A health worker is seen as people wait to receive coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine as part of the vaccination campaign for health workers and people over 65 years old at Muyumba Health Center in Kigali, Rwanda on March 05, 2021. Photo Habimana Thierry/Anadolu Agency

Rwanda halted coronavirus vaccination because of delays in deliveries that has created a vaccine shortage here, an official said Tuesday. 

Director-General of the Rwanda Biomedical Centre Sabin Nsanzimana said the number vaccinated in Rwanda is still low.

Rwanda wants to vaccinate 30% of the population by the end of 2021 and 60% by the end of 2022.

About 350,400 people have received jabs as of Tuesday, representing just 5% of the population.

Nsanzimana said 500,000 doses of the vaccine Rwanda procured from India have yet to arrive, following a health crisis that affected vaccine supplies to developing countries.

He assured the country that efforts were underway to procure vaccines from elsewhere that could be delivered soon.

The Health Ministry announced a testing drive in the capital, Kigali, on Monday, targeting passengers of public buses, private cars and motorcycle drivers hoping to collect 2,000 samples in three days.

It is intended to provide a better understanding of the pandemic’s prevalence in identified areas and groups, according to the ministry.

The East African country recorded 26,344 COVID-19 cases, 24,808 recoveries and 346 deaths as of Tuesday.

The government launched nationwide vaccinations for at-risk groups who were identified as a priority in early March -- health personnel, frontline workers and those older than 65 or with underlying health conditions.

It later extended eligibility, including those older than 60, security personnel, market vendors and public transport drivers.

Rwanda received its first shipment of 240,000 doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine and 102,960 doses of the Pfizer vaccine in March from the COVAX facility -- a worldwide program intended to allow equitable access to coronavirus vaccines directed by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the World Health Organization. - James Tasamba, Anadolu Agency

Image via Radio Tamazuj

The coronavirus strain circulating in India has been detected in three African countries, according to the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Bloomberg reported that authorities in Kenya, Uganda, and Morocco have announced the presence of the variant known as B.1.617. 

John Nkengasong, the director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said in an online briefing Thursday that five cases have been found in Kenya and one in Uganda, while the Moroccan government is “investigating some cases there.”

Fearing an influx of infections and mindful of how transmissible the variant is, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania are among countries that have temporarily banned flights from India. Covid-19 strains first detected in the U.K. and South Africa have been reported in 20 and 23 African nations respectively, according to Nkengasong.

African countries have administered 20.2 million of the 37.6 million vaccine doses they have received, covering 1.1% of the population of more than 1.3 billion, he said. - Radio Tamazuj

Photo Anadolu Agency

ANKARA (AA) - Kenya on Monday confirmed 18 new COVID-19-related deaths and 137 new infections after doing 1,641 COVID-19 tests across the country in last 24 hours.

While 2,871 fatalities from the virus have been confirmed by the Health Ministry so far, it confirmed a total of 160,559 infections from 1.68 million tests done since last year across the country of almost 55 million.

The ministry also confirmed 216 recoveries from the COVID-19 Monday, pushing the total to 109,077 including 79,443 from home-based care and isolation and 29,634 from various healthcare facilities.

On the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the East African country, the ministry said that as of Monday, “a total of 887,034 persons have so far been vaccinated against COVID-19.”

The vaccinated include 516,616 age 58 and over, 158,168 healthcare workers, 137,701 teachers, and 74,554 security officers, according to the ministry’s latest daily update.

On Saturday, President Uhuru Kenyatta, praised healthcare workers for their role in the fight against COVID-19 as the rate of infections in the country falls.

He also announced the lifting of partial lockdown measures imposed last month to curb the spread of the virus.

Restaurants, bars, schools, and religious services will now reopen, Kenyatta said, encouraging employers and businesses to allow employees to work from home. - Ekip/Anadolu Agency