Kenya Insights

Tag: COVID-19

  • ‪Trump’s White House Launches Covid-19 Website Blames China For Lab Leak‬

    ‪Trump’s White House Launches Covid-19 Website Blames China For Lab Leak‬

    The White House on Friday morning launched a new website championing the theory that the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 was a human-made pathogen that leaked from an infectious disease laboratory in Wuhan, China.

    The page revives a long debate about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic that has seen investigations by federal agencies, global health organizations and congressional committees. In January, the CIA issued a report concluding that a lab leak was likely, but with “low confidence” in that judgment, paralleling similar conclusions from the Energy and State departments.

    The CIA had previously said it did not have enough information to make a determination about where the virus originated. The World Health Organization has said it remains open to all hypotheses, including that the virus spread from animals to people in a Wuhan market.

    Yet the Trump administration’s new website takes the lab leak theory even further than most of those reports, stating that the virus “possesses a biological characteristic that is not found in nature” and “if there was evidence of a natural origin it would have already surfaced. But it hasn’t.”

    The federal website Covid.gov, which previously linked to information about vaccines, testing and treatment, now redirects to the White House’s lab leak website.

    While US intelligence agencies have remained open to the possibility the virus was naturally transmitted during lab research, they nearly all previously agreed it was not genetically engineered. Many scientists believe, based on analyses of the virus and early cases, that the virus occurred naturally in animals and spread to humans in an outbreak at the Wuhan market. They’ve also said that the origin of the virus may never be proved.

    US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary appeared to defend the website change during a Fox News interview Friday afternoon.

    “I think people want some closure. The entire nightmare of Covid for three-plus years was likely entirely avoidable, had we not [been] messing with Mother Nature in a way that they should not have,” Makary said. He added that people also want answers on prolonged school closures and vaccine requirements.

    In several ways, the new White House page echoes a final report issued last year by the Republican-led House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, linked on the site. Republican members of the committee concluded last fall that the virus originated in a lab; Democrats issued a separate report that did not draw a definitive conclusion about the virus’ origins but also pressed for more transparency.

    The new White House site also details perceived failures of the Covid-19 response, including “lockdowns,” mask mandates, infectious disease research funding and HHS “obstruction” of those congressional probes.

    Screenshot

    Some of those officials are named. A section of the page is dedicated to President Joe Biden’s pre-emptive pardon of retired National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci.

    Multiple Trump administration officials, such as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have railed against the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Biden administration’s response in particular. The website could tee up further action from the health agency, as Kennedy has criticized broad coronavirus vaccine requirements and controversial infectious disease studies know as gain-of-function research.

    Many congressional Republicans have also called for the administration to reinstitute a ban on this type of research, which can involve making a virus more transmissible or changing other traits to study its spread. A moratorium on gain-of-function studies was lifted during the first Trump administration.

    Biden officials last year issued policy guidancethat would have put more stringent oversight on gain-of-function research, but not broadly ban those studies. The guidance is set to go into effect this May.

    (CNN)

  • CIA Says Lab Leak Most Likely Source Of Covid Outbreak

    CIA Says Lab Leak Most Likely Source Of Covid Outbreak

    The CIA on Saturday offered a new assessment on the origin of the Covid outbreak, saying the coronavirus is “more likely” to have leaked from a Chinese lab than to have come from animals.

    But the intelligence agency cautioned it had “low confidence” in this determination.

    A spokesperson said that a “research-related origin” of the pandemic “is more likely than a natural origin based on the available body of reporting”.

    The decision to release that assessment marks one of the first made by the CIA’s new director John Ratcliffe, appointed by Donald Trump, who took over the agency on Thursday.

    Ratcliffe, who served as director of national intelligence during President Trump’s first term, has long favoured the lab leak theory, claiming Covid most likely came from a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

    The institute is a 40-minute drive from the Huanan wet market where the first cluster of infections emerged.

    In an interview with Breitbart News published on Friday, Ratcliffe said he wanted the CIA to abandon its neutral stance on the origins of the virus and “get off the sidelines”.

