Ukraine’s Health Minister, Maxim Stepanov, has unexpectedly travelled to India due to the failed delivery of ordered COVID-19 vaccines, Stepanov announced on Facebook early on Friday.

In his post Stepanov said he wanted to negotiate additional supplies to the 12 million doses ordered from India.

Ukraine’s vaccination campaign was due to start earlier, but the country has not received any jabs from the programme of the World Health Organisation (WHO) nor those it ordered from Indian and Chinese manufacturers.

Kiev originally planned to vaccinate its 41 million inhabitants by the end of the year.

The country has, however, banned the use of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine due to the conflict over the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

According to official figures, some 1.3 million coronavirus infections were registered in Ukraine since the beginning of the pandemic, and around 25,000 people have died from COVID-19. (dpa/NAN)

A total of 570 police officers have succumbed to COVID-19 in South Africa while over 27,000 were infected, said Police Minister Bheki Cele on Friday.

Cele made the remarks in Pretoria while releasing the crime statistics for the third quarter of the 2020/2021 financial year.

He stated that COVID-19 continues to affect the healthcare system, economy and livelihood, adding that it “is also impacting on policing, infecting over 27,000 members and claiming the lives of 570 of them.’’

“It is painful to see members of the police force dying of COVID-19.

“At the same time we remain encouraged that over 25,000 of our members have recovered and are back at work, serving their communities.

“While some of our members fight for their lives, others continue their fight against ruthless criminals, each day,’’ said Cele.

South Africa now has 1,498,766 cumulative COVID-19 infections up until Thursday.

A total of 1,403,214 people have recovered from COVID-19, representing a recovery rate of 93.6 per cent.(Xinhua/NAN)

The number of COVID-19-inflicted deaths in Africa has reached 100,294 on Friday, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent also stood at 3,796,354, according to the continental disease control and prevention agency’s Africa COVID-19 dashboard.

South Africa has reported the highest number of deaths related to COVID-19 in Africa, at 48,708, followed by Egypt, at 10,201, and Morocco, at 8,524.

The southern Africa region is the area most affected by COVID-19 in terms of the number of confirmed cases, followed by the northern Africa region.

A total of 3,346,404 people infected with COVID-19 have recovered across the continent so far, the agency said. (Xinhua/NAN)

Alphabet Inc’s Google has added Apple Inc’s TV app, which includes paid streaming service Apple TV+, to the latest Chromecast TV device, the search giant said on Thursday.

The move comes at a time when Apple has grown warmer to granting access to its services to hardware devices outside its ecosystem, with Chromecast users getting access to its renowned originals like “The Morning Show” and “Greyhound”.

Apple in 2019 had made its TV app available on Amazon.com Inc’s Fire TV devices and Roku Inc’s platform.

“In addition to Chromecast with Google TV, the Apple TV app will also be available on Google TVs from Sony and TCL,” Google said in a blogpost.

Google had announced the move late last year, after having said Apple Music would soon be available on Google smart speakers.

The pandemic has seen traditional pay-TV consumers shift increasingly to streaming services for entertainment-on-demand while sheltering at home, boosting subscribers to platforms like Netflix Inc, Walt Disney Co’s Disney+ and AT&T Inc-owned HBO Max. (Reuters/NAN)

U.S. President Joe Biden will announce at the G7 gathering on Friday that the United States will release $4billion for an international initiative to supply Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines to poor countries, the White House said.

“The United States will provide an initial $ 2 billion contribution to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance for the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, the innovative financing instrument of the COVAX Facility, which supports access to safe and effective vaccines for 92 low- and middle-income economies,” the White House said in a fact sheet released ahead of the virtual summit.

An additional $ 2 billion will be made available through 2022 dependent on donor pledges being fulfilled and initial vaccine doses delivered.

“We also call on our G7 and other partners to work alongside Gavi, to bring in billions more in resources to support global COVID-19 vaccination, and to target urgent vaccine manufacturing, supply, and delivery needs,” the White House said.

The funds were appropriated by a bipartisan Congressional vote in December 2020.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump refused to participate in the COVAX initiative because of its ties to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Trump withdrew the U.S. from the WHO after accusing it of attempts to cover up China’s alleged culpability for the coronavirus pandemic. (Sputnik /NAN)

Harrison Arubu

 UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres has strongly condemned Wednesday’s deadly attack by gunmen on the Government Science College, Kagara, Niger.

No fewer than 27 were kidnapped in the night raid on the boarding school, reports say.

According to the BBC, three members of staff and 12 of their relatives were also abducted by the assailants.

The Force Public Relations Officer (FPRO) Mr Frank Mba, on Thursday said a joint search and rescue mission was underway to free the abductees.

In a statement by his Spokesman, Guterres described attacks on schools and other educational facilities as “abhorrent and unacceptable”.

He urged the Federal Government to “spare no efforts in rescuing those abducted and holding to account those responsible for this act”.

The UN chief expressed his “deepest condolences” to the bereaved and his sympathies to affected families.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also reacted in a statement in which it condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms”.

It called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of any children who might  be missing and their safe return to their families. 

UNICEF quoted its Nigeria Representative, Mr Peter Hawkins, as saying that  attacks on schools were a violation of children’s rights.

“Children should feel safe at home and at school at all times.

“Parents should not need to worry for the safety of their children when they send them off to school in the morning,” Hawkins said, according to the statement.

He acknowledged efforts being taken by security agencies to rescue the missing children and safely return them to their families.(NAN)

Britain’s Prince Charles has campaigned for the importance of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, in the face of distrust especially among ethnic minorities in the country.

“Vaccines will save lives, prevent serious illness, protect the health service and help things return to normal,” the British heir to the throne said in a video message published on Thursday.

He was saddened that there was wide variation in the acceptance of the vaccine, the prince said, calling the fact that some people rejected the dose a “tragedy.”

According to Britain’s Office of National Statistics (ONS), 85 per cent of adults are willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

However, the government is worried by the fact that large parts of the Black, Asian and other minority ethnic (BAME) communities make up a disproportionate share of those refusing to receive the vaccine.

During the online event of the British Asian Trust organisation, London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan also cited a study according to which citizens of South Asian descent are five times more likely to die from COVID-19 than white people.

According to experts, the scepticism stems from mistrust of state institutions, disinformation distributed via social networks, and a lack of access to vaccination centres. (dpa/NAN)

Afghan National Army (ANA) commandos have rescued 23 security personnel and a civilian from a Taliban-run prison in northern Kunduz province, the Pajhwok Afghan News reported on Thursday.

The rescue operation by ANA according to the Xinhua News Agency was carried on Wednesday night.

“The special operation was inaugurated in Kabuli Qishlaq village of Haqtash district Wednesday night.

“No armed clash took place following the raid as the militants manning the Taliban hideout fled before troops’ arrival,” Mohammad Omar Haqtash, a local official said.

The freed people received medical treatment after they were transported to an army camp.

The Taliban is yet to comment on the ANA rescue operations. (ANI/NAN)