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Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – British American Tobacco South Africa (BATSA) on Friday launched urgent legal proceedings to challenge the government’s decision to extend the ban on tobacco sales during Level 3 of the nationwide lockdown. From Monday, the sale of alcohol will be allowed, but the continued tobacco restrictions [...]
©- - 29 may 2020 - 13:19:04 - thread Health (352 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - Rwanda’s health minister Monday announced nine new confirmed COVID-19 cases and one recovery, bringing the total number of infections to 336. In all, 238 people have recovered and been discharged from hospital, the ministry said, adding that there has been no death. Last week, the government eased some [...]
©- - 25 may 2020 - 22:16:32 - thread Health (130 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) -  With the introduction of five high-tech robots this week, doctors at various hospitals in Rwanda will be able to attend patients with confirmed infection of coronavirus, as a move  to limit the risk of healthcare workers from contracting the virus, an official source told PANA on [...]
©- - 20 may 2020 - 15:21:30 - thread Health (320 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – United Nations  Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday saluted President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government for the swift manner in which they have tackled the coronavirus pandemic.   While South Africa currently has 16,433 confirmed cases – the highest in Africa – there is a global [...]
©- - 19 may 2020 - 13:17:12 - thread Health (242 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - Rwanda outlined Sunday last steps to phasing out the restrictions it imposed since March, this year, to curb the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) which has infected 289 persons so far. The new scenario developed by a national COVID-19 task force aims especially at advising decision makers [...]
©- - 17 may 2020 - 17:14:55 - thread Health (189 words)


Paris, France (PANA)   - The 2018 Nobel Peace Laureate, Congolese Doctor Denis Mukwege, Thursday commended the African continent for resisting well against the cronavirus (COVID-19) but called for vigilance against the pandemic. “Africa has resisted very well and better as what was announced was hecatomb. Today, we can note that the [...]
©- - 14 may 2020 - 22:47:35 - thread Health (375 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – South Africa's official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) on Thursday indicated that it is taking legal action over President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that his administration was only planning to move the current national lockdown to a lower level at the end of the month. The party [...]
©- - 14 may 2020 - 15:37:19 - thread Health (218 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – Two leading South African sportsmen on Thursday confirmed that they have tested positive for the coronavirus and are receiving treatment.   Football star Ben Motshwari who plays for Soweto giants Orlando Pirates has undergone tests which have confirmed he contracted the virus. He is now asymptomatic [...]
©- - 07 may 2020 - 15:59:32 - thread Health (195 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - Rwandan health officials announced Tuesday that five new people had tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 212. The new cases involve contacts of cross-border truck drivers who recently tested positive, reports said. About 80 per cent of landlocked Rwanda’s import cargo [...]
©- - 28 april 2020 - 23:57:14 - thread Health (111 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – Just days after President Cyril Ramaphosa refused to lift the ban on alcohol sales during South Africa’s five-week Covid-19 lockdown, a leading tobacco lobby group is seeking to have the ban on tobacco lifted. The Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA) confirmed that it will approach [...]
©- - 20 april 2020 - 18:18:45 - thread Health (242 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - Rwandan Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente announced here Saturday an extension of the country’s lockdown till April 30 to check the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). According to an official statement obtained here by PANA, the initial two-week lockdown was meant to end on Sunday. The total number of [...]
©- - 18 april 2020 - 17:55:58 - thread Health (185 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - Rwandan Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente announced here Saturday an extension of the country’s lockdown till April 30 to check the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). According to an official statement obtained here by PANA, the initial two-week lockdown was meant to end on Sunday. The total number of [...]
©- - 18 april 2020 - 17:52:54 - thread Health (185 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa on Friday rejected a legal application by business owners to lift the country’s alcohol ban which was implemented as part of the national lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. The application was brought by the Gauteng Liquor Forum which [...]
©- - 17 april 2020 - 16:57:09 - thread Health (226 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – South Africa’s coronavirus death toll on Friday hit the 20 mark with the number of confirmed cases rising to more than 2,000.   This was confirmed by Health minister Zweli Mkhize who said Gauteng province has the highest rate with 801 cases, followed by the Western [...]
©- - 10 april 2020 - 15:31:53 - thread Health (220 words)


Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (PANA)   - The Ivorian national Security Council (CNS) Thursday decided to make the wearing of mask obligatory because of the fast spread of the coronavirus epidemic (Covid-19), particularly in Grand Abidjan, epicenter of the pandemic. CNS also decided on other measures to strengthen the social distancing measures. These [...]
©- - 09 april 2020 - 23:22:08 - thread Health (202 words)


Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (PANA)  -  The Ivorian minister of Defence, Hamed Bakayoko, has tested positive to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), official sources said here Monday. According to a communiqué issued by the civil and military staff of the defence ministry, Bakayoko was found to be infected by the COVID-19 following results [...]
©- - 06 april 2020 - 21:19:48 - thread Health (113 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday noted that the coronavirus pandemic has exposed the fragility of inward-looking and insular political, economic and social systems and it is leading some to call for a new moral economy that has people and their welfare at its centre. He [...]
©- - 06 april 2020 - 13:31:51 - thread Health (346 words)


Kigali Rwanda (PANA)  -  Rwandan health officials Sunday announced two more cases of coronavirus infection a few hours after discharging a first batch of four patients, pushing the total number of infected persons to 100. Both new cases are people who represent infections from previous exposures, the ministry said without elaborating [...]
©- - 05 april 2020 - 21:13:19 - thread Health (168 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA)  -  A first group of four patients who tested positive of COVID-19 were released Sunday, according to a statement issued here by the ministry of Health. The discharge of the first group patients will bring the number of positive cases down to 98, the ministry said. Without naming names, [...]
©- - 05 april 2020 - 14:48:28 - thread Health (184 words)


Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA) - A widespread fear has reached Burundians following the first reported cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19), without however radically changing their lifestyle, it was observed Friday in Bujumbura, the economic capital of Burundi. The first three cases of COVID-19 tested positive were imported and are progressing "positively" in hospitalization [...]
©- - 03 april 2020 - 16:02:50 - thread Health (776 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - The number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Rwanda rose steadily Thursday, reaching a total of 84 confirmed cases. This is an increase of two additional cases, the ministry of health said in a statement obtained by PANA in Kigali. The Rwandan cabinet at its weekly meeting chaired [...]
©- - 02 april 2020 - 23:46:30 - thread Health (150 words)


Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA)  -  A 26-year-old Burundian lady tested positive to the coronavirus (COVID-19), taking to three the number of cases officially declared in Burundi, the minister of public health, Dr Thaddée Ndikumana, announced here Thursday. During his second news conference of the day on the pandemic, Ndikumana said the young [...]
©- - 02 april 2020 - 21:35:10 - thread Health (251 words)


Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) - The Burkinabè government Thursday announced the release of 1,207 detainees to avoid the spread of the coronavirus disease, official sources told PANA here. "The Council of ministers, through the ministry of Justice, decided to release 1,207 persons detained in exceptional circumstances, still within the framework of [...]
©- - 02 april 2020 - 21:13:26 - thread Health (170 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - Rwandan Cabinet weekly meeting, chaired by President Paul Kagame, has extended the lockdown period until 19 April as cases novel coronavirus infection in the country increased by seven to reach 82, an official source said in Kigali on Thursday.   Guidelines, which recommend that people stay at home [...]
©- - 02 april 2020 - 17:00:55 - thread Health (140 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – A large group of heavily armed policemen on Thursday stormed a famous church in the Cape Town city centre to remove hundreds of foreign refugees who had been holed up there for months. As previously reported by PANA, the migrants have been demanding to be [...]
©- - 02 april 2020 - 16:17:15 - thread Health (172 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – The South African government is working with its ambassadors around the world to rescue citizens stranded in other countries as a result of Covid-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions.   International Relations minister Naledi Pandor on Tuesday said there are 1,471 South Africans – mostly students – [...]
©- - 31 march 2020 - 16:21:54 - thread Health (145 words)


Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Kenya's worst case scenario analysis shows the possibility of the coronavirus infections hitting 10,000 by May and 5,000 infections by the first week of April, ministry of health officials said on Monday.   Cabinet Secretary for Health Mutahi Kagwe, said the status of infections has now changed from [...]
©- - 30 march 2020 - 21:46:51 - thread Health (333 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday addressed the nation as the confirmed cases of Covid-19 reached 1,280. The country is on the third day of a 21-day national lockdown. “It is important that this lockdown and all other emergency measures are both strictly adhered to [...]
©- - 30 march 2020 - 14:58:53 - thread Health (194 words)


Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) - The Ivorian Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene on Friday announced 16 new cases have tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19). The new cases bring the number of people tested positive for COVID-19 to 96 in the country, including three cured cases but there has been no [...]
©- - 27 march 2020 - 15:47:15 - thread Health (159 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – South Africa on Friday recorded the first fatal case of Covid-19 as the infection toll reached 1,000 in the country.   Western Cape Premier Alan Winde confirmed that two women have died in Cape Town. They were aged 28 and 48.   “The clinical picture (of the younger [...]
©- - 27 march 2020 - 13:46:57 - thread Health (146 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) -  Kenyan authorities have imposed a quarantine on more than 60 travellers, including two Rwandan nationals who are now stranded at Jommo Kenyatta International Airport for days after they failed to pay hotel quarantine fees, in the absence of a solution to evacuate them to their country, [...]
©- - 26 march 2020 - 20:42:28 - thread Health (281 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday confirmed that the number of Covid-19 cases has soared to more than 900 in South Africa and all systems are in place for a 21-day national lockdown beginning Friday.   "These are challenging times. We are traversing a path we have [...]
©- - 26 march 2020 - 18:01:32 - thread Health (226 words)


Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire (PANA) - Some 80 confirmed cases of coronavirus (Covid-19) were recorded in Côte d'Ivoire, the Ivorian ministry of Health and Public hygiene said on Wednesday. It said that three cases were treated as zero death was recorded. The detection of the first case on 11 March on a 45-year-old [...]
©- - 25 march 2020 - 22:08:23 - thread Health (209 words)


Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Health authorities have traced 646 people who came into contact with 15 people who have tested positive for coronavirus in Kenya, the health ministry said on Monday. One more person tested positive for the virus on Monday, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 16. At least [...]
©- - 23 march 2020 - 23:41:13 - thread Health (812 words)


Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (PANA) – The Burkinabè justice on Monday said it is following closely the acts of torture committed by the defence and security forces during the curfew declared to limit the spread of the coronavirus disease in Burkina Faso. "My prosecution is closely following the allegations of acts of [...]
©- - 23 march 2020 - 20:27:30 - thread Health (362 words)


Nairobi, Kenya (PANA) - Eight more people have tested positive for coronavirus in Kenya, raising the number of confirmed cases to 15 and forcing the government to announce a ban on all international flights with effect from Wednesday. Kenya's Health Ministry Cabinet Secretary, Mutahi Kagwe, said on Sunday, the eight new [...]
©- - 22 march 2020 - 21:59:22 - thread Health (782 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) -  The National Bank of Rwanda on Thursday urged commercial banks to restructure outstanding loans of borrowers facing a temporary cash flow challenge arising from COVID-19 pandemic. Following the global spread of COVID-19 that is feared to negatively affect the global economy, Rwanda is focusing on measures that [...]
©- - 19 march 2020 - 15:34:45 - thread Health (255 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – A South African Airways flight transporting 122 South African citizens who were repatriated from Wuhan in China arrived in Polokwane on Saturday.   South African authorities, who moved swiftly to put measures in place as soon as the coronavirus began spreading, said “every precaution is being [...]
©- - 14 march 2020 - 10:58:38 - thread Health (259 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) –South Africa's Minister in the Presidency, Jackson Mthembu, said on Thursday that 122 South Africans being repatriated from Wuhan, China, are due to arrive home on Friday.   Mthembu briefed the media following a Cabinet meeting, saying “every precaution is being taken to safeguard the country against [...]
©- - 12 march 2020 - 18:45:49 - thread Health (210 words)


Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – The wife of South Africa's first coronavirus patient has also been diagnosed with Covid-19. This raises the number of confirmed cases in South Africa to three.   Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize on Sunday said the unidentified patient had travelled with her husband to Italy.   "It is [...]
©- - 08 march 2020 - 18:01:34 - thread Health (254 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA)  - At least four new confirmed cases of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) were reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo this week, translating into "fragile improvements" in the virus infection prevention, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said here Friday. All four cases were reported in the [...]
©- - 07 february 2020 - 23:25:55 - thread Health (315 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA)  - Though there are no confirmed cases of novel coronavirus reported in the Africa region, the World Health Organization (WHO) said here Wednesday it was strengthening its support to countries in the detection and management of suspected cases to ensure a robust response. Reports by the UN agency [...]
©- - 05 february 2020 - 22:25:46 - thread Health (541 words)


Bujumbura, Burundi (PANA)   -  The temporary visa freeze for Burundian students and businessmen is one of a series of preventive measures taken against the spread in Burundi of the coronavirus, which broke out in China last December, official sources told PANA here Tuesday. The virus has already infected thousands of people [...]
©- - 05 february 2020 - 00:21:36 - thread Health (315 words)


Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - Ethiopia has intensified the screening of passengers arriving at its major entry points, netting four new suspected cases of the coronavirus, the Public Health Institute said on Monday. The four new cases include a Chinese and three Ethiopians, who recently travelled to Ethiopia from China, said [...]
©- - 03 february 2020 - 16:32:57 - thread Health (314 words)


Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) - The African Union's Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has activated its emergency health systems to handle the coronavirus outbreak in China, which is threatening to spread to countries in Africa, Dr John Nkengasong, the Africa CDC director, said on Tuesday. The activation of the emergency health [...]
©- - 28 january 2020 - 21:21:37 - thread Health (600 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA)  -  Fourteen new confirmed cases were reported from 8-14 January in the ongoing Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed here Thursday. All new confirmed cases (100%) reported in the past seven days were registered contacts prior [...]
©- - 16 january 2020 - 23:38:32 - thread Health (180 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - Eleven newly confirmed cases of Ebola were reported from 11-17 December in the ongoing Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Saturday. All 11 cases were linked to the case in Aloya Health Area, in which [...]
©- - 21 december 2019 - 16:38:50 - thread Health (210 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) - Despite a recent drop in Ebola cases in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), 27 new infections of the deadly disease were reported last week in this outbreak hot spot region, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Friday. Confirmed cases were reported from seven health areas in [...]
©- - 13 december 2019 - 16:13:56 - thread Health (284 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA)  -  Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)  have launched a campaign to vaccinate 700,000 people against Ebola in different villages across the border region, an official source confirmed here Monday to PANA. During the implementation phase of the campaign officially launched late Sunday, Rwanda will vaccinate [...]
©- - 09 december 2019 - 22:32:12 - thread Health (359 words)


Kigali, Rwanda (PANA) -  Health experts on Thursday urged African governments and other stakeholders to take advantage of recent reductions in the costs of diagnosing and treating viral hepatitis and scale up investments in elimination of the disease in order to save lives. The appeal came on the sidelines of the [...]
©- - 05 december 2019 - 16:42:34 - thread Health (393 words)

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