Category: Coronavirus

Europe reached a somber marker on Sunday, surpassing 100,000 coronavirus deaths across the continent, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.

Italy continued to have the highest European death toll in the pandemic with more than 23,000 deaths as of Sunday, followed by Spain, France and the United Kingdom.

Despite those staggering numbers, Italy has nudged closer to easing some lockdown measures, but restrictions remain largely in place. The Italian government said it was evaluating procedures for how best to allow citizens out again.

“We are working on some proposals to soften the restrictive measures and let everyone live safely with the virus during the next months,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told Italian newspaper “Il Giornale”, on Sunday morning.

The government is under pressure from its industrial northern region to reopen as soon as possible, but lockdown measures will remain in place until at least May 3, officials said.

Meanwhile in Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said his government would begin easing measures and allowing children under 12 to play outdoors for short periods of time. The country’s lockdown will remain in place until at least May 9, he said during a televised national address on Saturday. Warning “the goals we’ve achieved so far are fragile.”

Britain is fast becoming the European epicenter of the contagion, as deaths passed 16,000 people on Sunday. Healthcare workers criticized the government over the weekend for shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as gowns and face shields.

“Too many healthcare workers have already died. More doctors and their colleagues cannot be expected to put their own lives on the line in a bid to save others,” said Rob Harwood of the British Medical Association, a professional body which represents medical staff.

A spokesperson for Britain’s Ministry of Health told NBC News on Saturday there was a 24-hour helpline in place for health workers to call and report shortages in supplies.

“We are working round the clock, given the global shortage of gowns and other PPE, to secure the NHS and the social care sector the equipment they need,” the spokesperson said by email.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson continues to recuperate from COVID-19, the disease associated with coronavirus, after he left the hospital a week ago. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has been filling in for Johnson during his absence.

Last week in France, President Emmanuel Macron admitting failings during a televised national address. He acknowledged that his office had been insufficiently prepared and caught off guard with the coronavirus outbreak, in particular by the lack of medical equipment.

“Were we ready for this crisis? Clearly not ready enough, but we have faced up to it,” he said. “Let’s be honest: Events revealed weaknesses, deficiencies.”

Although the number of patients in France’s intensive care units was falling, he said, the epidemic was still not under control, as he extended lockdown measures until May 11.

Some European countries, however, such as Austria and the Czech Republic, have begun easing lockdown restrictions, attempting the slow return to normal life. While many continue to eye Germany as a European model, which has maintained a relatively long-term plateau of cases and rolled out extensive testing.

• As the coronavirus pandemic has spread around the world, with millions infected and thousands dead, billionaire Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has pledged a quarter billion dollars to combat the disease through his foundation.

• Gates has been an advocate for pandemic preparedness for years, and his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is contributing financing to several coronavirus vaccine initiatives. He famously gave a 2015 TED talkwarning of the potential devastation caused by — and urged readiness for — a worldwide pandemic.

• Those factors are behind bizarre new conspiracy theories that claim Gates is responsible for the coronavirus pandemic and have rapidly spread from fringe conspiracy theorists online to conservative pundits.

Bill Gates has advocated for pandemic preparedness for years and famously gave a TED talk in 2015 that warned of the potentially staggering death toll a worldwide pandemic could create.

As the coronavirus pandemic has spread around the world, Gates has pledged $250 million to fight the disease and create a vaccine.

Incredibly, it’s these two factors that provide the foundation of a new set of conspiracy theories that point to Gates as the origin of coronavirus — and those conspiracy theories have rapidly gone from fringe online conspiracy theorists to the mouths of conservative pundits.

Here’s what we know:

In 2015, Bill Gates gave a TED talk titled, “The next outbreak? We’re not ready.”

TED

In his 2015 TED talk, Gates examined the ebola outbreak that killed thousands of people in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. He highlighted the factors that kept the disease from spreading worldwide, and warned against the potential for a much more contagious, worldwide pandemic.

“The failure to prepare could allow the next epidemic to be dramatically more devastating than ebola,” he said. “You can have a virus where people feel well enough while they’re infectious that they get on a plane, or they go to a market.”

Indeed, that is exactly the case with the novel coronavirus — symptoms of the disease don’t necessarily manifest for up to 14 days, and potentially longer.

You can watch the full TED talk right here: Citing that talk, and the Gates Foundation’s $250 million contribution to fight the disease, some right-wing conspiracy theorists claim Gates is the mastermind that created the novel coronavirus.

