SOUTH AFRICA: REVISED COVID-19 PROTOCOLS ON HOLD

Wed 29 December 2021: The Department of Health says the implementation of the revised COVID-19 contract tracing, quarantine and isolation protocols released last week have been suspended. In a statement, the department said it has been “inundated with media, stakeholders and public enquiries and comments” since the release of the new protocols – leading to […]

Continue Reading

RAPID COVID-19 TESTS NOT AS ACCURATE WITH OMICRON, SAYS US REGULATOR

Wed 29 December 2021: Rapid Covid home tests are more likely to give a false negative with the heavily-mutated Omicron variant compared to earlier strains, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Tuesday. The news comes as the country is facing a massive surge in cases that experts say is being under-captured as a result of a testing […]

Continue Reading

OMICRON RISK ‘VERY HIGH’ WHO SAYS; INFECTIONS HIT RECORD HIGHS ACROSS EUROPE

Wed 29 December 2021: The risk posed by the Omicron variant is still “very high”, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday, after COVID-19 case numbers shot up by 11 percent globally last week. Omicron is behind the rapid virus spikes in many countries, including those where it has already overtaken the previously-dominant Delta […]

Continue Reading

GERMANY TO BUY 1 MILLION DOSES OF ANTI-COVID PILL PAXLOVID

Tue 28 December 2021: German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach told the German dpa news agency on Tuesday that Germany will purchase a million packages of Pfizer’s Paxlovid antiviral medicine against COVID-19, with the first batches coming in January. “It is an extremely promising medication, as timely taking of the medicine significantly reduces the probability of […]

Continue Reading

BRAZIL’S JAIR BOLSONARO SAYS DAUGHTER, 11, WILL NOT GET COVID VACCINE

Tue 28 December 2021: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will not vaccinate his 11-year-old daughter against COVID-19, he said on Monday, maintaining the firm anti-vaccine stance that has drawn criticism from public health experts and hit his poll numbers. The right-wing leader added that the nation’s health minister, Marcelo Queiroga, will divulge on January 5 the manner […]

Continue Reading