    “One of the things that I’ve talked about a lot is addressing the threat from China on a number of fronts, and that goes back to why a million Americans died and why the Central Intelligence Agency has been sitting on the sidelines for five years in not making an assessment about the origins of COVID,” he said.

    “That’s a day-one thing for me.”

    But officials told US media that the new assessment was not based on new intelligence and predates the Trump administration. The review was reportedly ordered in the closing weeks of the Biden administration and completed before Trump took office on Monday.

    The review offered on Saturday is based on “low confidence” which means the intelligence supporting it is deficient, inconclusive or contradictory.

    There is no consensus on the cause of the Covid pandemic.

    Some support a “natural origin” theory, which argues the virus spread naturally from animals, without the involvement of any scientists or laboratories.

    The lab leak hypothesis specifically has been hotly contested by scientists, including many who say there is no definitive evidence to back it up. And China has in the past dismissed the lab claim as “political manipulation” by Washington.

    Still, the once controversial theory has been gaining ground among some intelligence agencies.

    In 2023, FBI Director Christopher Wray told Fox News it was his bureau’s assessment that “the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident”.

    (BBC)

  • Trump Revokes Fauci’s Secret Service Protection

    Trump Revokes Fauci’s Secret Service Protection

    President Donald Trump has revoked security protection for former top US health official Anthony Fauci, who has faced death threats since leading the country’s Covid-19 response.

    “You can’t have a security detail for the rest of your life because you work for government,” Trump told reporters, when asked about the decision on Friday. “It’s very standard.”

    This week, Trump also revoked security protections for his former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, his former National Security Adviser John Bolton and former envoy Brian Hook, who all faced threats from Iran.

    Dr Fauci has now hired his own private security team that he will pay for himself, US media report.

    Asked whether he felt responsible for the officials’ safety, Trump said on Friday: “They all made a lot of money. They can hire their own security too.”

    Dr Fauci was previously protected by federal marshals, and then a private security company, which was paid for by the government, according to the New York Times.

    One of Dr Fauci’s most vocal Republican critics, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, had called for his security to be revoked.

    He wrote in a post on X on Thursday that he had “sent supporting information to end the 24 hr a day limo and security detail for Fauci”.

    “I wish him nothing but peace but he needs to pay for his own limos,” he said.

    Trump has also revoked the security clearances of 51 intelligence officials who had claimed that Hunter Biden’s laptop had “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”

    Under US protocol, former presidents and their spouses are granted security protection for life. But protection for other US officials is decided based on the threat assessment from the intelligence community.

    As the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr Fauci faced death threats during and after the coronavirus pandemic, as well as criticism from Republicans over mask mandates and other Covid restrictions.

    He led the institute for 40 years, including during Trump’s first term. Trump had also awarded presidential commendations to Dr Fauci who served on the Operation Warp Speed task force during the pandemic.

    Before leaving office, then-President Joe Biden issued a preemptive pardon for Dr Fauci.

    The doctor told US media that he “truly appreciated” Biden for taking action, adding that the possibility of prosecution had created “immeasurable and intolerable distress” on his family.

    “Let me be perfectly clear, I have committed no crime and there are no possible grounds for any allegation or threat of criminal investigation or prosecution of me,” he said.

    (BBC)

  • COVID-19 vaccines produced in Africa by J&J were secretly exported to Europe, reports say

    COVID-19 vaccines produced in Africa by J&J were secretly exported to Europe, reports say

    For months, while thousands were dying in the pandemic, South Africans wondered why their long-promised deliveries of COVID-19vaccines from Johnson & Johnson had not yet arrived.

    The mystery was finally solved this week. Millions of doses of the J&J vaccine, produced at a South African factory, had been secretly shipped to wealthy European countries where the need for vaccines was far less desperate than in Africa, according to published reports.

    The J&J doses were a crucial element in South Africa’s vaccine plan – and the African Union’s similar plan. Since they are a single-shot vaccine and can be stored at normal refrigerator temperatures, they were scheduled to be the main vaccine for South Africa’s rural population. They were also cheaper than the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna shots.