The conspiracy theories connecting Gates to coronavirus started in late January, according to a recent New York Times investigation, with a “YouTube personality linked to QAnon” who claimed Gates had prior knowledge of the coronavirus pandemic.

Days later, the website Infowars — the site run by Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist who claims the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax — published a piece that incorrectly stated the Gates Foundation “co-hosted a pandemic exercise in late 2019 that simulated a global coronavirus outbreak.”

The Infowars piece attempted to connect the Gates Foundation’s ongoing investments in fighting global pandemics to prior knowledge of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a FactCheck.org followup, “There was in fact an exercise (called ‘Event 201’) that took place in October that was hosted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security — which the Gates Foundation participated in — that focused on emergency preparedness in the event of a ‘very severe pandemic.’ But it didn’t deal with 2019-nCoV [novel coronavirus], and it didn’t make real-life predictions about death tolls.”

That distinction, however, was ignored by conspiracy theorists.

For the next two months, conspiracies that Gates knew of the virus beforehand or was directly responsible for its creation exploded. And now it’s reached at least one Fox News host.

Twitter

Mentions of coronavirus-related Bill Gates conspiracy theories have exploded on social media and TV: They were mentioned 1.2 million times in the last two months, according to data provided to the New York Times by the media intelligence firm Zignal Labs.

Those conspiracy theories have spread from fringe right-wing conspiracy theorists, like Alex Jones, to conservative pundits like Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “Digitally tracking Americans’ every move has been a dream of the globalists for years,” Ingraham tweeted in early April. “This health crisis is the perfect vehicle for them to push this.”

The commentary was attached to another tweet, which linked to an article about Bill Gates on a conspiracy theory website that cites an answer Gates gave during a Reddit AMA earlier this year. Gates spoke of a hypothetical “digital certificate” that would certify if people were vaccinated from coronavirus.

According to the piece, “The inevitable mass vaccination campaign to eradicate COVID-19 would be the perfect opportunity to introduce a worldwide digital ID. This system would store a wealth of information about each individual (including vaccination history) and would be used to grant access to rights and services.”

It baselessly claimed that Gates — alongside other rich and powerful people — is using the coronavirus pandemic as a means of instilling a worldwide caste system based on a digital ID.

Ingraham’s followers understood the message: “I will not take a #BillGatesVaccine,” one responded.

Former Trump staffer Roger Stone, who was sentenced to 40 months in federal prisonearlier this year, was more direct than Ingraham. “Whether Bill Gates played some role in the creation and spread of this virus is open for vigorous debate,” Stone said in a radio interview, according to a New York Post report. “I have conservative friends who say it’s ridiculous and others say absolutely.”

Why Bill Gates? Why now? Even pandemics are partisan.

Mike Cohen/Getty Images for The New York Times

Through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the billions that Gates earned from co-founding Microsoft and turning it into an international powerhouse is being used to fight contagious disease around the world. They’ve spent millions on the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and polio.

Gates also co-founded The Giving Pledge with his friend and fellow billionaire Warren Buffet, a campaign to get billionaires to promise to give away the majority of their fortunes to philanthropic causes.

But Gates has also voiced opposition to President Trump’s federal coronavirus response.

“Halting funding for the World Health Organization during a world health crisis is as dangerous as it sounds,” he tweeted on April 15, just after President Trump announced intentions to cut funding for the World Health Organization. “Their work is slowing the spread of COVID-19 and if that work is stopped no other organization can replace them. The world needs @WHO now more than ever.”

Despite Gates not mentioning the president, responses to his tweet are notably partisan — and several challengers accuse Gates, through association with former President Bill Clinton and the late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, of being part of an Illuminati-esque cabal.

Despite being especially vocal lately, Gates hasn’t said much in response to the conspiracies. “It’s ironic,” he told GCTN in a televised interview.

YouTube/Gates Notes

Gates declined an interview with the New York Times for its report on coronavirus-related Bill Gates conspiracy theories — a rare no from a man who’s made numerous press appearances lately in an attempt to get out the message on coronavirus prevention.

He did, however, answer a question about those conspiracy theories in a televised interview with Chinese broadcast channel GCTN.

“I’d say it’s ironic that you take someone who’s doing their best to get the world ready and putting, in my case, billions of dollars into these tools for infectious diseases, and really trying to solve broadly infectious diseases — including those that cause pandemics,” Gates said. “But we’re in a crazy situation, so there’s going to be crazy rumors.”

