London, United Kingdom | AFP | A smartphone app developed by Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) could be rolled out within three weeks, its technology chief said on Tuesday, despite privacy concerns. Matthew Gould, head of the state-run service’s digital innovation arm NHSX, said the in-house app — reportedly favoured over …

Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Many healthcare workers in Egypt’s threadbare hospital system must provide their own protective gear, so when a digital design company started 3-D printing face shields, they gratefully accepted. Since the novel coronavirus first hit Egypt, medical doctor Yahya Diwer has been working all-night shifts as head …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The spread of COVID-19 risks devastating countries across East Africa, where food insecurity could more than double in just three months, the United Nations warned Tuesday. The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) estimates that some 20 million people currently do not have secure provisions of food across nine countries in the …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | Sudan risks being plunged into a humanitarian disaster by COVID-19 unless sanctions are lifted and donors provide financial support, the UN rights chief said Tuesday. Without international backing, the country’s transition towards peace and stability could swing into reverse, Michelle Bachelet said in a statement. A year has passed since …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The State House Anti-Corruption Unit has recovered a total of 1.73 billion shillings since its inception two years ago. Addressing a press conference at the media centre on Tuesday about the achievements of the unit, Ofwono Opondo, the Executive Director of the Media Centre …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | President Yoweri Museveni has assented to the controversial Sugar Bill putting to an end the push and pull he had with parliament. The president had earlier on declined to assent the bill saying the absence of zoning in the sugar industry would kill the economy …

Jinja, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The director of Jinja Regional Referral hospital Florence Tugumisirize has told journalists that the postmortem report which confirms that late Charles Isanga died as a result of blunt force trauma was not conducted at their mortuary. Isanga, a trader from Lwanda village in Mafubira …

Bududa, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Local Defence Unit-LDU personnel have deployed in Bududa district following defiance by residents to comply with the presidential directives. Amongst the directives that residents have defied include physical distancing, curfew and social gatherings among others. Stephen Mutsaka, the LCI chairperson Kuushu cell in Kuushu …

Arua, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Fifteen people who were in contact with five truck drivers have been quarantined at Arua Nurse Training School. Ten of the contacts who include three women and seven men were on Tuesday picked from Vurra customs by a team of health and security officials …

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Education and Sports Ministry authorities are still puzzled on how to distribute the self-help materials for primary and secondary learners due to lack of clear data indicating where the learners can be found. The decision to distribute the self-study material was communicated six …