News & Analysis: Zambia
“As the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across Africa, the continent has become the most vulnerable region hit by the more transmissible Delta variant of the disease due to lack of vaccines and health facilities.”
“While case numbers and deaths from COVID-19 continue to rise across Africa, the devastating costs of the travel restrictions that have been imposed on visitors as a consequence continue to grow. The economic damage caused by the closure of the tourism economy in Southern and North Africa last year is continuing, perhaps worsening, this year.”
“WHO regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said that hospital admissions for severely ill COVID-19 patients had reached unprecedented levels in about 10 countries; at least six countries were facing shortages in intensive care unit beds and medical oxygen.”
“Zambia has re-imposed strict measures, including closing schools, to curb the spread of COVID-19 as it battles to keep the third wave at bay.”
“The WHO has sent a letter to the White House, asking it to urgently send COVID-19 vaccines to Zambia, Angola, and Zimbabwe.”
“In terms of geography, money managers who specialize in frontier assets are almost united in favoring Africa, saying the region will benefit the most from rising raw material prices.”
“Better disclosure of the terms of the contracts themselves would certainly be better practice going forward, and in times of stress, it can facilitate quicker and easier engagement with the key multilateral actors.”
“India has been the leading COVID-19 vaccine supplier to much of the world through COVAX- the UN-backed scheme shipping doses to countries from Afghanistan to Zambia. But now it is struggling to fully vaccinate its own population amid a coronavirus health crisis that grows worse by the day.”
“COVID-19 may have increased the risk of electoral violence in four key ways: facilitating clampdowns on political opposition, fueling the proliferation of disinformation, worsening economic fragility and delaying elections.”
“What worries me most is that the continent doesn’t get its vaccination program in order in a timely fashion. That means we have to pursue an aggressive process not a passive process.”
A hub for information, analysis, and the global response to COVID-19’s impact on Africa