A health worker prepares to administer the Sinovac Biotech Ltd. Covid-19 vaccine on a passenger at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng, Indonesia, on Friday, July 9, 2021. The Covid-19 crisis has forced dozens of carriers and other aviation businesses to restructure or seek bankruptcy protection. Photo Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg 

(Bloomberg) -- Tanzania’s semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago begun vaccinations against the coronavirus, leading the way in a nation that downplayed the extent of the pandemic for more than a year.

Health authorities in the Indian Ocean islands started administering Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s shots on front-line workers last week, Zanzibar’s Health Ministry Permanent Secretary Omar Shajak said, without disclosing the number of doses imported from the Chinese company. They plan to give a second dose after two weeks.

“The Sinovac vaccines were originally meant to be administered to people who wanted to attend the annual Hajj pilgrimage,” Shajak said. “After Saudi Arabia prohibited foreign visitors due to the coronavirus outbreak, we decided to give those vaccines to our front-line workers.”

With Tanzania now inoculating people, Eritrea and Burundi remain the only African countries yet to start vaccinating against the deadly virus. The holdouts, due to reasons from denial of the severity of the disease to logistical challenges and hesitancy, are causing concern that they could become breeding ground for new Covid-19 variants and stifle global efforts to end the pandemic.

Africa has reported almost 6 million cases and fully vaccinated less than 1.2% of its population, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Zanzibar aims to inoculate 1.4 million of its 1.6 million people -- including children as young as 10 years -- as part of a plan to reboot its tourism-dependent economy. The wider population will get shots once vials procured by Tanzania’s central government through the Covax vaccine-sharing program arrive, Shajak said.

Tanzania, with approximately 61 million people, halted publishing infection and death rates for more than a year on directives from former President John Magufuli. His successor, Samia Hassan, resumed releasing partial data -- 408 cases were reported over the weekend.

President Hassan’s administration submitted a request for vaccines to the Covax facility last month, and asked the International Monetary Fund for $571 million to help the economy recover from the pandemic. - Fumbuka Ng'wanakilala, Bloomberg News

The Delta variant has been detected in at least 98 countries around the world and is quickly becoming the dominant strain in many countries. Photo Nation Media Group

The latest diagnostics and symptoms manifested in Covid-19 patients in Rwanda confirm the presence of Delta Variant in the country, an official has said.  

Dr Daniel Ngamije, Rwanda's Minister of Health, said the current virus spreads faster, is deadlier and has symptoms different from what was known before. 

“Our assessment shows that the Delta Variant is present in Rwanda. From discussions with frontline doctors and patients, severity of the disease, new symptoms such as headache, fatigue and breathing complications, it is obvious that Delta Variant is present,” Dr Ngamije said in an interview with the national broadcaster on Thursday.

“It used to take at least two months for Rwanda to reach such a big number of infections. For this wave, it took just four weeks to peak; another characteristic of the Delta variant.”

The minister had previously announced that Rwanda was conducting a survey to identify the various variants of the coronavirus in the country.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of July 3, the Delta Variant has been detected in at least 98 countries around the world and is quickly becoming the dominant strain in many countries. Rwanda’s neighbours, Kenya and Uganda, have already confirmed the presence of the variant in the countries.

On July 7, Rwanda recorded 16 deaths, the highest number recorded since the first Covid-19 case in March 2020. The number brought the total death toll to 507. The current positivity rate stands at 9.6 percent, with the country having 45,039 confirmed Covid-19 cases, 18,000 of which were recorded in the last five weeks.

Slightly over four percent of the 12.6 million population have received at least the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine.

Minister Ngamije emphasised that while the government works to secure more vaccine doses, the public should comply with current guidelines in place to minimise risk of infection. - Ange Iliza, The EastAfrican

A health worker briefs of Al-Haramain Secondary School in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on June 1, 2020. Schools in Tanzania have reopened, with President Samia Suluhu’s government saying it is revising its earlier guidelines on curbing the spread of Covid-19. Photo ERICKY BONIPHACE/AFP

Schools in Tanzania reopened Monday, with the government saying it is revising its earlier guidelines on curbing the spread of Covid-19.

Health Ministry permanent Secretary Abel Makubi said the government reached a decision to revise the guidelines following a rapid increase in the number of Covid-19 infections globally.

“The Health Ministry has been closely following the Covid-19 outbreak trend within and outside the country and found that the number of patients has been increasing in the recent past, signalling the presence of transmissions in our communities,” Prof Makubi told a press conference in Dodoma.

He said the government revisited its 2020 Covid-19 preventive guidelines to schools, universities and educational institutions and made some improvements on them.

“This guideline is targeting to create a conducive environment [in] the educational institutions including universities, primary and secondary schools, nursery schools and day-care centres before students resume classes,” noted Prof Makubi.

To make that happen, the guideline has considered four areas. These are preparation of a conducive environment in educational institutions before resumption of studies, health examination, public transport to and from school and the learning environment.

He said the Education ministry and other concerned ministries should ensure that all educational institutions install hand-washing facilities.

He added that students and teachers should be educated on how to prevent the spread of the disease.

He said administrations should ensure students and staff observe at least one metre physical distance at all times.

For schools and universities with large numbers of students, he directed them to adopt the shift system.

Use of masks

“The Education ministry should ensure schools and universities prioritise the correct use of masks. Students, teachers, lecturers should put them on at all times,” directed Prof Makubi.

He added that students who are confirmed to be Covid-19 positive should remain at home until they recover.

Covid vaccine

Prof Makubi on Sunday also said that Tanzania has joined the international Covax facility that helps low income countries to get subsidised Covid-19 vaccines from manufacturers abroad. The country will receive its Covid-19 vaccine doses between December 2021 and January 2022, he added.

At the same time, the Tanzanian government is pondering manufacturing vaccines for Covid-19 and other diseases due to their high demand. This will also cut costs of obtaining the vaccines, Prof Makubi added.

Tanzania has begun steps to build a local factory which will be used to produce Covid-19 vaccines, he said, adding that the country has expertise to manufacture such vaccines. - Mohamed Issa, The Citizen