Mopti, Mali | AFP | After a busy day juggling paperwork and meetings, Brehima Traore, deputy director of a hospital in war-torn Mali, may have hoped for some rest. Then his phone rang: he was needed in the operating room. Traore is one of the doctors who keeps the hospital in …
Read More »36 new COVID-19 cases confirmed
Kampala, Uganda| AFP | THE INDEPENDENT | 36 new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed, bringing the number of confirmed cases in the country to 593. The new cases were part of 1,310 samples that were tested on Friday. All the new cases are Ugandan contacts to people who have already tested positive …
Read More »In Haiti, disbelief and rumors lead to virus deaths
Cité Soleil, Haiti | AFP | On paper, Haiti so far has everything it needs to battle the coronavirus crisis — unoccupied hospital beds, medical staff and supplies. But in reality, the population’s skepticism about whether the contagion even exists has led to a quickly mounting death toll. “The illness is …
Read More »‘They are the heroes now’ — virus doctors join racism protests
New York, United States | AFP | New York nurses and doctors, hailed as heroes for fighting the coronavirus outbreak, are denouncing racial segregation in the public health system by joining the George Floyd protests. Wearing masks, hospital scrubs and other personal protective equipment like face visors, about a hundred-something medical …
Read More »Uganda Medical Association wants health workers to lay down tools over lack of PPE
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Doctors under the Uganda Medical Association want medical workers to lay down their tools if they are not provided with Personal Protective Equipment- PPE. The doctors made the call on Tuesday at a press meeting. According to the association, the body has recorded …
Read More »MSF doctors return to Guinea to fight virus
Conakry, Guinea | AFP | Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has reopened its Ebola-era hospital in Guinea, only four years since that epidemic ended, as coronavirus cases soar in the West African state. The country is struggling to curb the virus, despite enacting imposing travel restrictions and a night-time curfew, raising fears …
Read More »Turkish doctors turn detectives to track virus
Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | In full protective gear, two doctors climb the stairs four at a time. Their first task of the day: to test a woman who has had contact with a coronavirus patient in Istanbul. Visibly perturbed by the appearance of men in white bodysuits on her landing, …
Read More »Tunisia hopes novel methods will aid virus fight
Tunis, Tunisia | AFP | The feared impact of coronavirus on Tunisia’s fragile public health system has provoked a flurry of innovation from robotics to digitalisation efforts to bolster the North African country’s pandemic response. The government has even turned to students for help, asking the engineering school in Sousse, south …
Read More »Struggle, fear and heartbreak for medical staff on virus frontline
Rome, Italy | AFP | Doctors, nurses and healthcare workers have become the unwitting heroes of the coronavirus pandemic, winning applause from balconies and streets around the world. From Yaounde to Rome to New York, the pandemic has infected more than 1.9 million people and claimed 118,000 lives. Hospital workers are …
Read More »Struggle, fear and heartbreak for medical staff on virus frontline
Rome, Italy | AFP | Doctors, nurses and healthcare workers have become the unwitting heroes of the coronavirus pandemic, winning applause from balconies and streets around the world. From Yaounde to Rome to New York, the pandemic has infected more than 1.9 million people and claimed 118,000 lives. Hospital workers are …
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