Nigeria-born popular comedian, content creator and actor Japhet Egwumah aka Japhman has led a protest against recent killing of an African-American George Floyd in Boston, Massachusetts.

He insisted police operatives in the US must protect African-Americans because “all lives matter.”

The Kogi-born 37-year-old graduate of Physics warned the police to take prevent incidents that could trigger recent black resistance in America.

Our Reporter

A monkeypox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) has claimed 10 lives, while 141 people have been infected so far, local media reported on Tuesday.

“From the first week of surveillance until the 33rd, we recorded 141 confirmed cases, with 10 deaths,” Dr. Aime Alengo, a health official in Sankuru province told the local Actualite news website.

Alengo said the disease affects those who are mostly less than 5 years old. “We are one of a few countries in Africa that still have cases of this disease.”

In its Health Emergencies Bulletin on Tuesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Region said: “One major challenge to the current emergency includes acquiring the required funding to respond to all the multiple ongoing outbreaks in the country.”

`READ ALSO: Belgian king apologises to DR Congo for colonial-era cruelty

Monkeypox virus is an orthopoxvirus that causes a disease with symptoms similar, but less severe, to smallpox. While smallpox was eradicated in 1980, monkeypox continues to occur in countries of Central and West Africa.

Monkeypox virus is mostly transmitted to people from wild animals such as rodents and primates, but human-to-human transmission also occurs, according to WHO.

The Central African country is also battling measles and the coronavirus pandemic.

In week 32 (week ending Aug. 9, 2020), 418 measles cases — including seven deaths were reported across the country.

The provinces that reported the majority of cases include Sankuru and South Ubangi.

The high fatality ratio was notified in Maniema and Sankuru. Since 2019 a total of 380,766 measles cases and 7,018 deaths have been reported in the country, according to the WHO Africa office.

(www.newsnow.co.uk)

Agency Reporter

A Sudan court on Tuesday began the trial of ousted autocrat Omar Al-Bashir for leading a military coup that brought him to power 31 years ago.

Al-Bashir and 26 other defendants gave brief introductory statements at the Supreme Court in the capital, Khartoum.

A judge then rejected the defence’s appeal for a postponement, filed on the basis of Sudan’s fragile political climate, and questioning the impartiality of the court.

The judge scheduled the next session for Sept. 15.

The trial was initially set to start in late July but was postponed three times, including due to a lack of coronavirus precautions.

Al-Bashir is facing charges of undermining the constitution, rebellion, and violating the Armed Forces Act, Al-Moez Hadra, who belongs to the group of lawyers who filed the criminal lawsuit, said.

READ ALSO: Nigeriens, Malians, Sudanese behind banditry, says IG

The 76-year-old will stand trial with several co-accused, among them two of Al-Bashir’s former vice presidents as well as former ministers and governors.

If convicted, Al-Bashir, who is already imprisoned for corruption, could face a death sentence.

Al-Bashir came to power in 1989 after he led a military coup against democratically elected Prime Minister Sadek al-Mahdi.

He was ousted in April 2019 after months of pro-democracy protests and mass sit-ins.

Al-Bashir was convicted in late 2019 on corruption charges but was never tried for alleged crimes against humanity committed under his 30-year rule.

The volatile nation in the Horn of Africa is currently run by a transitional government made up of military and civilian officials.

(NAN)

By Dayo Mustapha

The African Union (AU) through Africa Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP) and Novartis have announced collaboration to facilitate supply of medicines from the Novartis Pandemic Response Portfolio to the AU member states and Caricom countries.

The AMSP portal is an online marketplace that enables the supply of COVID-19-related critical medical equipment in Africa.

It was developed under the leadership of the AU Special Envoy, Strive Masiyiwa and powered by Janngo on behalf of Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

The platform was also developed in partnership with African Export- Import Bank (Afreximbank) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

The collaboration, according to a statement, aims to help alleviate supply and logistical constraints by ensuring efficient and rapid access to the Pandemic Portfolio medicines to African and Caricom governments.

The AU comprises 55 Member States, representing all the countries on the African continent while 15 Caricom countries are eligible for the Pandemic Portfolio.

