This undated photo shows a vial of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)
UNITED NATIONS / SAO PAULO / ALGIERS / TIRANA / BRUSSELS / SANTIAGO / BOGOTA / PARIS / BUDAPEST / AMSTERDAM / LISBON / LONDON / ADDIS ABABA / BISSAU / HARARE / STOCKHOLM / MEXICO CITY / JOHANNESBURG - The Kremlin said on Tuesday that pressure on some countries to refuse to buy Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19 was at unprecedented levels but had no chance of succeeding.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the remarks when asked to comment on a US government report which appeared to show that the United States had tried to dissuade Brazil from buying Sputnik V.
In many countries the scale of pressure is quite unprecedented ... such selfish attempts to force countries to abandon any vaccines have no prospects.
Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman
“In many countries the scale of pressure is quite unprecedented ... such selfish attempts to force countries to abandon any vaccines have no prospects,” Peskov said.
“We believe that there should be as many doses of vaccines as possible so that all countries, including the poorest, have the opportunity to stop the pandemic,” Peskov said.
Russia will triple production of its Sputnik V vaccine in India following a new deal that strengthens Moscow’s pledge to inoculate a tenth of the global population.
Gland Pharma Ltd., a Chinese-owned firm based in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, on Tuesday said it will supply 252 million shots of Sputnik V from the fourth quarter of this year. This adds to the more than 100 million doses planned from other Indian manufacturers.
Russia logged 9,393 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, including 1,533 in Moscow, taking national count to 4,409,438, the country’s COVID-19 response center said Tuesday. The death toll rose by 443 to 92,937.
Russia has extended a ban on flights to and from Britain by one month up to April 16 due to a variant of the coronavirus first detected in the UK, Russia’s coronavirus task force said on Tuesday.
Russia, which has had the flight ban in place since Dec 22, reported 28 cases of the more infectious coronavirus variant on Tuesday, consumer health regulator Rospotrebnadzor said.
The country identified a COVID-19 strain similar to a South African one in two samples for the first time, according to a statement from Rospotrebnadzor. Russia claims that it doesn’t yet have the Brazilian variant, although the so-called British variant was detected.
WHO
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that it was still conducting its safety review of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine as France, Italy, Spain and Germany have joined the group of countries that have suspended the use of this jab following reports that some recipients developed blood clots and died after being vaccinated.
Since Friday, "several countries have suspended the use of AstraZeneca vaccine as a precautionary measure after reports of blood clots in people who had received the vaccine from two batches produced in Europe," said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press briefing here on Monday.
The top World Health Organization scientist reiterated on Monday that there have been no documented deaths linked to COVID-19 vaccines, after several nations suspended use of AstraZeneca’s shot to probe possible side-effects.
“We do not want people to panic,” WHO chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said on a virtual media briefing, adding there has been no association, so far, found between so-called thromboembolic events reported in some countries and COVID-19 shots.
The WHO appealed to countries on Monday not to pause vaccination campaigns after two more European nations and one in Asia joined a handful which have suspended use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine over safety fears.
Officials of the WHO said on Monday that the use of e-certificate for COVID-19 vaccination is a "potentially very useful instrument," but warned about its use, notably for international travels, because of the "tremendously iniquitous situation in the world."
Global tally
The number of coronavirus cases recorded worldwide surpassed 120 million while the global death toll topped 2.66 million, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
EU
Europe’s medicines watchdog on Tuesday said the benefits of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine continue to outweigh the risks after several countries halted its use due to concerns about blood clots.
The EMA’s Executive Director Emer Cooke said the agency was carrying out a case-by-case evaluation of incidents and was expected to complete a review on Thursday.
READ MORE: EU health ministers debate Astra shot after halting vaccine
In another development, the European Commission is planning to put forward its long-awaited and controversial Digital Green Pass on Wednesday, a vaccine passport designed to help Europe's safe re-opening.
The Digital Green Pass would provide proof that a person has been vaccinated, test results for those not yet vaccinated, and information on COVID-19 recovery, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted on March 1, adding that the aim was to gradually enable safe travel within the EU or abroad, for work or tourism.
The EU is also reportedly planning to introduce a vaccine passport, valid only for holders injected with vaccines approved by the EMA.
