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South Africa may be entering COVID-19 fifth wave, says Health Minister

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South Africa’s Health Minister Joe Phaahla, on Friday, confirmed that the country may be entering a fifth COVID-19 wave earlier than expected following a sustained rise in infections over the past 14 days.

Phaahla said at a press conference that the new wave seems to be driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants, adding that the country which has recorded the most coronavirus cases and deaths on the African continent, only exited a fourth wave around January and had predicted a fifth wave could start in May or June, early in the southern hemisphere winter.

The Minister told the press briefing that although hospitalisations were picking up, there was so far no dramatic change in admissions to intensive care units or deaths.

“At this stage, health authorities have not been alerted to any new variant, other than changes to the dominant one circulating, Omicron,” Phaahla said.

Infectious disease specialist Richard Lessells who also spoke at the same briefing, said waning immunity from previous waves could be contributing to the earlier-than-expected resurgence in cases.

“The rising share of infections attributed to the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages of Omicron suggested they had a growth advantage over other Omicron sub-variants like BA.2.

“But so far there was no sign that BA.4 and BA.5 were causing significantly more severe disease,” he said.

South Africa has reported more than 3.7 million COVID cases and over 100,000 deaths since the breakout of the pandemic.

On Thursday, the World Health Organisation’s Africa office had flagged the rise in South Africa’s infections as the main driver of an uptick on the African continent.

Metro

Zambia: Minister confirms search for at least 25 miners after Seseli Mine mudslide 

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Zambian Mines Minister, Paul Kabuswe, said on Monday that a search was still on for at least 25 informal miners buried alive three days ago by a mudslide at an open-pit copper mine.

The soft ground is making the rescue workers, who included military personnel and others from large-scale mining companies, cautious, which has been slowing down the operation, according to Kabuswe.

“We must be mindful that we shouldn’t have an accident within another accident,” Kabuswe said.

According to the government, the Seseli Mine in Chingola, approximately 400 km (250 miles) northwest of the capital Lusaka, was flooded by heavy rains, trapping the miners in three different locations.

Zambia is Africa’s second-biggest producer of copper, which is in high demand for the transition to a low-carbon economy, and its government currently aims to boost the country’s copper production to 3 million tonnes a year by 2032, from around 850,000 metric tonnes last year. It has also witnessed a high degree of mining accidents

A week earlier, Canada’s First Quantum Minerals confirmed that two people died at its Zambian operations last week. The miner said a worker from its contracting partner, Reliant Drilling, died at First Quantum’s Kansanshi operations following a fall of ground due to an underground dewatering decline.

The number of trapped miners was not immediately known, but Kabuswe reported that 25 families had so far come forward to claim missing relatives who were employed at the mine as at the time of the accident.

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Metro

We are shocked at ex-President Lungu’s outbursts— Zambian Govt

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The Zambia government has expressed shock over the recent outburst by former President Edgar Lungu who accused incumbent President Hakainde Hichilema of doing everything possible to destroy democracy and install a dictatorship in the country.

While speaking at a press conference in Lusaka on Friday, Lungu had alleged that the Hichilema’s administration wanted to “kill democracy and subsequently introduce dictatorship in order to prolong their stay in power.”

He also alleged that all government institutions had been compromised and were being used to hound the opposition.

“All institutions of governance are heavily compromised, I want to repeat that all institutions of governance are highly compromised, you can not even talk about the Police, Registrar of Society, Judiciary, its a question of degree,” Lungu had said.

“Several opposition leaders have been arrested on trumped-up charges in order to silence them and are appearing in the courts of law. The interference can be seen from how they followed Harry Kalaba, Democratic Party, and now they have followed him to the Citizens First, Saboi Imboela’s National Democratic Congress has not been spared,” Lungu had added.

But in a response to the concerns raised by the ex-President, Chief Government spokesperson, Cornelius Mweetwa, said the federal government was surprised by the sentiments expressed by Lungu which it said amounted to advocating civil disobedience by the Zambian people.

In a statement on Saturday,
Mweetwa cautioned Lungu against over-stretching his luck but to “behave himself like a statesman.”

Mweetwa said that government was not happy that Lungu, who should enjoy a position of statesman, was reducing himself to below what was expected of him.

He also insisted that government had no intention of removing Lungu’s immunity as being peddled about in certain quarters.

“Sentiments by the former president that government wants to remove his immunity are unfounded. This is the resolve of president Hakainde Hichilema to ensure that there is unity and peace,” Mweetwa added.

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