MATSHIDISO MOETI

KAMPALA, Uganda — (AP) — Uganda's Ebola outbreak is "rapidly evolving" a month after the disease was reported in the East African country, a top World Health Organization official said Thursday, describing a difficult situation for health workers. Ebola has since infected 64 people and killed 24, although official figures do not include people who likely died of Ebola before the outbreak was confirmed. Fears that Ebola could spread far from the outbreak's epicenter caused authorities to impose a lockdown, including nighttime curfews, on two of the five districts reporting Ebola cases. Uganda has had multiple Ebola outbreaks, including one in 2000 that killed more than 200 people. The 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa killed more than 11,000 people, the disease’s largest death toll.

KAMPALA, Uganda — (AP) — Uganda's Ebola outbreak is "rapidly evolving" a month after the disease was reported in the East African country, a top World Health Organization official said Thursday, describing a difficult situation for health workers on the ground. Ebola has since infected 64 people and killed 24, although official figures do not include people who likely died of Ebola before the outbreak was confirmed. Fears that Ebola could spread far from the outbreak's epicenter caused authorities to impose a lockdown, including nighttime curfews, on two of the five districts reporting Ebola cases. Uganda has had multiple Ebola outbreaks, including one in 2000 that killed more than 200 people. The 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa killed more than 11,000 people, the disease’s largest death toll.

Only three African countries — Liberia, Mauritius and Seychelles — have vaccinated more than 70% of their population. Once COVID-19 vaccines became available in 2021, Western countries hoarded available supplies, leaving many African countries last in line to receive doses. Some African countries also said that the doses donated by Western countries were sent too close to their expiration dates to be fully utilized. Africa now has adequate vaccines available, Moeti said Thursday. At the beginning of the year, there were 28 countries in Africa where vaccination rates were below 10%.

A top World Health Organization official says Uganda’s Ebola outbreak is “rapidly evolving” a month after the disease was reported in the East African country

A top World Health Organization official says Uganda’s Ebola outbreak is “rapidly evolving” a month after the disease was reported in the East African country.

The World Health Organization says the number of COVID-19 vaccine doses being given in Africa has dropped by more than 50% over the past three months

The outbreak of monkeypox is subsiding in Europe and parts of North America.

The World Health Organization says it is launching a $1.5 billion campaign, hopefully including a new vaccine, to eliminate outbreaks of bacterial meningitis across Africa by 2030.

The World Health Organization has declared Ghana’s first outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus disease after labs confirmed the infections in two cases announced earlier this month

Animals Outbreak FILE - Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the first woman to lead the the World Health Organization's regional Africa office, joins Congo's health minister Gilbert Mokoki on a field trip in Brazzaville, Congo, Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, File) (Moses Sawasawa)LONDON — (AP) — The number of outbreaks of diseases that jumped from animals to humans in Africa has jumped by more than 60% in the last decade, the World Health Organization said, a worrying sign the planet could face increased animal-borne diseases like monkeypox, Ebola and coronavirus in the future. There was a particular spike from 2019 to 2020, when diseases originating in animals that later infected humans, made up half of all significant public health events in Africa, said WHO. Diseases like Ebola and other hemorrhagic fevers were responsible for 70% of those outbreaks, in addition to illnesses like monkeypox, dengue, anthrax and plague. WHO also noted that Africa has the world's fastest-growing population, which increases urbanization and reduces roaming areas for wild animals.

The World Health Organization says that the number of outbreaks of diseases that jumped from animals to humans in Africa has increased by more than 60% in the last decade, a worrying sign the planet could face increased animal-borne diseases like monkeypox, Ebola and coronavirus in the future.

So far, sequencing has not yet shown any direct link to the outbreak outside Africa, health officials say. Meanwhile, seven of Africa's 54 countries have reported the disease and there have been about three times as many monkeypox cases as usual. To improve the fight against monkeypox in Africa, health workers must engage with communities in ways that minimize any stigma around the disease, she said. Nigeria, one of the four African countries where monkeypox is endemic, has seen sporadic cases every year since 2017. It has confirmed 21 monkeypox cases so far this year, according to Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, head of the country’s Center for Disease Control.

The World Health Organization’s Africa office says the continent’s 54 countries must be part of a united global fight against monkeypox, as countries in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere respond to unusual outbreaks of the disease

Health authorities in Mozambique have declared a polio outbreak after confirming that a child in the country’s northeastern Tete province had been paralyzed by the disease.