Countries such as Greece, Cyprus and Malta, which rely heavily on tourism and services and have been suffering from a sharp decline in tourists, expressed hope to put the vaccine passport into practice at the earliest time possible. Countries including Poland, Austria, Bulgaria also voiced their support.
Elsewhere in the EU, countries like Sweden are developing their own vaccination certificates for use in international travel.
On the other hand, some EU countries like Germany, France and Belgium are worried about the feasibility of a vaccine passport, including discrimination and inequality, as well as restrictions on those injected with vaccines not approved by the EMA.
As of Monday, more than 24 million COVID-19 cases have been reported in the EU and the European Economic Area.
Some 46.8 million doses of vaccines have been administered within the bloc as of Monday, according to figures released by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control.
Africa
The Africa Centres for Disease Control is reviewing its guidance on the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.
“The Africa CDC will be convening an emergency meeting this afternoon with all the experts across the continent to look at the data and what we know, and then to provide appropriate guidance to the continent,” Africa CDC Director John Nkengasong said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Tuesday.
Nkengasong warned that the continent will remain a source of coronavirus mutations if efforts aren’t stepped up to keep the disease in check.
Meanwhile, Akinwumi Adesina, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), has called for the COVID-19 vaccine justice for Africa.
In a statement sent to Xinhua in Lagos on Tuesday, Adesina decried the lack of COVID-19 vaccines reaching Africa.
"We are way off the mark in terms of getting to 60 percent of herd immunity, and sadly, I do not see that happening for another year or two at this rate," he said.
"We, therefore, need to improve Africa's access to vaccines. COVAX is doing a great job but still, we need more. We need them in adequate quantities. We need them quickly, and we need them at an affordable price," he added.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases recorded in Africa reached 4,041,835 while the death toll stood at 108,064 as of Tuesday noon, the Africa CDC said.
Sweden
Sweden has paused the use of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine because of potential new and more serious side effects, the country's Public Health Agency announced on Tuesday.
Several countries have already suspended using the vaccine following reports it may be linked to blood clots and cerebral haemorrhaging, but state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said the Swedish decision was made following reports in the last few days regarding previously unknown potential adverse effects.
"There is good knowledge about the vaccine, but it is still important that we now pause the vaccinations until the European Medicines Agency has investigated whether these events may be related to vaccination."
Sweden, which has shunned lockdowns throughout the pandemic, has registered 12,762 new cases since Friday, health agency statistics showed on Tuesday.
The country also registered 26 additional deaths, taking the toll to 13,172. The deaths registered have occurred over several days and sometimes weeks.
Student parties held at a Swedish university have been suspected behind a COVID-19 outbreak linked to the virus strain first discovered in South Africa. On Monday, the local authorities urged students to be vigilant, stressing that the situation was precarious.
Since the B.1.351 strain was first confirmed among students at Uppsala University two weeks ago, a further 18 cases suspected to have been caused by the same strain have been discovered.
Canada
Canada on Tuesday updated its guideline to recommend use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine in people aged 65 years and older.
The National Advisory Committee on Immunization said it had considered recent real-world effectiveness studies to inform this change in recommendation.
Ontario, the most populous province in Canada, has entered the third wave of COVID-19, the Ontario Hospital Association said Monday.
In a tweet, the association said that variants of concern are steeply rising and the number of patients in intensive care is trending upwards in Ontario.
Ontario confirmed 1,268 new cases of COVID-19 Monday morning. It said the positivity rate has slightly increased as testing numbers decreased.
Monday's report brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in Ontario to 319,374, including 7,162 deaths.
France
President Emmanuel Macron will consult with doctors and scientists advising his government on the coronavirus pandemic, a government official said, after he suspended use of the AstraZeneca vaccine as infection rates soar in parts of France.
The government source said Tuesday’s discussions were to get an update on the epidemic’s evolution from advisors and growing pressure on intensive care wards. The situation is particularly acute in Paris and its surrounds.
A new coronavirus variant has been found in the French region of Brittany, said the French health ministry in a statement late on Monday, adding that initial analysis did not show this new variant to be more serious or transmissible than others.
The health ministry said the new variant had been found in a cluster of cases in a hospital centre in Lannion.
France decided on Monday to suspend the use of the AstraZeneca/Oxford COVID-19 vaccine as a "precautionary measure" pending an assessment by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).
