As the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 spreads across the world, it mutates, and scientists can track these mutations by sequencing viruses isolated from patients. These viral genomes can not only show how the virus moves through a population; it can also inform efforts to find a cure, for example by showing whether some mutations are more […]
Essayed Lotfy, a frail-looking 46-year-old baker from Cairo, faces difficult choices if he’s to continue making a living in his city which has been besieged by the new coronavirus for the past few weeks. “I’m worried if I stay home, we’ll run out of money and food. But when I go out, I’m always terrified […]
On 15 March 2020, Ghana’s president Nana Akufo-Addo ordered the immediate closure of all educational institutions in Ghana in a bid to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. In the same speech, he tasked the country’s education and communication ministries to roll out distance learning to salvage the academic year. Virtual means are […]
Les effets économiques du Coronavirus sur l’Afrique avec Mouhamadou M. LY, Économiste senior au Policy Center for the New South Next Einstein Forum : Quels seront les effets directs de la pandémie sur l’économie africaine ? Mouhamadou M. Ly : La pandémie, et avec elle les mesures sanitaires de prévention, comme la réduction des déplacements, ont eu pour effet […]
Old people are especially vulnerable to Covid-19, the respiratory illness currently crippling the world. But Africa’s elderly, even if they are a small proportion of the population, are more vulnerable than their developed world counterparts. And they urgently require locally-relevant strategies to protect themselves, says Erastus Maina, global charity HelpAge International’s Kenya programme coordinator. “Elderly […]
The current Covid-19 pandemic has revealed true weaknesses in African healthcare systems, ranging from limited numbers of intensive care unit beds and ventilators, to the lack of competitiveness in innovating new diagnostic tools, vaccines and treatments. As an Egyptian researcher, it is reassuring to observe that new funds have been offered by the Egyptian Academy […]
I was born and raised in Ghana, Accra, where my belly button remains buried and the place I still call home. For the last four years, I have been residing in the United States, specifically in Massachusetts, where I am enrolled as a PhD student in Science Education at Boston College. This spring, I had […]
5 minutes sur le Coronavirus avec le Docteur Alpha Kabinet Keita, Directeur adjoint du Centre de recherche et de formation en infectiologie de Guinée (CERFIG) et Associé au Next Einstein Forum Next Einstein Forum : En quoi consiste le COVID -19 et de quelle manière se différencie-t-il par rapport à la famille des autres coronavirus par […]
Coronavirus Disease 2019, or COVID-19, is an infectious disease caused by a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV2). The disease emerged in December 2019 from Wuhan, China, and spread globally at a dizzying pace. It is important to distinguish between the virus (SARS-CoV2) and the disease (COVID-19), since there are more people infected with […]
The global rise of artificial intelligence holds both promise and danger, and Africa needs its own experts to balance the two, Eunice Kilonzo reports. “I get smarter the more you tell me,” says Ada. “So I am going to ask a few questions that will help me help you. What’s your name?”Eunice.“Are you pregnant?”No.“Are you […]