    How many coronavirus cases are there in Canada, by province, and worldwide? The latest maps and charts

    The South African government announced in February that it had secured nine million doses of the J&J vaccine, and the African Union announced its own deal in March for 400 million doses from the U.S.-based company. But many months later, just a tiny fraction have been delivered to governments, with no clear explanation of why.

    The delay was partly because of contamination problems at a J&J factory in Baltimore, which led to a suspension of exports of key ingredients to other factories worldwide. But this was not the entire story.

    This week, health activists were outraged to discover that large numbers of vaccines from a J&J factory in South Africa have been secretly exported to European governments, beginning as early as April and continuing even today, according to a report in The New York Times and a separate report by former British prime minister Gordon Brown.

    This month and next month alone, about 10 million J&J doses from a factory in South Africa – which could be saving lives in Africa in the midst of the latest surge of COVID-19 cases and deaths – will be exported to Europe, Mr. Brown revealed.

    Mr. Brown called it “neocolonial” and “a shocking symbol of the West’s failure to honour its promise of equitable vaccine distribution.”

    Only after a dramatic intervention from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who threatened to ban all vaccine exports from his country, did the European Union finally agree to allow Africa to receive all of J&J’s future production from its South African factory, beginning in October, Mr. Brown said.

    In total, at least 32 million J&J vaccine doses from the South African factory have been shipped to Europe, according to the Times report. As a result, South Africa has only administered about two million J&J doses so far, and is still awaiting the vast majority of the doses that it ordered from the company. It has been forced to rely instead on much more expensive Pfizer vaccines.

    The Times report said the manufacturer’s contract with South Africa had prohibited the government from imposing the export controls that other countries – including European countries and India – have routinely used this year to ensure a fair share of the vaccine production in their countries would benefit their own people.

    The contracts between the South African government and its vaccine suppliers, including J&J, have been kept confidential at the insistence of the manufacturers.

    The Health Justice Initiative, a local independent group, has been requesting the contracts since June and says it will launch a court action if it does not receive the contracts by Aug. 25.

    Fatima Hassan, founder and director of the Health Justice Initiative, said Johnson & Johnson had given “false hope” by promising vaccines to Africa and then delaying its deliveries and diverting them to Europe, which had a “massive impact” on South Africa by holding up its vaccine rollout.

    “We’ve been put in a perilous situation,” Ms. Hassan told a media briefing on Tuesday. “The conduct of Johnson & Johnson is quite scandalous, and also unconstitutional and immoral.”

    Europe already has sufficient supplies of vaccines and high rates of vaccination, she pointed out, while only about 2 per cent of Africans are fully vaccinated.

    Matthew Kavanagh, a global health expert at Georgetown University in Washington, said the diversion of vaccines to Europe from Africa shows the immense power of a handful of vaccine manufacturers to decide who should receive the vaccines.

    South Africa has been negotiating with J&J since last September, and yet the vaccine deliveries were still hugely delayed, he said. Tens of thousands of lives could have been saved if J&J had allowed the vaccines to remain in Africa rather than exporting them to Europe, he told the media briefing.

    South Africa was “under the gun” to sign a “breathtaking contract” with J&J that was highly unfavourable to the country, Mr. Kavanagh said.

    Jennifer Dent, a Canadian spokesperson for J&J subsidiary Janssen Inc., responded to questions from The Globe and Mail by saying the company has pledged to supply up to 900 million vaccines to the African Union and the COVAX non-profit program by the end of next year.

    “We will continue our ongoing collaboration with the South African government and others to ensure meaningful access to our vaccine,” she told The Globe.

    “We are forging new manufacturing partnerships across four continents, including with Aspen Pharmacare in South Africa, to activate global production of our single-shot COVID-19 vaccine. Aspen was one of the very few manufacturers who could fill-and-finish required quantities of our vaccine in the timespan needed.”

    Source link.