French vaccination chief Alain Fischer said on Tuesday he expects the suspension of AstraZeneca COVID-19 shots to be temporary.
AstraZeneca’s chief executive is in the “hot seat” over delays to deliveries of its COVID-19 vaccine shot to European countries and must provide more details of his production plans, France’s Industry Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said.
The number of daily deaths caused by the novel coronavirus in France more than doubled to 333 in the past 24 hours, taking the total toll to 90,762 as the country is close to running out of beds in intensive care units, data from the health authorities showed on Monday.
There were 25,469 people in hospitals for COVID-19, up by 480, the biggest daily jump since Jan. 25. That included 4,219 who require life support, the highest since late November when France was under lockdown.
Moderna
Moderna said the first children have been dosed in a clinical trial of its COVID-19 vaccine in kids from six months to less than 12 years old.
The phase 2-phase 3 trial is being conducted in conjunction with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the company said in a statement on Tuesday. The study is expected to enroll approximately 6,750 participants in the US and Canada.
“This pediatric study will help us assess the potential safety and immunogenicity of our COVID-19 vaccine candidate in this important younger age population,” Moderna Chief Executive Officer Stephane Bancel said.
South Africa
South Africa’s drugs regulator SAHPRA said on Tuesday that it had approved a “section 21” emergency use application for the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
SAHPRA added in a statement that the approval was subject to further efficacy and safety surveillance of the vaccine in the country, including against the dominant local coronavirus variant.
UK
There is no evidence that blood clots are any more likely to occur after people are given AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, a spokesman for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday, citing the country’s medicine regulator.
“As the MHRA (Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency) has said, blood clots occur naturally but there is no evidence that they are any more likely to occur following vaccination, so as such there’s no evidence of any causal link between blood clots and the AZ vaccine,” he told reporters.
In another development, Scotland will reopen hairdressers, car showrooms, garden centers and click-and-collect retail services on April 5 after the number of daily cases dropped by 30 percent over the past three weeks as the country’s vaccination program ramps up. More restrictions will be lifted on April 26, with cafes, restaurants and bars able to cater to people outside and some food served indoors.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told the Scottish Parliament that evidence shows the vaccines are reducing transmission.
As part of the UK rollout, Scotland has now inoculated about 40 percent of its adult population. It plans to keep vaccinating about 400,000 people a week into April, she said, with hopes of getting close to a return to normality by June 30.
Mexico
Mexico will sign a contract on Tuesday with China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd to purchase 20 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, said Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard.
Mexico has asked the US to lend it some of the AstraZeneca vaccine it has in its stockpile, Reuters reported, citing a senior diplomat.
Since the US has not yet approved the AstraZeneca shot it would be good to offer it to Mexico, which is already using it, the diplomat was quoted in the report.
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe on Tuesday received a second batch of Sinopharm doses donated by China, as well as additional Sinovac doses commercially procured by the government.
A chartered Air Zimbabwe plane landed at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport Tuesday morning with the consignment of the vaccines, which was received by Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, his deputy Constantino Chiwenga, who is also the health minister, the Chinese ambassador to Zimbabwe Guo Shaochun and other senior government officials.
The same plane also ferried another batch of vaccines for the government of Namibia, where they will be used to kick off the country's vaccination program.
As of Monday, 37,660 people have been vaccinated in Zimbabwe.
Zambia
The Zambian government said Tuesday that the country was bracing for a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and it’s trying to do everything possible to avert it.
Minister of Health Jonas Chanda said the country should brace for the third wave with the coming of the cold season in June or July.
He said the government was closely monitoring the situation in East Africa where the third wave has started due to frequent travel between Zambia and the region.
The health ministry has secured an additional 237,000 Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kits with an additional 450,000 expected before the end of this month to ramp up testing, said the official.
While stressing there will be no mandatory mass vaccination of people against the COVID-19 pandemic, Chanda said the program will be conducted in a cautious, voluntary and phased manner after it was agreed on in principle for the introduction of the vaccine which still awaits cabinet approval.
Zambia recorded 290 new cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the cumulative tally to 85,240. The death toll rose by three to 1,167.
Hungary
Potential vaccine passports for travel in Europe must accept other shots in addition to those approved by the bloc, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told reporters.