The World Health Organization says that Africa is seeing a surge of outbreaks of preventable diseases as a result of disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic

KAMPALA, Uganda — (AP) — Africa is seeing a surge of outbreaks of preventable diseases as a result of disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. Two years of disruptions by the coronavirus pandemic have had “major effects on the provision of routine health services, with immunization being seriously affected" in many countries, he said. Last year 13 countries reported new outbreaks of yellow fever, rising from nine in 2020 and three in 2019, according to WHO figures. “The rise in outbreaks of other vaccine-preventable diseases is a warning sign," Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa, said in a statement. Impouma, the WHO official, said that in the wake of the pandemic the agency seeks to support countries to scale up COVID-19 vaccinations as well as routine immunization services.

The World Health Organization says that Africa is seeing a surge of outbreaks of preventable diseases as a result of disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Congo health authorities have confirmed a new Ebola case in the northwest Equateur Province in the city of Mbandaka, declaring an outbreak nearly four months after the last one ended in the central African nation

The WHO warned, however, that with winter approaching for Southern Hemisphere countries, "there is a high risk of another wave of new infections."

JOHANNESBURG — (AP) — The number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Africa have dropped to their lowest levels since the pandemic began, marking the longest decline yet seen in the disease, according to the World Health Organization. Cases and deaths fell by 29% and 37% respectively in the last week; deaths decreased to 239 from the previous week. To date, the new versions of omicron have been detected in four people in Botswana and 23 people in South Africa. Beyond Africa, scientists have confirmed cases in Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom. Still, some countries have seen significant increases in the numbers of unexplained deaths, suggesting authorities were missing numerous COVID-19 cases.

The World Health Organization says the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Africa have dropped to their lowest levels since the pandemic began, marking the longest decline yet seen in the disease

The World Health Organization says the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Africa have dropped to their lowest levels since the pandemic began, marking the longest decline yet seen in the disease.

The number of new coronavirus cases and deaths reported to the World Health Organization has fallen for a third consecutive week

The number of new coronavirus cases and deaths reported to the World Health Organization has fallen for a third consecutive week.

The World Health Organization said that up to 65% of people in Africa have been infected with the coronavirus and estimates the number of actual cases may have been nearly 100 times more than those reported.

Zimbabwe has launched a new COVID-19 vaccination campaign that includes jabbing children aged 12 and above to rescue a drive faltering due to vaccine hesitancy and complacency.

JOHANNESBURG — (AP) — The World Health Organization said authorities in Malawi have detected a case of polio in the southern African country's capital, another setback in continuing efforts to eradicate the highly infectious paralytic disease globally. Although polio has been spreading in numerous African countries in recent years, those outbreaks were linked to viruses originally contained in vaccines, not to the wild virus. WHO said lab tests showed the polio virus detected in Malawi is connected to the strain that has been spreading in Pakistan's Sindh province, where the disease remains entrenched. “As long as wild polio exists anywhere in the world all countries remain at risk of importation of the virus,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization's Africa chief. Health officials say polio is endemic in Afghanistan and Pakistan, although numerous countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia have also reported cases in recent years.

The World Health Organization’s Africa director Matshidiso Moeti says Africa is moving to the “control phase” of the COVID-19 pandemic and increased vaccination rates will be crucial in helping the continent live with the disease.

Africa’s top health official is launching a campaign to enlist young people to encourage vaccinations, as just 11.3% of the continent’s 1.3 billion people are vaccinated against COVID-19.

The director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that at least 2.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines donated to the continent's countries have expired, citing short shelf lives as the major reason.

Congo Ebola Vaccination FILE - A child is vaccinated against Ebola in Beni, Congo, July 13, 2019. Congolese officials Thursday Dec. 16, 2021 announced an end to an Ebola outbreak that had killed at least six people since October 2021 in the latest health challenge confronting the country's restive east. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, file) (Jerome Delay)BENI, Congo — (AP) — Congolese officials on Thursday announced an end to an Ebola outbreak that had killed at least six people since October in the latest health challenge confronting the country's restive east. Research has shown that the first case from the latest outbreak “likely represented a new flare-up of the 2018–2020 Ebola outbreak due persistence of the virus in the community,” WHO said Thursday. The newly ended outbreak marked the 13th time Congo has battled Ebola, including another outbreak in North Kivu between February and May of this year.

