South Africa

ADF STAFF The use of a self-guided drone on the Libyan battlefield may have been a first in Africa. Now experts are voicing concern about their expanded use. In March 2020, as fighters loyal to Libyan Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar…

ADF STAFF The recent news that South Africa was lifting COVID-19 restrictions was met with celebrations. People gathered in restaurants and bars, on beaches and in parks. Some still wore masks indoors and kept their distance from…

ADF STAFF Researchers in South Africa say the omicron variant known as BA.2 has become the dominant strain of COVID-19 in the country weeks after it was identified. The strain accounts for nearly 100% of new infections, prompting one…

ADF STAFF After two years of COVID-19, the disease severity is substantially lower among children and adolescents, compared with adults, scientific studies have reported. Not so in Africa. A new multicountry study in Africa found…

ADF STAFF Africa’s COVID-19 caseload has taken a sharp downturn since peaking around the beginning of the year. This offers hope that the fourth wave of infections may be abating in many countries. During his February 3 news briefing,…

ADF STAFF Muscle aches, fatigue, a scratchy throat and night sweats: Those are the most common symptoms of omicron, the COVID-19 strain that emerged in late November 2021. It was South African Dr. Angelique Coetzee who first alerted…

ADF STAFF A new twist on the omicron coronavirus variant has some researchers concerned about the next development in the global pandemic. Known as subvariant BA.2, the new version of omicron is about 1.5 times more infectious than…

ADF STAFF The attackers came in six wooden canoes. One with a small motor towed the rest. In the fading light of dusk, they reached Matemo Island just off the coast of northern Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province. The attackers…

ADF STAFF China is promoting its traditional medicine to African consumers, a situation that critics say is increasing pressure on wildlife already threatened by high demand in Asia. The growth in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in…

ADF STAFF A Tunisian tech company’s artificial intelligence (AI) software is part of a new venture to identify potentially deadly COVID-19 variants before they spread. InstaDeep was founded in Tunis in 2014 with just $2,000 to develop…