Daily COVID Tracker: Nearly two-thirds of Africans may have contracted the virus, says WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says nearly two-thirds of Africans may have contracted COVID-19. Here are five updates about the pandemic this Friday.

UK study finds symptoms from Omicron two days shorter than from Delta

A large UK study has found that disease caused by the Omicron COVID variant is on average two days shorter than the Delta variant.

In the study, vaccinated individuals kept a smartphone log of their COVID-19 symptoms using the Zoe COVID app.

Based on the app, the study also found that a symptomatic Omicron infection was 25% less likely to result in hospital admission than in a case of Delta.

Omicron’s shorter symptom duration relative to Delta was more pronounced in those with three vaccine doses where symptoms lasted 7.7 days on average during the Delta-dominated period, and only 4.4 days, during the Omicron period.

Among those with only two vaccine doses, symptoms from Delta lasted for 9.6 days and 8.3 days from Omicron, a difference of just 1.3 days.

Cyprus to lift COVID travel conditions from April 18

Cyprus says it will lift COVID-19 conditions for travel to the island from April 18, ending two years of rules imposed over the pandemic.

The island said it was scrapping a colour-coded assessment of other countries based on epidemiological risk, an inbound flight permission to travel and PCR or rapid lateral flow tests for those who were fully-vaccinated against COVID-19.

People who have not been vaccinated, or not completed their booster shots would still need a PCR test or a lateral flow test, the transport ministry said in a statement.

Nearly two-thirds of Africans may have contracted COVID, says WHO

Matshidiso Moeti, Africa director at the World Health Organisation appealed to African countries to ramp up COVID-19 testing and contact tracing as she presented research suggesting that nearly two-thirds of people on the continent may have contracted the coronavirus.

A WHO-led analysis looked at 150 surveys across the continent and found that 65 percent of Africans had been infected with COVID-19 as of September, nearly 100 times the number of confirmed cases.

“Available data is likely only scratching the surface of the real extent of coronavirus infections in Africa,” she said.

“Should we be panicking and worrying? No, this is exposure to a virus. We’ve seen that it has produced some illness and some deaths, but not a devastating situation.”

German lawmakers reject vaccine mandate for those 60 and older

German lawmakers on Thursday rejected a bill that would have made COVID vaccinations compulsory for people 60 and older.

The only bill that would have made vaccination compulsory has just failed,” Karl Lauterbach, the country’s health minister, tweeted.

“Now the fight against corona will be much harder in the fall.”

Despite pleas by Lauterbach the bill was defeated by 296 votes to 378.

Federal appeals court upholds Biden’s vaccine mandate for federal workers

A federal appeals court on Thursday reversed a decision that had blocked the White House from requiring federal workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

In September, President Biden said the vast majority of federal workers had to be vaccinated or they would face disciplinary measures. But a preliminary injunction, instated in January by a federal judge in Texas, stopped the Biden administration from enforcing that mandate.

In a 2-1 vote, the US court of appeals for the fifth circuit ruled that the judge in Texas did not have the jurisdiction to block the mandate.

In its ruling on Thursday, the appeals court said the lawsuit challenging the mandate, should be dismissed.