BENI, Congo — (AP) — Congolese officials on Thursday announced an end to an Ebola outbreak that had killed at least six people since October in the latest health challenge confronting the country's restive east. Research has shown that the first case from the latest outbreak “likely represented a new flare-up of the 2018–2020 Ebola outbreak due persistence of the virus in the community,” WHO said Thursday. Scientists have previously documented Ebola survivors who inadvertently infected others long after they had recovered. The newly ended outbreak marked the 13th time Congo has battled Ebola, including another outbreak in North Kivu between February and May of this year. The disease has proved particularly difficult to prevent in North Kivu, which is home to a myriad of armed groups.

Congolese health authorities have declared an end to the Ebola outbreak in the country's east that had killed at least six people since October.

(AP Photo/Gbemiga Olamikan) (Gbemiga Olamikan)LAGOS, Nigeria — (AP) — Nigeria will no longer accept COVID-19 vaccines with short shelf lives after 1 million doses have expired in Africa's most population nation before the shots could be used, a government official said. Faisal Shuaib, head of Nigeria’s National Primary Health Care Development Agency, told reporters that expired vaccines not used in time now will be destroyed. While at least 30 million doses are currently available, authorities say the rush to distribute almost-expired ones has created an additional burden. Malawi burned nearly 20,000 expired vaccines earlier year and South Sudan also said it had to destroy tens of thousands of doses. Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa, said Tuesday that the problem of expiring vaccines is a global one.

Authorities in Nigeria have announced that the West African country will no longer accept COVID-19 vaccines with short shelf lives after it was unable to use 1 million doses before they expired.

The World Health Organization has urged countries not to impose flight bans on southern African nations due to concerns over the new omicron variant.

ABUJA, Nigeria — (AP) — Africa is seeing a rise in deliveries of vaccine doses to the continent, but only one in four of its health workers has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the World Health Organization regional office said on Thursday. The most common reasons for the low vaccination rate among health workers on the continent of about 1.3 billion people include vaccine hesitancy and the unavailability of vaccine services, especially in rural areas, Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s Africa director, told an online press briefing. Many of Africa's health workers, including those working in rural communities, still have “concerns over vaccine safety and adverse side effects,” the WHO regional director Moeti said. In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, only 300,000 — or 18% — of its 1.6 million health workers have been fully vaccinated. A recent study also found that only 40% of health workers intended to receive the vaccine while less than 50% hope to get their shot in Ethiopia, WHO said.

African health officials and the United Nations are warning of a looming shortage of up to 2 billion syringes for mainly low- and middle-income countries around the world as the supply of COVID-19 vaccine doses rises, and routine vaccinations could be affected, too.

Senegal and Rwanda have signed an agreement with German company BioNTech for the construction of its first start-to-finish factories to make messenger RNA vaccines in Africa.

The U.S. donation from its domestic supplies comes on top of the 50 million doses previously donated to Africa, which world health officials say is 500 million doses short of its goal.

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — (AP) — Only one in seven COVID-19 infections in Africa are being detected, meaning the continent's estimated infection level may be 59 million people, according to a new study by the World Health Organization. “With limited testing, we’re still flying blind in far too many communities in Africa,” said Matshidiso Moeti, regional director for the WHO in Africa in a press briefing Thursday. It is called a ring method because it will target people living within a 100-meter (110-yard) radius around new confirmed cases. Since the start of the outbreak, Africa has recorded more than 8 million COVID-19 cases and 214,000 deaths, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She urged wealthy countries to share a significant number of doses with Africa right now rather than wait until next year.

According to a new study by the World Health Organization, only one in seven COVID-19 infections in Africa are being detected, meaning the continent’s estimated infection level may be 59 million people.

WHO Malaria Vaccine FILE - In this Oct. 30, 2009 file photo, a mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called it “a historic moment” after a meeting in which two of the U.N. health agency’s expert advisory groups recommended the step. Still, scientists say the vaccine could have a major impact against malaria in Africa, home to most of the world’s more than 200 million cases and 400,000 deaths per year. Dr. Alejandro Cravioto, head of the WHO vaccine group that made the recommendation, said designing a shot against malaria was particularly difficult because it is a parasitic disease spread by mosquitoes. “It’s impossible to say how that may affect a malaria vaccine, but we definitely need new options to fight it.”Copyright 2021 The Associated Press.

It's also the first vaccine against a parasitic disease in humans. But there are issues to consider, from its rate of effectiveness to the dosage schedule.

