As of January 15, confirmed cases of Covid-19 from 55 African countries reached  3,176,244. Reported deaths in Africa reached 76,741 and 2,593,474 people have recovered. South Africa has the most reported cases – 1,296,806 – and 35,852 people died. Other most-affected countries are Morocco (456,334), Tunisia (170,895), Egypt (153,741), Ethiopia (129,922), and Libya (107,434). For the latest totals, see the AllAfrica interactive map with per-country numbers. ...

The National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) has called on President Akufo-Addo to revive processes that will allow for the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) to be elected. According to the Association, the President’s second term is the best time for the process which was aborted in 2019 to be revisited. In an interview with JoyNews, ...

While elections are one-time events, “democracy is a constant process of deliberation and consultation” where dialogue provides an “important arena for the building of national consensus”, the top UN official in West Africa told the Security Council on Monday.  Against the backdrop of five presidential, three legislative and two local elections in the region which have taken place in recent ...

Building a global coalition for carbon neutrality by mid-century will be the UN’s “central objective”, the world body’s top official told a conference on climate action on Monday.  “All countries need credible mid-term goals and plans that are aligned with this objective”, Secretary-General António Guterres said, addressing the virtual COP26 Roundtable on Clean Power Transition. “To achieve net zero emissions by 2050, we need ...

The Associated Press is quoting an adviser for the Africa Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as saying the African Union has secured close to 300 million Covid-19 vaccine doses. The continent is estimated to have over 1.2 billion people. Nicaise Ndembi said in the interview that current AU chair, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, is expected to make the announcement on ...

A free tool that will help farmers and pastoralists across Africa to predict and control locust behaviour has been launched. Kuzi—the Swahili name for the wattled starling, a bird renowned for eating locusts—is an AI-powered tool that generates a real-time heatmap of locusts across Africa, shows all potential migration routes, and gives a real-time locust breeding index. Using satellite data, ...

Democrats in the US House of Representatives introduced an article of impeachment against outgoing President Donald Trump on Monday, as Republicans blocked a measure calling on Vice President Pence to remove his boss from office. The single impeachment article charges Trump with incitement of insurrection. It accuses him of stoking violence against the US government after a mob of his ...

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the African continent has reached 3,051,036 as of Monday afternoon, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said. According to the continental disease control and prevention agency’s Africa COVID-19 dashboard, the death toll related to the pandemic stood at 72,705. A total of 2,466,432 people infected with COVID-19 have recovered across the continent as of Monday. ...

The Center for Social Impact Studies (CeSIS) ,a Research and Advocacy non-Governmental Organization has welcomed the call from the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for an open conversation on artisanal mining popularly known as ‘galamsey’. The move, according to the CeSIS has the potential to completely turn around the small scale mining sector.   “We hope that ...

The announcement by President Akufo-Addo to reopen schools on 15th of January, 2021 was received with mixed feelings. A day after the announcement, I monitored on social media platforms, some parents expressing excitement that the children were going back to school after staying home for nine months, some said the children were mingling with other children anyway and it didn’t ...