Read the original article on Business Insider

By New York Times.

South Sudan, a nation of 11 million, has more vice presidents (five) than ventilators (four). The Central African Republic has three ventilators for its five million people. In Liberia, which is similar in size, there are six working machines — and one of them sits behind the gates of the United States Embassy.

In all, fewer than 2,000 working ventilators have to serve hundreds of millions of people in public hospitals across 41 African countries, the World Health Organization says, compared with more than 170,000 in the United States.

Ten countries in Africa have none at all.

Glaring disparities like these are just part of the reason people across Africa are steeling themselves for the coronavirus, fearful of outbreaks that could be catastrophic in countries with struggling health systems.

The gaps are so entrenched that many experts are worried about chronic shortages of much more basic supplies needed to slow the spread of the disease and treat the sick on the continent — things like masks, oxygen and, even more fundamentally, soap and water.

Clean running water and soap are in such short supply that only 15 percent of sub-Saharan Africans had access to basic hand-washing facilities in 2015, according to the United Nations. In Liberia, it is even worse — 97 percent of homes did not have clean water and soap in 2017, the U.N. says.

“The things that people need are simple things,” said Kalipso Chalkidou, the director of global health policy at the Center for Global Development, a research group. “Not high-tech things.”

Estimated number of ventilators as of Apr. 17

Of course, there are big disparities among Africa’s 55 countries, too. Ventilators are much more plentiful in South Africa, which has a big economy and a relatively strong health infrastructure, than in Burkina Faso, one of the earliest West African countries to be hit by the coronavirus. At last count, it had 11 ventilators for 20 million people.

And not all African countries want it known how few ventilators they have. For some, this information could have “a lot of political implications,” including criticism of their management of health systems, according to Benjamin Djoudalbaye, head of health diplomacy and communication for the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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The Africa C.D.C. has been trying to amass data on how many ventilators and intensive care units each country has, so it can model what needs will arise if there is an explosion of cases. But even collecting the data is not easily “attainable and extremely expensive,” Mr. Djoudalbaye said.

The World Health Organization said last week that there were fewer than 5,000 intensive care beds across 43 of Africa’s 55 countries — amounting to about five beds per million people, compared with about 4,000 beds per million in Europe. But the numbers in Africa are so unclear — the data is a scattershot representation of the continent — that there is no way of knowing for sure, Mr. Djoudalbaye says.

Across Africa, there have been efforts to get ventilators. Ecowas, the union of West African countries, is trying to get hold of them to distribute to its member states. On April 1, Nigeria’s finance ministry appealed to Elon Musk on Twitter — before deleting its message — admitting that Africa’s most populous nation needed support and asking for at least 100. Jack Ma, the Chinese billionaire, says he is donating 500 to the continent.

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Liberia has ordered another 20, according to Eugene Nagbe, the minister of information. But global demand is so high, he said, that vendors are the ones calling the shots, and it is difficult to compete with more powerful nations.

“We keep fighting with our neighbors and the big countries. Even having a contract is not a guarantee we’re going to get a supply,” Mr. Nagbe said. One vendor, after entering a contract, turned around and hiked the price from the agreed-upon $15,000 per ventilator to $24,000, he added.

Getting more ventilators to African countries is not enough, though. Trained medical personnel are also needed to run the machines, as well as a reliable electricity supply and piped oxygen. These are things taken for granted in most European and American hospitals, but are frequently absent in health facilities across the African continent.

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“Only around 3 percent of patients will require ventilators,” said Kibrom Gebreselasie, a pulmonary and critical care specialist at a hospital in Mekele, Ethiopia. “But 20 percent of patients are severely ill. That means around 20 percent of patients will require oxygen. Oxygen is the most important thing.”

The hospital where Mr. Kibrom works, the Ayder Comprehensive Hospital, has two oxygen plants. One is broken.

Help has come from an unexpected quarter: Velocity Apparelz, a nearby denim factory. Under normal circumstances, garment manufacturers produce oxygen to use in the bleaching process, so the local health authority asked them to step in. Hospitals and health authorities across the continent are having to think of solutions like this.

The prospect of a devastating pandemic has led many African governments to take serious measures. Some imposed curfews and travel restrictions when only a few dozen cases in their countries had been confirmed.