The World Health Organization recommended the world's first malaria vaccine for children on Wednesday.

WHO Malaria Vaccine FILE - In this Oct. 30, 2009 file photo, a mother holds her baby receiving a new malaria vaccine as part of a trial at the Walter Reed Project Research Center in Kombewa in Western Kenya. The world’s first malaria vaccine should be given to children across Africa, the World Health Organization recommended Wednesday Oct. 6, 2021, a move that officials hope will spur stalled efforts to curb the spread of the parasitic disease. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called it “a historic moment” after a meeting in which two of the U.N. health agency’s expert advisory groups recommended the step. Dr. Alejandro Cravioto, head of the WHO vaccine group that made the recommendation, said designing a shot against malaria was particularly difficult because it is a parasitic disease spread by mosquitoes. “It’s impossible to say how that may affect a malaria vaccine, but we definitely need new options to fight it.”Copyright 2021 The Associated Press.

WHO Malaria Vaccine FILE - In this file photo taken Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019, health officials prepare to vaccine residents of the Malawi village of Tomali, where young children become test subjects for the world's first vaccine against malaria. The World Health Organization recommended that the world’s first malaria vaccine be given to children across Africa, in a move officials hope will spur the stalled progress against efforts to curb the spread of the parasitic disease. And we expect many more African children to be protected from malaria and grow into healthy adults,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO's Africa director. The malaria vaccine known as Mosquirix was developed by GlaxoSmithKline in 1987. “It’s impossible to say how that may affect a malaria vaccine, but we definitely need new options to fight it.”Copyright 2021 The Associated Press.

WHO Malaria Vaccine FILE - In this file photo taken Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019, health officials prepare to vaccine residents of the Malawi village of Tomali, where young children become test subjects for the world's first vaccine against malaria. The World Health Organization recommended that the world’s first malaria vaccine be given to children across Africa, in a move officials hope will spur the stalled progress against efforts to curb the spread of the parasitic disease. The malaria vaccine known as Mosquirix was developed by GlaxoSmithKline in 1987. Still, given the extremely high burden of malaria in Africa — where the majority of the world’s more than 200 million cases a year and 400,000 deaths occur — scientists say the vaccine could still have a major impact. “So obviously if they’ve been vaccinated, they will still be protected.”Clarke added that in the last few years little significant progress has been made against malaria.

The World Health Organization has endorsed the world’s first malaria vaccine and said it should be given to children across Africa in the hope that it will spur stalled efforts to curb the spread of the parasitic disease.

The French government has called on the head of the World Health Organization to uphold his pledge for an “action plan” to combat sexual abuse and exploitation by WHO employees.

Virus Outbreak Kenya Airport officials receive boxes of Moderna coronavirus vaccine after their arrival at the airport in Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Sept. 6, 2021. 880,320 doses were delivered forming the second of two shipments totalling 1.76 million doses which were donated by the U.S. government via the COVAX facility, according to the U.S. embassy in Kenya. Moeti noted that while COVAX has delivered over 5 million vaccine doses to African countries in the past week, “three times as many doses have been thrown away in the United States alone” since March. The Africa CDC says 145 million vaccine doses have been procured across the continent of 1.3 billion people, and 111 million of them, or 77%, have been administered. The WHO director-general on Wednesday called for a delay in administering boosters until the end of the year to address sharp vaccine inequality.

Africa’s already thin supply of COVID-19 vaccines has taken another significant hit.

Virus Outbreak Nigeria Vaccines A man receives his second coronavirus vaccination, the Moderna vaccine, at the health center in Lagos, Nigeria Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba) (Sunday Alamba)LAGOS, Nigeria — (AP) — COVID-19 vaccinations in Africa tripled over the past week, though protecting even 10% of the continent by the end of September remains “a very daunting task," the Africa director of the World Health Organization said Thursday. Meanwhile, the continent saw 248,000 new confirmed cases over the past week, with at least 28 countries seeing a surge in infections driven by the delta variant. "This is a preventable tragedy if African countries can get fair access to the vaccines,” Matshidiso Moeti told reporters. The WHO Africa director said 13 million doses were administered in the past week, three times more than the number of shots given in the previous week as donations of doses increased from developed countries.

The Africa director of the World Health Organization says the continent was able to triple its COVID-19 vaccination rate over the past week, helped by growing numbers of donations of doses from developed countries.