Such travel permits must acknowledge as valid vaccines cleared by national regulators, he said while speaking in neighboring Serbia.
Austria
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called for a “correction mechanism” of the vaccine distribution in the EU to avoid political tensions in the bloc.
Speaking in Vienna alongside the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Slovenia, Kurz said they were already in talks with European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen.
Germany
Coronavirus infections are rising exponentially in Germany, an expert at the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases said on Tuesday, adding that the risk of AstraZeneca’s vaccine was relatively low.
The number of cases per 100,000 reported on Tuesday was 83.7, up from 68 a week ago, and the RKI has said that metric could reach 200 by the middle of next month.
“We are exactly on the flank of the third wave(of the COVID-19 pandemic). That can no longer be disputed. And at this point we have eased the restrictions and that is speeding up the exponential growth,” Dirk Brockmann, an epidemiologist at the RKI, told Germany’s ARD television.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and regional premiers are considering extending most virus restrictions, including the closing of non-essential stores, gyms and hotels, for another four weeks beyond March 28, Business Insider reported.
Due to a stubbornly high infection rate and problems with the AstraZeneca vaccine, officials are also looking at postponing a reopening of outdoor restaurants, theaters, concert halls and cinemas planned for March 22, the magazine reported, citing unidentified government sources.
Regional premiers are due to hold talks on Thursday to discuss the next steps, and any changes to strategy would be announced after Merkel hosts the next full meeting of federal and state officials on the pandemic on Monday.
Germany suspended use of the AstraZeneca Plc’s COVID-19 vaccine amid a growing health scare that’s creating yet another delay for the European Union’s inoculation campaign.
The country cited the recommendation of the Paul Ehrlich Institute, which oversees vaccine safety, according to a statement from the health ministry on Monday.
Latvia
Latvian government health agencies on Tuesday announced a “temporary suspension” of up to two weeks of the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine in the country.
The move is “an additional precaution” while the vaccine is scrutinized, and no problems have been linked to its use in Latvia, the agencies said in a statement.
“The decision is based on reports from individual European Union countries of thromboembolism and similar cases observed at various times after receiving the vaccine,” they said. “To date, there is no data on the causal link between vaccination and serious health problems.”
Italy
The decision by Germany, France and Italy to suspend AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 shots after several countries reported possible serious side-effects is a “political one”, the director general of Italy’s medicines authority AIFA said on Tuesday.
“We got to the point of a suspension because several European countries, including Germany and France, preferred to interrupt vaccinations... to put them on hold in order to carry out checks. The choice is a political one,” Nicola Magrini told daily la Repubblica in an interview.
Magrini said that the AstraZeneca vaccine was safe and that the benefit to risk ratio of the jab is “widely positive”. There have been eight deaths and four cases of serious side-effects following vaccinations in Italy, he added.
US
Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser, said the US will be able to start exporting vaccines in a “reasonable period of time.”
He cited the country’s contributions to the Covax program, and said the US will be able to give away surplus shots once its population is vaccinated.
Meanwhile, AstraZeneca agreed to supply the US with as many as half a million more doses of its COVID-19 antibody cocktail for US$205 million. That brings the total US supply to as many as 700,000 doses, the company said. The medicine, AZD7442, is in late-stage clinical trials and would help protect people who can’t be vaccinated or treat those who are already infected.
In another development, Ohio will allow all residents age 16 and older to register for the COVID-19 vaccine starting March 29. The state will expand its eligibility to those age 40 and higher on Friday.
The United States has witnessed the lowest single-day increase of COVID-19 cases and deaths since last winter as vaccination efforts are accelerated across the nation.
A total of 40,428 new cases and 589 deaths were reported across the country on Sunday, according to data updated Monday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Former top US economic adviser Gene Sperling will oversee the Biden administration’s implementation of the US$1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus plan, the White House said on Monday as President Joe Biden readies to promote the recovery effort.
Sperling, who advised Biden’s presidential campaign and served under former Democratic Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, will work with officials across the administration, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters at a briefing.
Bulgaria
Bulgaria reported 4,637 new daily cases, the highest number since November, bringing the tally to 283,194.
The death toll rose by 187 to 11,472, the health ministry reported.
The number of hospitalized patients in the Balkan country, which reopened pubs and restaurants two weeks ago, is at an all-time high.