And before officials knew of any confirmed cases, airports in Niger and Mali were taking passengers’ temperatures and contact information in case they needed to be traced. Every morning in Senegal, the health minister gives a live update on Facebook.

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The crisis has shown that Africa needs to be self-reliant, said Amy Niang, a lecturer in international relations at South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand.

“The brutal withdrawal of the U.S. of its contributions to the W.H.O., and the management of the crisis more globally, is a stark reminder that Africa’s faith in multilateralism has become untenable,” she said.

One positive legacy of the West African Ebola outbreak of the last decade was the founding of the Africa C.D.C., which together with the World Health Organization’s Africa branch has been widely praised for a coordinated approach to tackling the pandemic.

But leadership can go only so far.

“The main thing is how can we scale up capacity — at least for some of the basic treatment — and how can we detect earlier?” said Michel Yao, emergency operations program manager in the W.H.O.’s regional office for Africa.

In recent years, Nigeria has struggled to cope with outbreaks of Lassa fever, measles and polio. The Democratic Republic of Congo has failed to bring its current Ebola outbreak to an end. Malaria, a disease that is relatively simple to treat, kills hundreds of thousands across the continent every year.

And the state of public health systems in many African countries is bad enough that many people will not go to a hospital at all, feeling that it is a place of last resort.

“Everyone doesn’t feel like the health system is made for them to get better in,” said Adia Benton, an anthropologist at Northwestern University whose focuses include global health. Often in Sierra Leone, where she has worked extensively, people go to a hospital to die, Ms. Benton said — and this will not change with the coronavirus outbreak.

“There are a lot of people who are going to just be sick and in bed. And so what will you be doing for those folks? What kinds of palliation will be provided? Will communities be able to come together to offer painkillers, fever reducers, expectorants, decongestants — things like that?”

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. At a United Nations conference on primary health care back in 1978, the Health for All initiative was launched. One of its goals was to tackle the gross inequality in global health, particularly between developed and developing nations.

Enthusiastically welcomed by African governments, it never took off. The rise of free market capitalism in the 1980s, several experts say, changed the notion that states should be responsible for providing health care to every citizen.

This past week, in an impassioned letter to African leaders calling for health workers’ status to be enhanced and hospital infrastructure upgraded, 88 intellectuals from across the continent returned to the idea of universal health care.

“Health has to be conceived as an essential public good,” they said.

As coronavirus is rapidly spreading across the world and countries are scrambling to buy life-saving equipment, health experts have warned that the virus could devastate the regions that lack healthcare equipment and infrastructure.

During such unprecedented times, South Sudan, which has a population of 12 million people, has just four ventilators and 24 ICU beds, according to data from the International Rescue Committee (IRC). With healthcare systems grappling to contain the virus outbreak, COVID-19 cases have topped 2.3 million globally.

While South Sudan has one ventilator for every three million people, the IRC also reported that Burkina Faso has 11 ventilators, Sierra Leone 13, and Central African Republic 3. According to the data, Venezuela also has only 84 ICU beds for a population of 32 million, and 90 per cent of hospitals face shortages of medicine and critical supplies.

While speaking to an international media outlet, Elinor Raikes, who is the vice president and head of program delivery for IRC, said that the organisation has seen how the pandemic has quickly overwhelmed health systems in countries with relatively advanced health systems.

‘Economic and social devastation’

Elinor said that there is an immediate cause for concern about how it would quickly overwhelm countries with weaker health systems. According to WHO, found one in every five people who catch the virus need hospital care and one region under close watch is Africa, which has already recorded more than 12,400 cases.

The regional director for Africa at WHO, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, reportedly said that the virus has the potential not only to cause thousands of deaths but to also ‘unleash economic and social devastation’.

Last week, WHO also reported that there are fewer than 2,000 functional ventilators in 41 African countries and the total number of available intensive care unit beds in 43 countries is less than 5,000. Authorities are also concerned about the high prevalence of tuberculosis, HIV, malaria and diabetes in the region.

Moreover, healthcare workers and experts are also concerned that the virus will hit a vulnerable population that is already dealing with complex needs.

Meanwhile, coronavirus, which originated in China in December 2019, has now claimed over 160,000 lives worldwide as of April 19. According to the tally by an international news agency, the pandemic has now spread to 210 countries and territories and has infected more than 2.3 million people.

Out of the total infections, more than 600,000 have recovered but the easily spread virus is continuing to disrupt many lives. Major cities have been put under lockdown in almost all countries including Spain, and the economy is struggling.