  • CDC Monitoring Potential Outbreak Of Another Virus;

    CDC Monitoring Potential Outbreak Of Another Virus;

    As public health officials keep track of the contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 across the U.S., the CDC is also watching for a potential outbreak of another virus — monkeypox.

    More than 200 people in 27 states are being monitored for possible exposure after they had contact with an American who contracted monkeypox in Nigeria before traveling to Texas earlier this month, according to STAT News.

    So far, none of the people who are being followed are considered high-risk, and none have contracted the virus.

    The traveler flew on an overnight flight from Lagos, Nigeria, to Atlanta, Ga., on July 8 and then flew on another flight to Dallas on July 9. On July 15, the patient went to the emergency room at a Dallas hospital and was diagnosed with monkeypox, STAT reported.

    State health officials and the CDC are monitoring people who sat within 6 feet of the traveler on the overnight flight, flight attendants, passengers who used a particular bathroom on the plane, those who cleaned the bathroom after the flight, and some family members who interacted with the person in Dallas.

    “It’s believed the risk for spread of monkeypox on the plane and in the airports is low, as travelers were required to wear masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and monkeypox is primarily spread through respiratory droplets,” according to the CDC.

    Monkeypox stems from a virus that is like smallpox. It was first discovered in 1958 when outbreaks occurred in colonies of monkeys being held for research in Africa, according to the CDC. The disease is typically mild and causes less severe illness than smallpox but can be fatal in about 10% of cases.

    “However, [fatality] rates can be higher in people who have weakened immune systems,” the CDC wrote.

    Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion and a particular pox-like skin rash that develops across the body, including the palms of hands and the soles of feet.

    First detected in humans in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970, monkeypox typically occurs in remote parts of central and west Africa. It was last detected in the U.S. in 2003, according to the CDC, when 47 confirmed and probable cases were reported in six states: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin.

    Monkeypox is rarely detected in people, STAT reported. During the 2003 outbreak, which was the first time that human cases were reported outside of Africa, a shipment of animals from Ghana contained rodents and small mammals that had the virus. Those who contracted monkeypox became ill after having contact with infected prairie dogs purchased as pets, the CDC reported.

    In recent years, Nigeria has seen an uptick in monkeypox cases, STAT reported. Seven exported cases have been identified, including four in the U.K., one in Singapore, one in Israel and one in the U.S.

    The virus spreads through respiratory droplets, body fluids and bed linens or other items that have been used by an infected person, STAT reported. The time from exposure to symptoms can range from 3 to 17 days.

    The CDC has asked local and state health authorities to monitor the 200 people who may have been exposed earlier this month for 21 days, which will end on July 30.

    “Additionally, CDC has set up a call center for health departments for questions about monitoring contacts and for clinicians if monkeypox is suspected in a patient,” the CDC wrote. “The public should contact their local health department for questions.”

    WebMD Health News.

  • Audit: Sh32 Million From Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund Board Was Sent To 7K Persons With Same Names But Different M-Pesa Numbers

    Audit: Sh32 Million From Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund Board Was Sent To 7K Persons With Same Names But Different M-Pesa Numbers

    Nothing is new under the sun and corruption is becoming a norm in Kenya, nothing is too divine to touch, while country struggles with the adverse effects of the pandemic that has seen incomes shrink with many left out in unemployment, the pandemic has been a blessing to a few crooks privileged to hold high offices controlling Covid funds.

    To cushion Kenyans living in the urban informal sectors from the harsh effects of the pandemic, President Uhuru in 2020 established cash transfer program to the vulnerable groups in the society, including the aged too. Uhuru established the Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund Board whose primary mandate was to mobilise resources for an emergency response towards containing the spread, effects and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Other objectives of the fund included  supporting the government’s efforts in the supply of medical facilities and equipment and support for vulnerable communities with their immediate needs, including food.

    The board developed a Cash Transfer Program of Kshs.400, 000,000 aimed at benefitting 100,000 Kenyans weekly in urban informal settlements for a period of one month.