According to the ministry, 7,269 patients across the country are currently hospitalized, the highest figure since Dec 14 last year, when a total of 7,244 people were being treated.
While municipalities are free to apply measures on their own, Bulgaria’s government has avoided tough restrictions and has kept most businesses open, as the country is preparing for a general election on April 4.
READ MORE: Better COVID-19 vaccines coming, says WHO chief scientist
Estonia
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas on Monday evening confirmed that she tested positive for COVID-19 and will self-isolate until she recovers from the virus.
"I have a small fever, and the positive test result is not what I expected," Kallas said on social media.
The prime minister said that she has not developed any other symptoms and generally feels well, and that the positive test result was just received and she had informed the people she came into contact with over the past days of her positive test result.
"I am closely monitoring my health and staying at home until I recover. I will continue performing my duties as head of government from home, as in e-Estonia, government meetings and other consultations can successfully also be held online," Kallas said.
Spain
Spain on Monday joined other European nations, such as France, Italy and Germany, in suspending the use of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine over fears that it could lead to blood clots.
Health Minister Carolina Darias confirmed the decision after a meeting of the Inter-territorial Council of the National Health Service (CISNS), saying that "We will suspend the administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine until the European Medicines Agency (EMA) analyzes the cases of thrombosis from the past few days."
"The thrombosis that the patients have suffered in the known cases is very specific," she said. At the same time, the minister highlighted the low risk from the vaccine, saying that "939,534 people in Spain have been inoculated with the vaccine" while only a single case of thrombosis (formation of clots within blood vessels) has been reported.
ALSO READ: Italy expects COVID-19 cases to start falling in late spring
A health care worker receives a dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Senftenberg, Germany on March 3, 2021. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)
Ireland
Over 600,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Ireland, according to the statistics released by the Irish Department of Health on Monday.
The total doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered in the country stood at 606,904 as of March 12, said the department in a statement, adding that 443,092 people had received their first dose and 163,812 people had received their second dose.
The number of people who have been partially or fully vaccinated in Ireland now accounts for over 12 percent of the country's estimated five-million population.
Ireland started to vaccinate its population against COVID-19 towards the end of last December. It originally expected to have over 80 percent of its population vaccinated by the end of September.
Serbia
Serbia is closing all non-essential businesses until Monday when the virus measures will be reviewed, Premier Ana Brnabic told reporters in Belgrade. The Balkan country of 7 million people is struggling to contain a rising rate of infections despite having vaccinated more than 1.2 million, including almost 800,000 with two doses.
Cyprus
Cyprus suspended AstraZeneca shots for COVID-19 on Monday pending a review by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), its health ministry said.
The suspension, which followed a similar move on Monday by Germany, France and Italy, will last until March 18, when the EMA is due to issue a review of the vaccine following reports of thrombosis among some recipients in Europe, the ministry said.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said there is no proven link and that people should not panic.
Netherlands
The Dutch medicines regulator said on Monday it was not seeking to displace the European Medicines Agency after it independently advised the Dutch government to suspend the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine pending a new safety review.
The Dutch Medicines Evaluation Board said in a statement it had advised a halt after learning of several cases in Norway and Denmark in which people younger than 65 had developed blood clots or a low blood platelet count after receiving the vaccine.
Norway
Norway’s capital will close all middle and high schools and limit visitors in private homes to two people until early April to fight the spread of the coronavirus, the Governing Mayor of Oslo said on Monday.
In a separate press conference, Norwegian Health Minister Bent Hoeie announced that the government is introducing stricter measures for 52 municipalities surrounding the capital region, including the closure of non-essential shops and in-restaurant dining, although schools will remain open.
The government said last week that tougher national restrictions could be imposed unless local authorities managed to curb the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Nordic country has maintained one of Europe’s lowest rates of infection but now faces a third wave of the disease.
Portugal
Portugal registered 256 new COVID-19 infections in the last 24 hours, the lowest daily number since Sept. 7, 2020, bringing the national tally to 814,513 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The country's death toll now totals 16,694 after another 10 deaths related to COVID-19 were reported, according to the Portuguese Directorate-General for Health (DGS). The daily death count is the lowest since Oct. 14 last year.