Ever wondered how much the government is spending on treating coronavirus patients in the set care centers? Wonder no more, it’s emerging that on each patient, upto Sh.1M is used for their treatment and care.

Dr. Samuel Njenga, an infectious disease expert at KNH, in an interview with the Nation, said it cost about Ksh.800,000 to keep Brenda Ivy Cherotich at Kenyatta Hospital for three weeks and Ksh.490,000 for Brian Orinda.

Brenda and Brian were Kenya’s first and third COVID-19 patients and were pronounced fully recovered on April 2.

With 16 new confirmed cases as of Saturday, Kenya’s cases now stands at 262 as ministry of health rolls out mass testing in targeted areas.

According to Health ministry, Personal Protective Equipment(PPE) used by healthcare workers handling the patients swallows most of the share.

Being a highly contagious virus, the PPEs are single used with one session taking about Sh20,000 and could go upto Sh140,000 on a day for a single patient. Most patients stay for not less than 14 days.

Because these patients are out in isolation, the ward costs per night vary with days spent. Standard cost per night is Sh4,000. Beside, there’s the cost of food, medicine and other miscellaneous stuff.

The new development of the total costs involved has also raised eyebrows amongst Kenyans whore ever suspicious of the government given the endless cases of corruption. “Red alert someone is preparing to steal and has sent this information kutupima akili.” One wrote.

Steve: During this pandemic some people will become extremely rich, some will become extremely poor till they die of hunger, lack of medical treatments for other chronic or mild ailments (not covid-19). That’s the system that came about with capitalism

Ken Japala: We haven’t had one single patient in Mbagathi dump on a ventilator. Lemon and paracetamol for 10 days in 1000 bob plus 300 bob per day is 3000 bob…..less than 5,000/=.

Dee: It also take Ksh. 10,000 to buy a jerrican, Ksh. 109,320 for one wheelbarrow and Ksh. 435 for a pen. Nothing is too expensive for Kenya let them continue with the good job.

Willy Obina: My kingsmen in kenya..who bewitched our leaders Kenyans are we this stupid?.last time I checked we only treat symptoms..ie with antibiotics..painkillers..not all patients use ventilators,ppl in quarantine is at their cost. Soon a revolution might come.

Susuu: One person I know who apparently tested positive told me hajapewa hata panadol. She pays for accommodation and food obviously. I’m wondering where her 1 million is.

Mister Drey: In depth study may even increase the amount trust me. You need not to be bitter at every info that sounds like scam.

China on the other hand, is spending average $2,400 which is way below what Kenya is spending on every patient.

China in early February announced that local government funds would cover the out-of-pocket part of the treatment costs for patients with novel coronavirus infections.

Drugs and services included in the national treatment plan, such as the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machines, which cost 60,000-100,000 yuan per day once activated, are all covered by the budget no matter whether they were in the medical security coverage or not before the epidemic, according to Xiong.  Netizens heatedly discussed the expenditure. Some said that the average bill is low as most of China’s COVID-19 patients had mild symptoms. Some others noted that the usage of traditional Chinese medicines is also part of the reasons as these medicines are cheaper than imported medicines.

The medical bill for a US citizen infected with the novel coronavirus varied case by case, depending on whether the patient was insured and how serious the patient’s symptoms were, according to a Wall Street Journal report on March 22.

For people in employer-based health insurance plans, the total cost for treating pneumonia with major complications exceeded $20,000 on average, and out-of-pocket costs for the patient was about $1,300 on average. Without any complications or comorbidities, the average cost was $9,763, with an average charge to the patient of $1,464, read the Wall Street Journal report.

People enrolled in Medicare do not need to pay for the nucleic acid tests for COVID-19, but once they are confirmed with the disease, they will have to spend roughly the same amount of out-of-pocket money as employer-based plan enrollees for treatment. People under Medicaid have few out-of-pocket costs.

Nearly half of US people are covered by employer-based medical insurance. About 20 percent had Medicaid, while 14 percent had Medicare. About 9 percent of its population, or 27 million US citizens, are not insured, according to US media reports.

In the case of Kenya, it’s unclear if the government foots all the bills or insurance cover subsidizes.

A police constable based at Namelok Police station, Kajiado South has become a heroine in the area after issuing more than 500 masks to residents of Oloitokitok town.

Constable  Rahab Kung’u said she went to a garment shop in Loitokitok town and bought clothing materials that she took to her tailor and produced hundreds of masks which she now takes around, giving to those who cannot afford.

