AFRICA CDC TALKING TO PFIZER ABOUT IMPORTING COVID PILL

Thu 13 January 2022:

The African Centers for Disease Control’s head said the organization is in talks with Pfizer about bringing its COVID-19 treatment pill to the continent, which has just exceeded the 10 million case mark.

As several countries see waves of higher infections from the omicron variant, Dr. John Nkengasong is urging government and public not to give up on vaccinations and preventive measures.

“We are working hand in hand. … We are in close discussions with Pfizer to see what can be done to make the drugs available on the continent,” Nkengasong said Thursday in a press briefing.

He said he hopes the treatment would help stressed health systems on the continent and would be part of an approach in 2022 that includes scaling up vaccines and expanding testing to help deal with the pandemic.

Cases Pass 10.15 Mln

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa reached 10,159,243 cases as of Wednesday evening, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The specialized healthcare agency of the African Union (AU) said the death toll across the continent stands at 232,363 with 9,046,310 recoveries so far.

South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia and Ethiopia are among the countries with the most cases on the continent, it said.

South Africa has recorded the most COVID-19 cases in Africa with 3,534,131 cases, followed by the northern African country Morocco with 1,012,042 cases as of Wednesday evening.

In terms of the caseload, southern Africa is the most affected region, followed by the northern and eastern parts of the continent, while central Africa is the least affected region, according to the Africa CDC.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

_____________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent