"South Africa"

A total of 451 rhinoceroses were killed for their horns in 2021, down 24 per cent as compared to the pre-COVID-19 period in 2019, said South Africa's Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries Barbara Creecy Tuesday.

It may be too soon to be excited by findings by South African scientists that patients who had been vaccinated against Covid-19 and then contracted Omicron had developed significantly stronger immunity against the Delta variant, said Dr Anan Jongkaewwatana from the National Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace laureate and veteran who helped abolish apartheid in South Africa, died on Sunday at the age of 90.

NAIROBI, Kenya - South Africas huge wave of omicron cases appears to be subsiding just as quickly as it grew in the weeks after the country first announced to the world that a new coronavirus variant had been identified.

South Africas surge in Covid-19 cases following the emergence of the omicron variant hasnt overwhelmed hospitals so far, prompting some cautious optimism that the new strain may cause mostly mild illness.

The 252 tourists from southern African countries, who entered Thailand between November 27 and 30, are fully vaccinated and are at low risk of transmitting the Omicron variant, the Department of Disease Control (DDC) said on Thursday.

Phuket’s health authorities ordered 130 tourists who entered the province from November 15-27 to go into quarantine for 14 days to prevent the Covid-19 Omicron variant from spreading, the Phuket Information Centre announced on Wednesday.

The Public Health Ministry is keeping a close eye out for infections from the new Covid-19 variant Omicron and has urged its provincial offices to maintain all preventive measures, the ministry’s permanent secretary Dr Kiattiphum Wongrajit said on Sunday.

As a preventive measure, France has decided, along with other Europe Union countries, to suspend flights from seven Southern African countries.

South Africas announcement Thursday that it had identified a new, possibly highly contagious coronavirus variant sent shock waves worldwide. Stock markets fell as the United States, among other countries, imposed a travel ban on southern Africa.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Across a world of vaccine haves and have-nots, the omicron variant sends a warning on how the virus can evolve and spread without more aggressive measures to expand vaccinations, a top South African scientist said Saturday.

NANTUCKET, Mass. - The United States will restrict travel from South Africa and seven other countries starting Monday, as President Joe Biden and his administration cautiously responded to a wave of global anxiety over the new omicron coronavirus variant.