTN and Nedbank.

Dlamini was moved to South Africa on December 1, to “guide and fast track his recovery,” from COVID-19. At that time, Masuku said Dlamini was stable and responding well to treatment.

Dlamini was appointed prime minister in November 2018, following his position as the chief executive officer of MTN Eswatini. He had worked in the banking industry for more than 18 years, including being the managing director of Eswatini Nedbank Limited.

The southern African nation of around 1.2 million people has so far recorded 6,768 positive cases of the highly infectious respiratory disease, with 127 confirmed deaths, according to the health ministry.

Source - African Mirror Reporter and Thomson Reuters Foundation. 

SOUTH Africa has announced extraordinary festive season restrictions, banning “super-spreader” events, closing beaches in the Eastern Cape and restricting alcohol sales in response to a big spike in the second wave of COVID-19 infections.

SA President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the new tougher measures in a special address to the nation.

Ramaphosa said two new areas – the Sarah Baartman and the Garden Route – have been designated as COVID-19 hotspots, because of the sharp spike in infections. The Nelson Mandela Bay was declared a hotspot on December 3.

He said the new restrictions include: 

• The curfew will now be from 11 am to 4 pm and applies to Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
• Restaurants, bars and taverns have to close at 10 pm
• Sale of alcohol will only be permitted 10 am to 6 pm from Monday to Thursday.
• Wineries will be allowed to offer tastings at the weekends.

Further restrictions – targeted at “super spreader” events include:

• Gatherings may not be attended by 100 people indoors or 250 outdoors. The total number of people may not exceed 50% capacity of the venue. There must be social distancing, wearing of masks and sanitizers
• Post funeral events, referred to as ‘After Tears”,  are prohibited.

• All the beaches in Eastern Cape and the Garden Route will be closed from 16 December to January 3. Those in the Northern Cape and the Western Cape, with the exception of the Garden Route, will remain open.
• In KwaZulu-Natal, the beaches will be closed on December 16th, 25th, 31st and January 1st, 2nd and 3rd. 
• Music festival and live events are prohibited
• Parks will only be open between 9 am and 6 pm. Only parks with access control will stay open.

Ramaphosa also stressed that there will be stricter enforcement of existing level one restrictions. He warned those who do not implement these measures would face a fine or six months imprisonment. These include;

• Drivers of public transport who must ensure that passengers wear a mask. 

• Managers of buildings who are obliged by law to ensure that customers must wear a mask. 
• Employers who must ensure that all employees wear masks while they perform their duties. 

Ramaphosa said the new and tougher measures were necessary during the festive season. “The festive season poses the greatest threat to the health of the nation and the recovery of the economy. If we don’t do things differently, we will greet the new years, not with joy but sorrow. 

Unless we do things differently this will be the last Christmas for some South African,” he said.

Source - The African Mirror

EGYPT has received its first shipment of vaccines developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) and will get more deliveries soon, health officials have disclosed.

The shipment arrived at Cairo airport from the United Arab Emirates, which has been carrying out phase III clinical trials of the vaccine.

The UAE health ministry said this week that the Sinopharm vaccine had 86% efficacy, citing an interim analysis of the late-stage clinical trials.

The vaccine has already been used on about 1 million people in China in an emergency programme.

In Egypt the vaccine, taken in two doses 21 days apart, will be free of charge and the government will prioritise vaccinating medical staff and people with chronic diseases, health officials said.

It was unclear how many doses of the vaccine Egypt had ordered, but the health minister said there would be more shipments in the days to come.

Egypt, with a population of more than 100 million, is a large market for vaccines. In September, Russia announced a deal to supply Egypt with 25 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine.

Egypt’s government has confirmed relatively low numbers of coronavirus infections, partly due to limited public testing, but has been warning of a second wave of the pandemic as daily infections have risen in recent weeks.

As of Wednesday, the health ministry had announced 119,702 coronavirus cases and 6,832 deaths.

Source – Thomson Reuters Foundation.

NIGERIA may be on the verge of a second wave of COVID-19 infections amid a rising number of confirmed cases in Africa’s most populous country over the last few weeks, the health minister has announced.

Osagie Ehanire, speaking at a televised news conference in the capital Abuja, said 1,843 cases were recorded last week compared with 1,235 two weeks before that, and 1,126 the week before that.

“We may just be on the verge of a second wave of this pandemic,” he said. His comments came a day after South Africa said it had officially entered a second wave.

The health minister said the rise in cases was mostly driven by an increase in infections within communities and, to a lesser extent, by travellers entering Nigeria.

Ehanire, addressing reporters as part of a weekly briefing by Nigeria’s COVID-19 task force, said he had ordered the reopening of all isolation and treatment centres that had been closed due to falling patient numbers.

Nigeria has not been hit as hard as other countries by the pandemic. The country, which has a population of around 200 million people, has had 70,669 confirmed cases which resulted in 1,184 deaths as of Thursday.

Dr Sani Aliyu, the coordinator of the task force, said the threat of a second wave could be averted if people observed social distancing measures and avoid the temptation to gather in large groups during the upcoming Christmas period.

“This is clearly a delicate period for the response. We may potentially be heading into an epidemic crisis but there is still time to reverse this trend,” he said.

On Thursday the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention urged rich countries that have ordered more COVID-19 vaccines than they need to consider distributing excess doses to Africa.

Source – Thomson Reuters Foundation.