In late June, the international system for sharing coronavirus vaccines sent about 530,000 doses to Britain – more than double the amount sent that month to the entire continent of Africa. ___MORE ON THE PANDEMIC:— Gulf Coast among U.S. areas of COVID-19 trouble spots— What is being done to distribute COVID-19 vaccines globally? But they’re also worried about the surge in COVID-19 cases. But CEOs of both airlines say they’ve seen bookings dip recently as COVID-19 cases have increased sharply. Despite a world-leading vaccination campaign, Israel has seen new COVID-19 cases skyrocket in recent weeks.

It was the latest example of how a system that was supposed to guarantee low and middle-income countries vaccines is failing, leaving them at the mercy of haphazard donations from rich countries. Moeti noted that the latest resurgence in cases across Africa is leveling off and more vaccine doses are finally arriving on the continent, but “Africa is encountering headwinds” as rich countries like the United States decide to roll out booster shots. U.S. health officials on Wednesday announced plans to dispense COVID-19 booster shots to all Americans amid the surging delta variant and signs that vaccines’ effectiveness is slipping. Moeti pointed out that rich countries have on average administered more than 103 vaccine doses per 100 people, while in Africa it’s just six. Earlier this week the WHO director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, called it “unconscionable” that some countries are now offering booster shots “while so many people remain unprotected.”Copyright 2021 The Associated Press.

The Africa director for the World Health Organization says rich countries’ decisions to roll out COVID-19 booster shots while so many people across Africa remain unvaccinated “threaten the promise of a brighter tomorrow" for the continent.

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — (AP) — A patient has tested positive for Ebola in Abidjan, a city of more than 4 million people, marking the first case of the disease in Ivory Coast in more than a quarter century, the World Health Organization said. More than 11,325 people died in what became the largest Ebola outbreak in history. However, researchers have said there's evidence the Ebola virus can lurk in the body long after symptoms end. It was not immediately clear whether anyone else had fallen ill with Ebola in Guinea, where the patient in Ivory Coast had traveled from. Guinea is also trying to contain a rare outbreak of Marburg virus, another hemorrhagic fever disease that belongs to the same family as Ebola.

The World Health Organization says a patient has tested positive for Ebola in Abidjan, a city of more than 4 million people

The virus, considered Ebola's cousin, can be up to 88 percent fatal

CONAKRY, Guinea — (AP) — Authorities in West Africa have confirmed the region's first known case of Marburg virus after at least one person in Guinea died of the hemorrhagic fever disease, the World Health Organization said Monday. The Marburg virus belongs to the same family as Ebola, and previously outbreaks have erupted elsewhere across Africa in Angola, Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda. The new West African case was confirmed by a laboratory in Guinea and again by the Institut Pasteur in nearby Senegal, according to WHO. "The potential for the Marburg virus to spread far and wide means we need to stop it in its tracks,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO's regional director for Africa. The virus then spreads from human to human by contact with an infected person’s body fluids.

Thousands of new coronavirus cases have been reported in West Africa in recent weeks amid low vaccination rates and the spread of the delta variant.

New infections in South Africa have risen to record levels in recent days.

Some in wheelchairs, others on canes, hundreds of South Africans waited recently on the ramps of an open-air Johannesburg parking garage to get their COVID-19 vaccine shots. New infections in South Africa rose to record levels in recent days, part of a rapid rise across the continent, and experts say the surge here hasn't yet peaked. To fight the new wave, South Africa reimposed several restrictions, including shutting restaurants and bars and limiting alcohol sales — and its vaccination drive is finding its feet after several stumbles.

FETHI BELAIDCoroners in Tunisia—which is experiencing its fourth and worst wave of the COVID-19 pandemic— have run out of space, meaning the dead are often left in crowded hospital rooms alongside still suffering patients for 24 hours. The morgues are full, the health ministry says. Even the dead, it seems, are suffering.“We are in a catastrophic situation… the boat is sinking,” Tunisia’s health ministry spokesperson Nisaf Ben Alaya told reporters this week. “The health system collapsed, we can

Covid cases in Africa are doubling every 18 days as the highly contagious delta variant rips through continent.

Holding out for nearly $9,000 in unpaid medical bills, one hospital in Uganda allegedly refused to hand over the dead body of a patient who had received oxygen therapy for several days.

