World Health Organisation

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has expressed disappointment at the news of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca which appears to provide no measurable effect on mild or moderate disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 variant.

COVID-19 deaths differ among men and women but the differences are not reported. Such data is key to developing effective solutions to fight COVID-19.

A substantial proportion of people may refuse or delay taking a COVID-19 vaccine. Vaccine hesitancy is a severe threat to global health, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Evidence increasingly shows that COVID-19 cases involve mostly people aged over 60 years. In Africa, the median age of the population is 19.4 years, with 60% of the population under the age of 25.

Starting 20 July to 20 September 2020, 77,147 new cases were reported, down from 131,647 recorded from 20 May to mid-July. Deaths attributed to COVID-19 have also remained low across Africa.

To contain and mitigate the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) misinformation pandemic needs multi-levelled, socio-cultural approaches.

Research on social media propaganda shows that bystander inaction can encourage the proliferation of fake news. Anyone with access to the internet can contribute to the war on misinformation.