    The mapping of the vulnerable categories of persons to benefit from the cash transfer programme would be guided by considerations such as persons who were on employment but rendered jobless due to COVID-19, persons within a family set up and those who had not been beneficiaries of funds from any Government related intervention. The Board approved the cash transfer programme on 2 June,2020 and Kshs. 400,000,000 was transferred to MPESA Holding Company Limited to be disbursed to the identified beneficiaries.

    According to auditor-general’s report seen by Kenya Insights, the money was transferred from an irregular account of the board at Absa to Mpesa.

    The disbursements were done in 4 phases. Detailed recipient’s phone number, names, receipt number, provided for audit from Safaricom through the Fund Accountants (PricewaterhouseCoopers). Location of the recipients was, however, not indicated, and as a result, the special audit could not therefore confirm if the beneficiaries were from urban informal settlements.

    The audit revealed that a total of 97,515 persons benefited from the cash transfer program. Out of these, 95,727 were registered Mpesa users while 1,788 were not registered. The highest amount disbursed to a beneficiary was Kshs 24,000 while the least amount disbursed was Kshs 1,000.

    Analysis of the data provided revealed that, there were 38 payments done to the same Mpesa telephone number but with different names amounting to Kshs 72,000.

    Similarly, there were 7,850 beneficiaries who shared names but had different Mpesa telephone lines who were paid a total of Kshs.32,626,000. The identity card (ID) numbers of the recipients were not provided for audit and analysis. In absence of the identity card numbers and in view of the time constraint, the special audit was not able to independently verify that the recipients of the cash transfers were the bona fide beneficiaries or that the cash was received. Consequently, the lawfulness and effectiveness of utilization of the Kshs.400,000,000 could not be confirmed.

    According to a statehouse statement issued on 30 March, 2020, President Uhuru according to the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund Regulation, 2020 established a Board responsible for the management of the fund.

    Ms. Jane Karuku, was appointed the chairperson, Fred Matiang’i served in his capacity as the CS, Wycliffe Oparanya, as chairperson of the Governor’s council. Members of the board included; Michael Joseph, James Mwangi, Dr. Narenda Raval, Joshua Oigara, Jeremy Awori, Wachira Waruru, Mohammed Hersi, Ms. Phyllis Wakiaga and Kennedy Kihara as the secretary.

    The audit report has faulted the management of the fund red flagging it’s oversight framework.

    The audit established that on 12 June 2020, the Fund Board registered the Kenya Covid-19 Emergency Fund Limited under the Companies Act, 2015 as a Company limited by guarantee. The audit noted that the Fund Board approved the establishment of the Fund as a corporate entity for procurement and logistics purposes in a Board meeting held on 14 April, 2020.

    The certificate of incorporation indicates the Company Registration Number as CLG- PPFDDA and the registered office of the company as ALN House, Eldama Ravine Close Off Eldama Ravine Road, P.O. Box 200-00606 – Sarit Centre.

    It was not clear why an entity established under the Public Finance Management (COVID- 19 Emergency Response Fund) Regulations, 2020 as the COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund Board with clear governance, management structures, systems and procedures outlined in the Public Finance Management Act, 2012 and the attendant Regulations was again registered as a Company Limited by Guarantee under the Companies Act, 2015 indicating it was a private company receiving donations from well-wishers.

    A review of the inauguration Board meeting minutes (MIN 5/1/4/20 held on 1 April 2020) notes that the Members were briefed about the Fund Regulations issued by the National Treasury but unanimously resolved to adopt a private sector steered approach for purposes of instilling and assuring public confidence in the process. The Board decided to develop its own procedures and workplan in the performance of its mandate.

    The audit established that, the Fund opened a Bank Account with Absa Bank Kenya PLC, the account name being Kenya COVID-19 Fund, Account Number 2042554653 at Absa Towers Branch. Though the decision to open the Bank Account was approved by the Fund Board, there was no evidence of approval by the Cabinet Secretary to The National Treasury for opening the Bank Account. The Fund also operated an MPESA pay-bill number 999000.