The masks are re-usable, thus one does not have to buy a new one, added Kung’u.

The police officer urged her colleagues and other leaders from the area to step in and help those who cannot protect themselves against the global pandemic.

She said she was driven by empathy to help the less fortunate members of the society and street children, after she found them while on routine patrol without masks thereby flouting a government directive as gazetted by  the Health Cabinet Secretary, Mutahi Kagwe.

Kung’u said  while patrolling the streets of Oloitokitok she met many residents walking in public without the protective gears and that’s when she took it upon herself to provide them with masks using her own resources.

“Majority of the residents can hardly afford the masks. I decided to assist them so that they can protect themselves from Coronavirus” she said.

“I want others out there to be mindful of their neighbours’ welfare. We cannot all wait for the government to assist us. Whatever little you have can be of great help to others,” said Kung’u.

A resident of the area, Anne Namunyak a resident lauded the officer for the kind gesture saying it was exemplary and should be emulated by others.

“The action has truly indicated that some of our police officers are true servants of the people,” said Namunyak, a trader at Oloitokitok market.

Meanwhile, a trader at the same market, Mercy Kamau has called upon the leaders from the area to come forth and assist in giving out masks to the general population so as to avert Covid-19 infection.

“Most of our customers come from the rural areas where they don’t have the leisure of getting masks in their locality, therefore the leaders should chip in, so that locals are not denied access into the market or town,” she said.

In a gazette notice published in the local dailies on Friday April 10, the government made it mandatory for one to wear a face mask in public.

According to the gazette notice, users of public or private transport and PSV operators are also required to wear a proper mask that must cover the mouth and nose.

Failure to wear a mask will attract a fine of Sh.20, 000 or face imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or both.

However, many Kenyans have complained about the high prices of masks urging the government to step in and supply masks for free.

The COVID-19 pandemic will likely kill at least 300,000 Africans and risks pushing 29 million into extreme poverty, the U.N. Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) said on Friday, calling for a $100 billion safety net for the continent.

Africa’s 54 countries have so far reported fewer than 20,000 confirmed cases of the disease, just a fraction of the more than two million cases reported globally. But the World Health Organization warned on Thursday that Africa could see as many as 10 million cases in three to six months.

“To protect and build towards our shared prosperity at least $100 billion is needed to immediately resource a health and social safety net response,” the UNECA report stated.

UNECA is also backing a call by African finance ministers for an additional $100 billion in stimulus, which would include a halt to all external debt service.

The agency modelled four scenarios based on the level of preventive measures introduced by African governments.

In the total absence of such interventions, the study calculated over 1.2 billion Africans would be infected and 3.3 million would die this year. Africa has a total population of around 1.3 billion.

Most of Africa, however, has already mandated social distancing measures, ranging from curfews and travel guidelines in some countries to full lockdowns in others.

Yet even its best-case scenario, where governments introduce intense social distancing once a threshold of 0.2 deaths per 100,000 people per week is reached, Africa would see 122.8 million infections, 2.3 million hospitalisations and 300,000 deaths.

Combating the disease will be complicated by the fact that 36% of Africans have no access to household washing facilities, and the continent counts just 1.8 hospital beds per 1,000 people. France, in comparison, has 5.98 beds per 1,000 people.

Africa’s young demographic – nearly 60% of the population is below the age of 25 – should help stave off the disease. On the other hand, 56 per cent of the urban population is concentrated in overcrowded slums and many people are also vulnerable due to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malnutrition.

Africa imports 94% of its pharmaceuticals, the report said, noting that at least 71 countries have banned or limited exports of certain supplies deemed essential to fight the disease.

“In a best-case scenario … $44 billion would be required for testing, personal protective equipment, and to treat all those requiring hospitalisation,” it stated.

However, that is money Africa does not have as the crisis could also shrink the continent’s economy by up to 2.6%.

“We estimate that between 5 million and 29 million people will be pushed below the extreme poverty line of $1.90 per day owing to the impact of COVID-19,” the report said.

Nigeria alone will lose between $14 billion and $19.2 billion in revenues from oil exports this year. And the prices of other African commodities exports have plummeted as well.

Lockdowns in Europe and the United States also imperil Africa’s $15 billion in annual textile and apparel exports as well as tourism, which accounts for 8.5% of Africa’s GDP.

