Home test kits scarce among Africa’s needy
After learning that a friend tested positive for COVID-19, Thembi Ndlovu went to a health clinic in Zimbabwe’s capital in search of a free coronavirus test. But there were none left that day, leaving the hairdresser unsure if she needed to take precautions to protect clients.
“I wish we could just walk into a pharmacy and buy a cheap self-testing kit like we do with pregnancy or HIV,” she said as she left the clinic in a working-class township of Harare.
For millions of people in rich countries, COVID-19 selftests have at times been abundant and free, including in Britain, Canada, France and Germany. But most people across Africa have limited access to them.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to making inexpensive, selftests widely available in the developing world is that the World Health Organization has yet to issue guidance on their use. Without the resources of wealthy countries to buy tests or evaluate their safety, poor countries must wait for WHO approval before aid groups and international agencies are willing to donate them in large numbers.
“Donors cannot deploy the tests until WHO say it’s OK to deploy, and countries themselves don’t want to use the tests until they get that guidance,” said Brook Baker, a professor at Northeastern University who advises the WHO on equitable access to COVID-19 medicines and tests.
Some health officials say the discrepancy between rich and poor countries is discriminatory and has denied poor countries a chance to stem the spread of the coronavirus. And unlike the massive global effort to share vaccines, little has been done to roll out more tests of any kind across much of Africa.
In a statement, WHO said setting guidelines is a “rigorous process that takes time” and that it expects to finalize advice for the use of COVID-19 self-tests in March. The agency said it has supplied more than 31 million rapid tests to health professionals in developing countries.
Capital city issues emergency order
The mayor of Canada’s capital declared a state of emergency Sunday as protesters opposed to COVID-19 restrictions continued to paralyze Ottawa’s downtown.
Mayor Jim Watson said the declaration highlights the need for support from other jurisdictions and levels of government.
Thousands of protesters converged on Ottawa again over the weekend, joining the hundred who remained since last weekend. Residents of the city are furious at the nonstop blaring of horns, traffic disruption and harassment and fear no end is in sight after the police chief called it a “siege” that he could not manage.
The Freedom Convoy of truckers has attracted support from many U.S. Republicans including former President Donald Trump, who called
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “far left lunatic” who has “destroyed Canada with insane Covid mandates.”
“Today Canada is unfortunately experiencing radical US politicians involving themselves in Canadian domestic issues. Trump and his followers are a threat not just to the US but to all democracies,” Bruce Heyman, a former U.S. ambassador under President Barack Obama, tweeted.
Protesters have said they won’t leave until all mandates and COVID-19 restrictions are gone. They are also calling for the removal of Trudeau’s government, though it is responsible for few of the measures, most of which were put in place by provincial governments.
Educators seek to reopen schools
Schools in Nepal on Sunday demanded the government reopen shuttered classrooms
as the number of COVID-19 cases has begun to decline.
Teachers say online education was limited to only a small part of the population living in the urban parts of the country while a majority of students were deprived of their chance to learn.
“We are ready to open the schools, students are eager to get back, guardians are willing to send their children and the number of virus cases are on the decline, so there is no reason for the government to continue the ban on schools,” said Tika Ram Puri, president of the Private and Boarding Schools Organization Nepal.
Advisory panel backs 2nd booster
Germany’s independent vaccination advisory panel is recommending a second vaccine booster shot for people ages 70 and oldere, among others particularly at risk from COVID-19.
The panel also advocated the extra shot for residents of nursing homes, people with immunodeficiency aged 5 and above, and staff at medical and nursing care facilities.
It said the at-risk groups should get the second booster three months after the first, and health sector staff should receive it after six months. It pointed to data showing that the protection provided by the first booster against the nowdominant omicron variant wanes after a few months, particularly for the highestrisk groups.
The panel, known by its German acronym STIKO, said it isn’t recommending a further shot for people who caught COVID-19 after their first booster.
Official figures show that at least 53.6% of the German population has received a booster shot. In all, 74.2% have received a full first round of vaccination and 75.9% have received at least one shot.