World
Africa
‘Everything points to Omicron being milder’: Positive signs from South Africa’s new hospital data
Doctors and medical experts suspect that the Omicron version really is causing milder COVID-19 than Delta, even if it seems to be spreading faster.
- by Andrew Meldrum
Latest
From the Archives, 1996: Proud Mandela signs new constitution
On December 10, 1996, after more than six years of negotiations with black and white leaders, Nelson Mandela made South Africa’s new constitution law.
- by Staff reporter
South African data suggests Omicron patients are avoiding hospitalisation
South Africa’s surge in COVID-19 cases following the emergence of Omicron is yet to overwhelm hospitals, prompting cautious optimism that the new strain may cause only mild illness.
- by Mike Cohen and Janice Kew
Dozens killed as bus swept away by floodwaters in Kenya
At least 20 people drowned on Saturday when a bus carrying a group of religious faithful was swept away by floodwaters as the driver tried to cross a river in the eastern Kenyan county of Kitui, the county governor said.
So hot right now: Tourists flee but scientists flock to La Palma’s ‘lava lab’
“It’s been mind-blowing, literally, to see this dynamism in action,” the geologist said. “We are learning so much about how volcanoes work.”
- by Aritz Parra and Emilio Morenatti
Omicron hot spot faces reckoning over low vaccine rates
The new Omicron variant has already begun to surge among South Africa’s young and unvaccinated, and experts are concerned about the effect it might have on the elderly.
- by Mogomotsi Magome and Andrew Meldrum
Updated
Coronavirus pandemic
What we know about Omicron, the new coronavirus variant
Experts are urging caution but not panic, while admitting not enough is known about the new variant of concern that is shutting down flights around the world.
- by Meryl Kornfield and Lateshia Beachum
Variants like Omicron ‘haunt world’ due to vaccine imbalance between rich and poor nations: scientist
A top South African scientist warns that until we vaccinate enough people around the globe new variants will develop over and over again.
- by Lesley Wroughton
South African doctor who raised Omicron alarm says symptoms are ‘unusual but mild’
Dr Angelique Coetzee noticed otherwise healthy patients demonstrating unusual symptoms and worries how the new variant might hurt the elderly.
- by Peta Thornycroft and Will Brown
Ethiopian PM on frontline with army after declaring media blackout
In his latest attempt to rally all able Ethiopians to fight what he now calls an “existential war” against Tigrayan forces.
- by Cara Anna
New coronavirus variant a ‘serious concern’ in South Africa
B.1.1529 is likely to have evolved during a chronic infection of an immunocompromised person, possibly in an untreated HIV/AIDS patient, said one researcher.
- by Prinesha Naidoo and S'thembile Cele