The World Health Organization said that consuming alcohol raises your risk of contracting COVID-19 and will also make matters worse if you do get infected. They are asking governments around the world to limit their citizens access to alcohol for the duration of the pandemic.

“Alcohol compromises the body’s immune system and increases the risk of adverse health outcomes,” according to the WHO’s European website. The site also note that Europe has a particularly high rate of alcohol consumption.

Alcohol can affect your mental state and judgement while increasing symptoms like:

❎ depression
❎ anxiety
❎ fear

It can also weaken your immune system so should be avoided during self-quarantine.

Stay #HealthyAtHome pic.twitter.com/zRElGiRxgx

— WHO/Europe (@WHO_Europe) April 12, 2020

One of the WHO’s concerns is that alcohol consumption can aggravate preexisting mental health conditions. It can also increase the likelihood of risk-taking behaviour and in some cases lead to violence, which is a particular concern for the countries that have brought in social distancing measures that force their populations to stay at home.

The WHO also set out to clear up the “dangerous myth that consuming high-strength alcohol can kill” the coronavirus, publishing a fact sheet to disprove it. They say that alcohol contributes to about 3 million death annually and that those numbers are likely to increase with the pandemic ramping up consumption.

“Therefore, people should minimize their alcohol consumption at any time, and particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the website said.

Conversely, in the United States, people are buying in bulk. Alcohol sales have gone up 22 percent for the week ending March 28 when compared to the same week a year ago. There has also been an increase of Americans drinking at home.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus spoke about ways to limit stress and anxiety during quarantine last month. “It’s normal to feel stressed, confused and scared during a crisis. Talking to people you know and trust can help,” said Tedros. “And try not to read or watch too much news if it makes you anxious. Get your information from reliable sources once or twice a day.”

Here are some @WHO recommendations to stay #HealthyAtHome (1):
1. Eat a healthy & nutritious diet
2. Limit your alcohol consumption & avoid sugary drinks
3. Don’t smoke. Smoking can increase your risk of developing severe disease if you become infected with #COVID19

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) April 16, 2020

“During this difficult time, it’s important to continue looking after your physical and mental health. This will not only help you in the long term, it will also help you fight COVID-19 if you get it,” said Tedros.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Wednesday rolled out a series of expanded measures including an additional 150 million U.S. dollars to combat COVID-19 globally.

According to the announcement, the added funds will finance the development of diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines, as well as new efforts to provide partners in Africa and South Asia with resources to scale their COVID-19 detection, treatment, and isolation efforts, the announcement said.

Furthermore, the foundation will also leverage a portion of its 2.5 billion Strategic Investment Fund, which uses a suite of financial tools to address market failures and incentivize private enterprise to develop affordable and accessible health products, the foundation said.

In announcing the funding, the foundation called on world leaders to unite in a global response to COVID-19 to ensure equitable access to diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines.

“We have a responsibility to meet this global crisis with global solidarity,” said Gates Foundation co-chair Melinda Gates.

“The world community must understand that so long as COVID-19 is somewhere, we need to act as if it were everywhere. Beating this pandemic will require an unprecedented level of international funding and cooperation,” said foundation Co-chair Bill Gates.

The foundation identified four priority areas for investment including accelerating virus detection, protecting the most vulnerable, minimizing social and economic impact and developing products for a sustained response, and cooperating with national governments and international organizations such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children’s Fund.

The newly announced funding builds on the 100 million dollars the foundation has committed to date to support the global response. ■

The Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry at Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology has started production of hand washing soap, sanitisers, chlorine and disinfectants to boost the fight against Coronavirus in Kakamega County.

The University’s Acting Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof. Solomon Shibairo said they are using the chemistry laboratory to produce over 1,000 litres of the various chemical solutions that would then be given to the county government for distribution to the residents.

Prof Shibairo is however appealing to well-wishers to chip in to enable the university purchase reagents saying the institution has the capacity of producing over 2,000 litres of the solutions a day.

The don highlighted the importance of devising homegrown solutions in combating the Covid-19 pandemic adding external assistance is at the moment unreliable.
The VC added that the institution is collaborating with the county government to train health workers and training of trainers (TOTs) to ensure that the pandemic is contained.

“We have formed a Covid-19 rapid response team consisting of teachers, students and other staff which is working closely with the county government to enhance surveillance and response across the county,” he stated.

