Fortune News | Dec 19,2021
The Millennium Hall on Africa Avenue, a popular destination for concerts, exhibitions and public gatherings, has returned to a scene that has been familiar ever since the first case of the COVID-19 pandemic was reported in March last year. Once again, the ventilators are at a full utility, health staff swaddled in personal protective gear are busy trying to save lives, and patients struggling to breathe have occupied all of the ICU beds.
Patients are dying every day, mainly those needing tracheal intubation (TI), a stage a fraction survive before they “X,” a term medical staff use to refer to patients on ventilators who do not get to make it out of Millennium Hall alive. The global pandemic is on its third wave. Ethiopia has not been spared. Close to a fifth of tests are turning up positive, 789 people are in ICUs, and over 5,000 people have died to date, according to the latest status update by the Ethiopian Public Health Institute. The Delta variant of the virus, twice as contagious as the previous ones, has also been confirmed in the country to no one’s surprise as it has become the dominant strain in most places of the world.
Beyond the increasing potency of the virus, public apathy has been blamed for the latest uptick. Sanitiser and face masks are becoming rare, and public gatherings are back as people accept the pandemic as part of daily life. Global vaccine inequality has not helped the situation. The Ministry of Health hoped to see a fifth of the population vaccinated by the end of the year. COVAX, the global alliance against COVID-19, promised developing countries equitable access to vaccines. But lack of adequate commitment from rich countries has meant that Ethiopia received only 5.2 million doses through COVAX and administered shy of three million jabs.
With adequate access to vaccines not being a realistic target, experts urge a compromise between protecting lives and livelihoods, where restrictions on public gatherings and mask-wearing are enforced. This advice comes too late for the 415 lives lost to the pandemic this month.
You can read the full story here
PUBLISHED ON
Sep 18,2021 [ VOL
22 , NO
1116]
Fortune News | Dec 19,2021
Fortune News | Jul 11,2021
My Opinion | Feb 12,2022
Exclusive Interviews | Jan 05,2020
Fortune News | May 21,2022
Viewpoints | Mar 06,2021
Radar | Apr 17,2020
Radar | Sep 10,2021
Commentaries | Nov 13,2021
Radar | Jun 04,2022
Dec 22 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Charged with transforming colossal state-owned enterprises into modern and competitiv...
Aug 18 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Although predictable Yonas Zerihun's job in the ride-hailing service is not immune to...
Jul 28 , 2024 . By TIZITA SHEWAFERAW
Unhabitual, perhaps too many, Samuel Gebreyohannes, 38, used to occasionally enjoy a couple of beers at breakfast. However, he recently swit...
Jul 13 , 2024 . By AKSAH ITALO
Investors who rely on tractors, trucks, and field vehicles for commuting, transporting commodities, and f...
May 31 , 2025
It is seldom flattering to be bracketed with North Korea and Myanmar. Ironically, Eth...
May 24 , 2025
Public hospitals have fallen eerily quiet lately. Corridors once crowded with patient...
May 17 , 2025
Ethiopia pours more than three billion Birr a year into academic research, yet too mu...
May 10 , 2025
Federal legislators recently summoned Shiferaw Teklemariam (PhD), head of the Disaste...
Loading your updates...