Case numbers are doubling every three weeks in Africa, according to the World Health Organization. That has increased South Africa’s total to 1.9 million confirmed cases and 66,323 confirmed deaths. It represents more than 30% of the 5.5 million cases reported by Africa’s 54 countries, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The delta variant, reported in 16 African countries, has become dominant in South Africa. The nation has registered 545,000 confirmed cases and 7,854 confirmed deaths.

JOHANNESBURG — (AP) — Driven by the delta variant, a new wave of COVID-19 is sweeping across the African continent where new cases, hospital admissions, and deaths are increasing. South Africa is leading the new surge in Africa, where case numbers are doubling every three weeks, according to the World Health Organization. “The speed and scale of Africa’s third wave is like nothing we’ve seen before," said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO's regional director for Africa. The delta variant, reported in 16 African countries, has become dominant in South Africa, which accounts for more than half of Africa’s new cases. Johannesburg and the surrounding Gauteng province are South Africa's epicenter with its hospitals reaching 91% capacity and 5,500 additional health workers deployed, the health department announced Friday.

Driven by the delta variant, a new wave of COVID-19 is sweeping across the African continent where new cases, hospital admissions, and deaths are increasing.

“Africa can still blunt the impact of these fast-rising infections, but the window of opportunity is closing. The delta variant “may have played a very significant role,” in the “very devastating” third wave of COVID-19 in at least 20 countries across Africa, the director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, John Nkengasong, said Thursday. “The third wave is extremely brutal,” he said, adding that more and more health centers are saying they are overwhelmed. Africa has more than 5.2 million confirmed virus cases including more than 139,000 deaths, according to the Africa CDC. More than 80% of COVAX vaccine supplies have been used by just 18 African countries, with eight running out of stocks.

Africa is facing a devastating resurgence of COVID-19 infections whose peak will surpass that of earlier waves as the continent’s countries struggle to vaccinate even a small percentage of the population.

More than 500,000 have died from coronavirus in Brazil. Mass public viewings of the Olympics have been canceled at six sites. Latest COVID-19 updates.

Some of the most desperately poor countries in the world are seeing a two-headed crisis: a surge in COVID-19 cases and a critical shortage of vaccine.

Billionaire philanthropist Mo Ibrahim is criticizing vaccine hoarding by wealthy nations, urging the international community to “walk the talk” as Africa desperately lags behind in vaccinating against COVID-19.

The World Health Organization says COVID-19 vaccine shipments have ground to “a near halt” in Africa while virus cases have spiked 20% over the last two weeks.

COVID-19 vaccine shipments have ground to “a near halt” in Africa while virus cases have spiked 20% over the last two weeks, the World Health Organization said Thursday, a bleak scenario for the continent on both those critical fronts. More than 1 million J&J doses that should have already been put to use remain on hold at a pharmaceuticals plant in South Africa because of contamination concerns at a U.S. factory. The head of the Africa CDC said he expects an update in the coming days from U.S. federal regulators on those and other doses of J&J, which he called an essential vaccine for Africa because it's a one-dose shot and doesn't need the ultra-cold storage facilities required by others.

South Africa has begun a campaign to vaccinate its citizens aged 60 and older.

Africa needs at least 20 million doses of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine within the next six weeks to get the second round of shots to people.

Several world leaders have praised the U.S. move to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines for poor nations by suspending patent protections on the shots.

Africa's top public health official says the continent is “watching with total disbelief” as India struggles with a devastating resurgence in COVID-19 cases.

“It’s a concern, and everyone is talking about it.”The East African nation of 45 million people was receiving under 1 million vaccine doses — 864,000. It’s the first batch of a total of 18 million COVAX doses for Uganda, but when all will arrive is not known. While the COVAX initiative was created to ensure that low- and middle-income countries receive COVID-19 vaccines, it has faced delays and limited supply. And Nigeria began its vaccination campaign after Africa’s most populous country received almost 4 million doses. AdThe COVAX delays have pushed other African countries to seek more doses elsewhere, including via bilateral deals that can be unfavorable.

WHO regional director for Africa Dr. Matshidiso Moeti said Thursday that 11,000 Ebola vaccines are being prepared in Geneva and are expected to arrive in Guinea over the weekend. The WHO has called on six African countries to be on high alert for Ebola infections after both Guinea and Congo recorded cases in recent weeks. As of Thursday, Guinea has recorded three confirmed Ebola cases, including one death, according to WHO. Health officials hope to stem the spread of Ebola in West Africa, which experienced the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history from 2014 to 2016 that killed more than 11,300 people, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Tests have since shown he was negative for Ebola, according to Ministry of Health and Sanitation spokesman Harold Thomas.