    In her submissions, Nancy Gathungu, the auditor-general has recommended that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations should conduct further investigations to establish acts of criminality in all irregularities identified by this special audit.

  • When Kenya PPEs were exported to China

    When Kenya PPEs were exported to China

    Regulatory filings in the United States show that Chinese nationals living in Kenya  used seven planes to send Covid-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) back to  China before Kenya reported its first coronavirus case last year.

    China Southern Airlines did seven trips, each ferrying  3,000 boxes of PPEs and surgical masks from Nairobi to Guangzhou on February 3, 2020 which led to the acute shortage inn the country at the onset of the pandemic.

    “Chinese citizens and overseas Chinese living in Kenya collected more than 3,000 boxes of medical supplies. When the cargo warehouse was filled, the flight crew and the passengers worked together to move these precious life-saving supplies” the airline reported.

    “From the outbreak of the pandemic to the temporary suspension of the Nairobi route, there are seven such ‘mask flights’ that have provided valuable supplies for the front line in the fight against the pandemic,” the carrier added.

    Jack Ma, the Chinese billionaire who later donated PPEs to Kenya [p/courtesy]
    China Southern Airlines also claimed in the report that the move was due to the situation in China deeply impacted the hearts of her compatriots overseas at the onset of the pandemic outbreak.

    “Every mask, glove, and protective suit in the cabin seems to have a heartbeat. They come from Chinese compatriots who are separated by mountains and rivers,” the report reads.

    Kenya reported it’s first coronavirus case on March 12, of a Kenyan who had returned from the United States through London on March 5, 2020 but the numbers rose pushing Kenya to beg Chinese tycoon Jack Ma to donate PPEs and medical supplies.

    Through his foundation, Jack Ma donated 100,000 face masks and 20,000 testing kits which arrived in Kenya on March 24 but would later go missing after they were stolen and sold by rogue state officials.

    A second donation which came from the Chinese government and arrived in Nairobi on April 20 2020 also went missing. Health ministry officials colluded with unscrupulous businessmen in Nairobi and Chinese business owners to steal the consignment and escape arrest.

    Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) launched investigations into the two incidents but officials have remained tight-lipped about the  progress that has been made.

     

  • Simba SC using covid tests to weaken opponents

    Simba SC using covid tests to weaken opponents

    Al Merrikh SC of Sudan have exposed Simba SC of Tanzania for meddling with the COVID-19 tests to weaken them ahead of their African Champions League group match in Dar Es Salaam last week Tuesday.

    Eight Al Merrikh players returned positive tests for covid-19 just a few hours to kick off. The results weaken their squad in a match that Simba went ahead to win 3-0 putting them in a prime  position to advance to the knockout stage.

    Three days later Merrikh SC paid for an independent test in which all the players tested negative. COVID-19 tests are done with the assistance of the home teams but rogue hosts like Simba use them as s privilege to gain an unfair advantage over their opponents.

    FC Platinum of Zimbabwe had also accused Simba of using the COVID-19 test to keep four of their dependable players off the pitch after they were declared positive for Coronavirus ahead of their first-round return match in Dar Es Salaam.

    Visiting clubs also blame the Covid-19 results on Tanzanian authorities after the late Tanzania president John Pombe Magufuli declared the country COVID-19 free and banned the use of face masks.

    But African soccer has generally been marred with controversies ranging from match fixing, cheating and poor refereeing like witnessed in Zambia where Gor players attacked the referee.

    The Kenyan side, Gor-Mahia, were leading Napsa until the 93rd minute when the referee awarded the host a last-minute penalty which was converted by Zambian international Emmanuel Mayuka and eliminated Gor from the competition.

    Club Secretary General Ambrose Rachier said the poor officiating is undermining the level of football in Africa as he challenged CAF needs to take action noting that the injury time duration was ”illegal” and intended to force a win for NAPSA Stars.

    Al Merrikh SC is waiting to see the action CAF will take on Simba while Gor is also expecting harsh penalties.