“Our collaboration with AMSP is a continuation of our efforts at Novartis to combat COVID -19 across the world,” said Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis.

“Together, we are aiming to accelerate and expand access to affordable essential medicines in Africa to meet the very urgent patient needs across the continent as it continues battling this pandemic.”

AMSP was developed to ease the difficulties and open up the medical supplies market to Africa as part of the Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT) of Africa CDC.

It integrates African and globally vetted medical suppliers to ensure cost-effectiveness and transparency in the procurement and distribution of COVID-19 related supplies.

“Following the successful listing of test kits, personal protective equipment, and clinical management devices, the African Union Chairperson has expanded our mandate to include groundbreaking medicines to treat COVID-19 patients in Africa,” said African Union Special Envoy, Strive Masiyiwa.

“As a global pharmaceutical leader, Novartis is a strategic partner for AMSP to unlock access to the latest and best-performing medicines for Africans in an affordable way.”

Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and its spread worldwide, there was a shortage of diagnostics, medical supplies and essential medical equipment such as personal protective equipment for healthcare workers, face masks, ventilators, and many others.

Many African governments had severe challenges with the procurement of essential supplies to support their response activities and face stiff competition with the more industrialized countries for the limited available supplies.

“As a continental body, we are working with several partners to ensure smooth and predictable access to essential medical supplies,” said Dr John Nkengasong, Director of Africa CDC.

“We found that during the Ebola outbreak in 2014, many people died because of Ebola but not due to Ebola. This is because they did not have access to essential medicines needed for treatment.

“With AMSP, countries don’t have to search the market for supplies. The prices are negotiated and fixed to unlock the supply space.”

The Novartis Pandemic Response Portfolio from Sandoz, the generics and biosimilar division of Novartis, comprises 15 medicines: Amoxicillin, Ceftriaxone, Clarithromycin, Colchicine, Dexamethasone, Dobutamine, Fluconazole, Heparin, Levofloxacin, Loperamide, Pantoprazole, Prednisone, Prednisolone, Salbutamol, Vancomycin. The portfolio was launched in July 2020 and sells medicines at zero-profit to governments, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and other institutional customers in up to 79 eligible countries to address the urgent unmet needs of low-and lower-middle-income countries for medicines to be used for symptomatic treatment at various stages of COVID-19. Eligible countries must be included on the World Bank’s list of LICs & LMICs 1.

Agency Reporter

The Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Monday said that the number of positive COVID-19 cases across the African continent has risen to 1,245,230.

The centre noted that only five African countries account for about 70 per cent of all COVID-19 infections in the continent, stressing that the death toll from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic rose to 29,589 on Monday.

Some 975, 643 people who were infected with COVID-19 had recovered across the continent so far, it said.

Amid the rapid spread of the virus across the continent, South Africa alone accounts for about 50 per cent of all COVID-19 infections in the continent, followed by Egypt which has eight per cent of all COVID-19 infections in the continent, the Africa CDC said.

READ ALSO: Africa’s COVID-19 cases close to 360,000 – WHO

The continental disease control and prevention agency said that South Africa had so far reported 625, 056 cases and 14,028 deaths as at Monday.

Egypt is the second most COVID-19 affected country with 98,727 positive cases and 5,399 COVID-19 related deaths, it was noted.

Morocco, which has so far reported 61, 399 positive cases and 1,111 deaths, comes third with about five per cent of all COVID-19 infections in the continent, while Nigeria and Ethiopia round the top five list.

According to the Africa CDC, the southern Africa region is the most affected area in terms of confirmed cases, followed by northern Africa and western Africa regions.

(Xinhua/NAN)

Our Reporter

An explosion at a military base in the Somali capital Mogadishu has killed at least eight people and injured 14 others, a military official says.

It was not yet clear what caused the blast but witnesses told local media a car loaded with explosives attacked the compound near a stadium.

Radio Dalsan said the explosion could be heard across the city.

READ ALSO: Floods kill 16 in Somalia, affect over 200,000 others

Islamist militant group Al-Shabab often carries out bombings targeting security forces and government officials.

Earlier this week two security guards were killed after stopping a suicide bomber from entering a restaurant in the capital.

(www.newsnow.co.uk)