African countries without the coronavirus variant dominant in South Africa should go ahead and use the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday, while the World Health Organization suggested the vaccine even for countries with the variant circulating widely. No other has expressed concerns about the AstraZeneca vaccine. The African continent has seen an average 18% decrease in new virus cases over the past four weeks, which Nkengasong called encouraging. The African continent on Sunday will mark one year since the first virus case was confirmed there, in Egypt. “We cannot afford today to have the same pace and time for access to (COVID-19) vaccines,” he said.

FILE - In this Saturday, July 13, 2019 file photo, a child is vaccinated against Ebola in Beni, Congo. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, file)BENI – Health officials in Congo confirmed another Ebola outbreak in the country’s east on Sunday, the fourth in less than three years. On February 3, a woman died in Butembo town in North Kivu province, Minister of Health Eteni Longondo announced. AdHealth officials worry a new Ebola outbreak could badly affect the nation’s fragile health system, especially as it faces a resurgence of COVID-19. The Ebola virus is highly contagious and can be contracted through bodily fluids such as vomit, blood, or semen.

FILE In this Thursday, Dec. 24, 2020 file photo, a long-distance traveller undergoes a COVID-19 test at a mobile clinic at a taxi rank at Johannesburg's main railway station. The level of testing across Africa is considerably less than what health experts say is needed to effectively control the spread of the disease. Just 10 countries — South Africa, Morocco, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, Rwanda and Cameroon — are carrying out more than 70% of the continent’s testing. Increased testing is needed to help Africa locate where cases are rising and where additional medical responses are needed. In efforts to track the level of infections in communities, countries such as South Africa and Ghana are testing for the prevalence of COVID-19 in sewage water.

The Texas Department of State Health Services and the Texas Division of Emergency Management will provide more medical personnel and equipment this week. The move comes during the same week that El Paso County reported 3,750 new coronavirus infections, including 1,161 on Thursday. The announcement came Thursday as the state reported 932 newly confirmed coronavirus cases. Wednesday marked another record day for daily confirmed cases, with 827, and state health officials reported an additional 669 cases Thursday. Florida reported more than 5,500 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, raising the seven-day average in daily reported cases to about 3,300.

(AP Photo/Denis Farrell, file)JOHANNESBURG African governments should accelerate the reopening of schools, the World Health Organization has urged, saying that the continent's youths will suffer from prolonged closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Only six African countries have fully opened schools, according to a survey of 39 countries by WHO and UNICEF. Many governments closed schools as part of measures to limit the transmission of the coronavirus. Just as countries are opening businesses safely, we can reopen schools, said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa. Reopening schools has been particularly challenging in Africa, where millions of children attend crowded classrooms, and schools often lack running water and proper toilets.

The minister said his country of more than 4 million people is still waiting for testing supplies ordered via the WHO. Central African Republic has more than 4,300 confirmed virus cases a small fraction of the more than 644,000 across Africa but the true number is unknown. Confirmed virus cases across Africa have jumped by 23% in the past week, and South Africa makes up nearly half of all cases. In some African countries the more you test the more cases you find, Moeti said, but not always. She noted that had not occurred in Senegal when the country produced its own test kits and significantly expanded testing.

(AP Photo/Denis Farrell)JOHANNESBURG Africa now has more than a half-million confirmed coronavirus cases. A tremendous problem, a real crisis of access, the World Health Organizations Africa chief, Matshidiso Moeti, said last week. So far most testing has been concentrated in capital cities, but infections in many cases have spread beyond them. This week alone, some anxious health workers in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Congo and Sierra Leone have gone on strike or demonstrated for adequate protective gear or better pay. The African continent has just 2.2 health workers and 0.3 doctors per 1,000 people, according to the WHO.

Thats even as Africa had more than 463,000 confirmed virus cases as of Sunday and South Africa, its most developed economy, already struggles to care for COVID-19 patients. Senegals president has said international flights will begin on July 15. Kenya Airways wants to resume international flights. And she suggested that when we see a flare-up that is unacceptable in virus cases, the loosening of travel restrictions could be reversed. African nations can seize the moment and do more tourism at home, Amani Abou-Zeid, AU commissioner for infrastructure and energy, told reporters last week.