Africa Business News

Germany is suspending routine use of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine for people aged below 60 because of a risk of rare blood clots.The German medicines regulator found 31 cases of a type of rare blood clot among the nearly 2.7 million people who had received the vaccine in Germany.It says it was continuing to analyse its database to understand "whether these very rare cases of blood clots associated with thrombocytopenia occur any more commonly than would be expected naturally in a population of millions of people".The EU and UK medicine regulators both backed the vaccine after previous cautionary suspensions in Europe this month.The European Medicines Agency and the UK Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency stressed that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine continued to outweigh the risk of side effects.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says data was withheld from World Health Organization investigators who travelled to China to research the origins of the coronavirus epidemic.The United States, the European Union and other Western countries immediately called for China to give full access to independent experts to all data about the original outbreak in late 2019.One of the team’s investigators has already said China refused to give raw data on early COVID-19 cases to the WHO-led team, potentially complicating efforts to understand how the global pandemic began.The inability of the WHO mission to conclude yet where or how the virus began spreading in people means that tensions will continue over how the pandemic started - and whether China has helped efforts to find out or, as the United States has alleged, hindered them.

The Egyptian president has warned of severe regional consequences if the country’s water supply is impacted by a giant hydropower dam under construction in Ethiopia.President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi while speaking at the Suez Canal says Egypt would continue insisting on talks between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan to resolve a decades-long dispute over the $5bn hydropower project that has strained relations between the countries.Ethiopia says it will advance with plans to fill the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam for the second time in June when the rains begin. But Egypt and Sudan want a deal in place before that is done.Three-way talks among the countries have stalled with Egypt and Sudan calling for international mediators to be involved in the negotiations.Ethiopia has however resisted, insisting instead on what it says is its sovereign rights to utilise the waters of Africa’s longest river, the Nile.

The president of the Central African Republic, Faustin Archange Touadera, has promised to reconcile the country in his second five-year term amid a civil war and following an election rejected as fraudulent by the opposition.Mr Touadera promised to fight corruption, revive farming, and deploy the country's vast natural resources to restore an economy that is currently in free fall.His task will be made all the harder now that the former president, Francois Bozize, is heading the rebel coalition that is trying to overthrow him.Much of the Central African Republic is controlled by armed groups that emerged after a civil war erupted after the overthrow of then-President Bozize eight years ago.

President Cyril Ramaphosa during a national broadcast on Tuesday appeared to be quite optimistic about SA’s national vaccine rollout. He gave quite a hefty update which took up about half of his speech, saying it’s in the bag. He added that they are also finalising an agreement for 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which requires two doses. The government is currently in various stages of negotiations with the manufacturers of other vaccines such as Sinovac, Sinopharm and Sputnik V. Ramaphosa went on to say that although there have been delays in securing vaccine supplies, he is still confident in achieving SA’s vaccination targets.

The Minister of Police Affairs, Mr Muhammad Dingyadi, reiterated the commitment of the federal government to continue with the comprehensive reforms of the Nigeria Police.The Head, Press and Public Relations Unit of the Ministry of Police Affairs, Mr Bolaji Kazeem, says the minister made the declaration at the biennial lecture of the Sultan Maccido Institute for Peace, Leadership and Development Studies which was held at the Faculty of Sciences, University of Abuja.The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Police Affairs, Mr Tope Fashedemi, the minister says the police would be enhanced with modern technology, capacity building and a robust welfare programme.He charged participants to embrace the virtue of honesty, unity of purpose and commitment in the pursuit of patriotic ventures.The minister appreciated the Sultan Maccido Institute for bridging the gaps between academics and societal realities through leadership and development mentoring for pragmatic leadership in nation-building.

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency says a total of 638,291 eligible people have taken their first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in Nigeria.The NPHCDA says more people have continued to receive the vaccine jabs across all states of the country and the Federal Capital Territory except in Kogi State where authorities have yet to commence vaccination.The latest figure indicates that 124,665 more eligible people took the vaccine jabs in the last two days, following the 513,626 total figure that was reported on Sunday.It also shows an increase of 6.2 per cent of the proportion vaccinated, compared with the 25.5 per cent earlier reported.A further breakdown of the figure reveals that Lagos has the highest number of eligible people who have taken the vaccine jabs with a total of 122,714.

The Presidency says President Muhammadu Buhari has only travelled to the United Kingdom for a routine medical check-up.Mr Garba Shehu noted that there was no serious condition that prompted the President’s trip.He says It is a medical trip and there is absolutely no urgency, no emergency and the President is not in any sick condition.He says It is a routine medical check-up; the President has undertaken this with a set of doctors that he has retained over many yearsThe Presidency says the President, who met with the service chiefs before he travelled, was expected back in the country in the second week of April.

Nigerian Presidency says It is unnecessary for President Muhammadu Buhari to transmit power to the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, explained that President Buhari has not contravened the laws of the land by not transmitting power to Professor Osinbajo while away from the country for a number of days.He says President Buhari will continue from wherever he is when asked if the President had transferred duties to the vice president.He added that the requirement of the law is that the President is going to be absent in the country for 21 days and more, then that transmission is warranted. In this particular instance, it is not warranted.

Canada's top public health officer says the country is pausing the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine for adults below age 55 after an advisory panel cited substantial uncertainty around the potential risk of developing rare blood clots.The National Advisory Committee on Immunization earlier recommended a pause in the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for Canadians in that age group.Canada’s deputy chief public health officer, Howard Njoo says they are acting decisively with their unified position to pause the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Canada in those under age 55 at this time.He says they are taking this precautionary measure while Health Canada, as the regulator, completes its updated risk-benefit analysis based on emerging data.Canada is the latest country to temporarily suspend the use of AstraZeneca vaccines after rare cases of blood clots were reported.