The university’s head of the Covid-19 response team, who doubles up as the Dean School of Nursing midwifery, Prof John Okoth said some of the institution’s facilities would be used as isolation centers.

He also disclosed that a plan is underway to set aside a Covid-19 patients-only hospital to separate the suspected Coronavirus cases from the rest of patients.

The National Muslim Covid-19 Response Team has initiated procedures of handling bodies of victims who die of coronavirus, and how their funeral prayers and burial should be conducted.

Chairman of the Response Team, Prof. Muhammad Karama, said the team has also put in place a team of volunteers in Nairobi, Mombasa, Eldoret, Nakuru and Bungoma handle cases if victims who die from the virus.
“The volunteers with appropriate personal protection equipment will provide assistance in the handling of the deceased cases and ensure that the bodies of Muslims are wrapped in white sheets and placed in a biodegradable sealed body bags before being transported to the burial areas,” said Prof. Karama.

Speaking at a press briefing at the Jamia Mosque in Nairobi, Monday, attended and addressed by Imams, scholars and Muslim medical professionals, he said Muslims who die of COVID-19 will not be subjected to the ritual washing procedures in order to prevent infection and spread of the disease.

“We appeal to Muslims throughout the country to adhere to the government directive to prevent the spread of Covid-19, and to avoid the ritual of washing of bodies of victims confirmed to have died of coronavirus,” said Karama.

“In the event of a death caused by the virus, either at the hospital or at home, a team from the National Muslim Covid-19 Response Committee will be at hand to provide the necessary assistance regarding the handling of the bodies, transportation and burial procedures,” he said.

Karama also called on Muslims to report all home deaths through the toll free number 719 for government assessment before the identified teams engage in the burial procedures.

At the same time, Prof. Karama announced that a team of psychiatrists and psychologists has been put in place to provide counseling and psycho-social support to the families of the deceased.

The Chairman is also coordinating with scholars and Imams in Mombasa while the Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims will play a coordinating role in ensuring that the information is cascaded to the counties.

He said the response team is sensitizing the Muslim community in the country about the coronavirus pandemic, with emphasis on adherence to all precautionary measures put in place by the government in containing and fighting Covid-19.

Karama added that various committees have been put in place to facilitate preparedness and management of the effects of the pandemic, and their role will include body handling, janazah (burial) welfare and resource mobilization, home based care, and psycho-socio support.

The Chairman also urged the government to provide special consideration to Muslims to feed the less fortunate during the forthcoming holy month of Ramadhan which is due in less than two weeks.

Prof. Karama said Muslims have already made arrangements on how the food distribution will be conducted, saying that a team of volunteers will distribute the food directly to the homes of the beneficiaries while adhering to protocols put in place by the Ministry of Health to curb the spread of Covid-19.

The National team thanked doctors, nurses and other medical practitioners who are at the frontline in trying to save the lives of those afflicted with COVID-19.

National Muslim Covid-19 Response Team was formed with the aim of complementing the efforts of the government and the Ministry of Health in addressing the challenges of Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

The Team comprises of Islamic scholars, Imams and representatives from different mosques, Muslim organizations and the Kenya Association of Muslim Medical Professionals.

As of Wednesday the government had traced and isolated 64 persons who had direct contacts with Mr. Oyugi who had passed away at Matibabu Hospital in Ukwala. Fear that had gripped the village is being handled with the authorities assuring that they’re on top of the game.

A team of health officials from Nairobi was sent to Siaya. The team, which included Ministry of Health acting Director-General Patrick Amoth, visited the home of late Kenya Ports Authority employee James Oyugi Onyango.

While the contact tracing and isolation continues, another case has tested positive from the five samples taken from the quarantine in KMTC, Siaya.

14 additional samples had also been taken to KEMRI in Kisumu and the results expected to be announced today.

Goverment is appealing to those who might have had contacts with the late either primarily or secondary to come out and test voluntarily in an effort to minimize the spread of the virus which poses a high risk.

In other news, Siaya Senator James Orengo has tasted the Health CS to give answers to the cause of the death and the justification for the undignified burial that irked the nation and left the family traumatized. Oyugi was buried in a body bag in the wee hours of Sunday contrary to the acceptable cultural practices of the Luos.

Siaya has been mapped out as an hotspot and a mass Covid19 exercise set to take place during the coming days. The second case of eruption from the KPA follows yet another in Ugunja where the priest from Rome held a mass. He had since recovered from the virus and in custody as he faces charges for putting at risk the health of the public.