Currently, 996 COVID-19 patients are being hospitalized -- a rise of 20 from a day earlier -- 231 of them in intensive care units.
Colombia
Colombia registered 2,740 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, taking its nationwide tally to 2,305,884, the Ministry of Health and Social Protection said on Monday.
The country also reported 100 more related deaths, raising the national death toll to 61,243, said the ministry.
Venezuela
Venezuela will not authorise AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Monday, citing unspecified “effects on patients.”
Rodriguez’ comments came after several European countries paused inoculations using the vaccine following reports of blood coagulation in recipients. Other countries, including Canada and Australia, have continued to recommend its use.
Venezuela has so far used Russia’s Sputnik V and China’s Sinopharm in its vaccination programme.
Chile
Chile's Health Ministry announced on Monday that 28 communes (towns) in the South American country will go into quarantine starting on Thursday, due to a rise in COVID-19 cases.
Health Minister Enrique Paris pointed out during a press conference that there has been a persistent increase of COVID-19 cases in the last few days, as in other countries after the end of summer vacation in the Southern Hemisphere.
Brazil
President Jair Bolsonaro replaced General Eduardo Pazuello at the helm of the health ministry as daily records of infections and deaths add pressure on Brazil to get the coronavirus pandemic under control.
Cardiologist Marcelo Queiroga will be the fourth person in charge of the health ministry since the coronavirus arrived in the country a little over a year ago. Two of his predecessors left after disagreements with Bolsonaro over social distancing and unproven treatments against Covid-19.
Brazil's COVID-19 death toll approached 280,000 on Monday after 1,057 more people died from the disease in the past 24 hours, taking the national count to 279,286, the Ministry of Health said.
The ministry also reported 36,239 new cases, bringing the national count to 11,519,609.
Currently, the country has an average of 133 deaths and 5,482 cases of infection per 100,000 inhabitants, said the ministry.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia registered 1,151 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the national tally to 176,618 as of Monday evening, the country's Ministry of Health said.
The ministry said five new deaths from the disease were reported across the country during the same period, bringing the national death toll to 2,555.
The East African country also reported 118 more recoveries, taking the national count of recoveries to 143,828.
Ethiopia, Africa's second most populous nation, is one of the countries hit hardest by the pandemic in Africa, after South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt.
Tunisia
Tunisian Health Ministry on Monday reported 290 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections in the country to 242,124.
The death toll from the virus rose by 15 to 8,404, the ministry said in a statement.
The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients reached 1,048, including 270 in intensive care units, while the total number of recoveries reached 209,166, it added.
A total of 1,037,974 lab tests have been carried out in Tunisia so far, said the ministry.
Morocco
Morocco registered 159 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, taking the overall infections in the North African country to 489,096.
According to a statement by the Ministry of Health, the death toll mounted to 8,733 as ten COVID-19 patients died in the last 24 hours.
The total number of recoveries from COVID-19 in Morocco increased to 476,126 after 277 new ones were added, while 396 people are in intensive care units, the statement said.
Namibia
Namibia is receiving its first consignment of COVID-19 vaccines on Tuesday, according to the nation’s health ministry. The 100,000 Sinopharm doses will be administered to health-care workers and the vulnerable.
Namibia on Monday said it is going ahead with a plan to procure COVID-19 vaccines through suppliers.
The country's Ministry of Health and Social Services Public Relations Office called on all companies willing to assist in procuring COVID-19 vaccines to submit their bids.
The Ministry of Health said the bidding process is being held in accordance with the country's public procurement policy, adding that Namibia aims to vaccinate between 60 percent and 80 percent of the population in order to achieve the required level of herd immunity.
Guinea-Bissau
Guinea-Bissau announced on Monday it will postpone the start of a national COVID-19 vaccination campaign with the AstraZeneca vaccine until May.
"We have decided, as a safety and precautionary measure to postpone the vaccination campaign until we have the assurance of the safety of the doses of the vaccine to be administered," Magda Robalo, high commissioner for the fight against COVID-19 in Guinea-Bissau, said during a weekly update on the COVID-19 situation in the country.
According to Robalo, Guinea-Bissau expects to receive 144,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine as part of the COVAX facility led by the World Health Organization.
As of Monday, Guinea-Bissau had reported 3,447 coronavirus cases, including 2,755 recoveries and 52 deaths.
