Due to the increasing number of fake health documents and rising incidents of forgery detected since the onset of the pandemic, the Ministry of Health has moved to halt the giving of COVID-19 test results by paper means by changing the system to digital which people can receive their COVID-19 test results through a digital certificate. In addition, the ministry has updated its travel advisory which now requires the AU COVID-19 pass for entry and exit.
The COVID-19 test result which is taken locally is highly characterized by false positive and false negative continue to be rejected globally. The new system is therefore expected to decrease the false result.
In view of continued surges of COVID -19 cases in some parts of the world and the need to strengthen health screening at Ethiopian boarders the Ministry of Health has announced that starting June 7, all travelers exiting, entering or transiting through Ethiopia to all destinations shall be expected to present a digital negative COVID-19 certificate.
The certificates shall be presented at all ports of entry based on the Africa Union’s Trusted Travel guidelines, and the UNDP-sponsored Global Haven Program. The ministry also added that in the country, all authorized RT PCR COVID-19 testing laboratories have already been registered on the African Union TT system.
“This is as a result of the continued surge of COVID-19 cases in some parts of the world and the need to strengthen health screening at Ethiopian borders for the long-term biosecurity of the country,” Lia Tadesse, Minister for Health said.
The ministry also stated that paper certificates shall cease to be acceptable and only AU Trusted Travel or Global Haven COVID-19 test certificates shall be allowed for exit, transit and entry purposes from July 1.
Airlines have as well been instructed to pre-validate all test results and certificates used for travel purposes before boarding travelers bound for Ethiopia.
In March 2, 2020 the first infected people were found in the country and since then the testing capacity in Ethiopia and world has continued to rise, similarly, more and more asymptomatic individuals have undergone testing.
Though the number of daily tests has jumped from 0 on march to 5000 people on average, more efforts is being looked into to minimize the false positive and negatives. Even if efforts has been made to decrease low test sensitivity, false negative continue to pose much consequential threat and hold priority since they have the power to cause devastating spread since the propagation of the epidemic especially by asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients remains high.
But false negatives are not the only errors bedeviling coronavirus diagnostics. False positives, which incorrectly identify a healthy person as infected by the virus, can have serious consequences as well, especially in places where the virus is scarce.
False positives are generally very rare among tests that have been vetted but any test can be plagued by contamination, mishandling or technical glitches, leading a device to spot the coronavirus where it is not. However, in retrospect false positives may seem relatively harmless in comparison with their false-negative compatriots.
Ethiopia has thus far registered 272,246 positive coronavirus cases and 4,185 deaths.
Only digital COVID-19 certificates will be used
Tele Birr on path to become Ethiopia’s top digital wallet
In its very first month of introduction, Ethio telecom’s mobile money, Tele birr, has garnered 3.1 million customers who have registered on to Tele birr platform. With this swift registration, it is a surefire bet that Tele Birr is well on its way to become the leading digital wallet in the country. According to the USAID 2021 report, the two biggest digital wallet services are the CBE birr which was inaugurated in 2017 and Amole in 2018, both having 3.6 million and 3.5 million subscribers respectively.
By harnessing a regulated financial flow, which in turn will increase the overall development of the country and individuals through its contribution to increased savings, encouraging entrepreneurship and investment and boosting the economy; the number is expected to reach 12 million customers within one year, according to the CEO, Frehiwot Tamiru. To upsurge its operation Telebirr will start its transaction in a few days through commercial banks including Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and bank of Abyssinia in few days.
Apart from bridging the financial inclusion gap in the country within the coming five years, Tele birr’s transaction is expected to reach 3.5 trillion birr, Ethio telecom claims. In addition, this is expected to develop into a podium that moves 40 to 50 percent of Ethiopia’s GDP within the next five years has started its
Tele birr is an innovative mobile money solution for Ethio telecom customers, the solution allows customers to store, send, receive, transfer and spend money through an electronic account using their mobile phone.
The service will also allow customers to receive money from diaspora, cash-in, save money, access loan, link bank account to Tele Birr wallet and vice versa and will feature a manage Tele Birr account. Tele birr also provide mobile payment services generally to payment services operated under financial regulation locally and internationally, pay bills for example for school fees, utility bills (water, electricity), DSTV to which transactions can be performed from or via a mobile device. Moreover, Tele Birr will allow users to cash-out, buy prepaid airtime, SMS, voice, data bundles or customer can pay a direct connect account and for other Ethio telecom subscribers, they will be able to make secure online payments. Instead of paying with cash, cheques, or credit cards, a consumer can use a mobile device to pay for a wide range of services and digital or hard goods.
Besides working on the operation of Telebirr, Ethio-Telecom, the giant telecom service provider in the country is aggressively working to protect its market share as it is working to expand its 4G LTE advanced network coverage. Ethio telecom is also planning to launch 5G service by 2022. Currently, Ethio telecom has 54.5 million customers from which 36.3 million of them are internet service users. According to the state telecom operator, the total network coverage of the country has reached 95 percent.
On similarly news, this week and within a week’s gap, Ethio telecom has launched 4G LTE Advanced service in the North East Region in six towns of Dessie, Kombolcha, Weldia, Hayik, Kemissie, Kobo & Lalibela; and in the North East-east Region in four towns of Samara, Asaita, Logia and Awash sebat Kilo. “With the high bandwidth and high-speed features of 4G/LTE services, we hope will enable and empower our customers to digitize their services, increase productivity and improve their experiences,” stated the firm’s CEO.
Beside its support to increase financial strength and service advancement of the company as Frehiwot said, 4G LTE Advanced expansion also supports digital inclusion. Data traffic growth and demand based 4G/LTE expansion in Addis and regional towns is among the major strategic initiatives set out in the three years company strategy.
So far the state telecom operator has launched 4G LTE advanced services in 44 towns in different regions over the country. Until the end of the current fiscal year Ethio telecom has planned to reach 103 towns with its 4G LTE Advanced service.
ZamZam, the full-fledged IFB opens
ZamZam Bank officially started its service as a full-fledged interest free banking in the country. This makes ZamZam the first Bank of its kind joining the financial sector to operate under Sharia principles in which all forms of interest are barred. The opening of ZamZam
Bank will enable financial inclusion of the society that has been seeking a full-
fledged interest free financing.
ZamZam’s main Branch, Alif, located at Wollo Sefer roundabout was officially inaugurated in the presence of Ahmed Shide, Minister of Finance, Yinager Dessie, Governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia and other invited guests.
Alif branch offers interest-free banking services, with customer convenience. ZamZam has invested in fully equipping its services with up-to-date technology, while further developing its digital fintech solutions.
ZamZam Bank will work to provide convenient banking solutions to its customers, in
line with the bank’s vision of becoming the leading Sharia-Compliant and an all-inclusive
bank in Africa.
We cannot afford another India to prevent a catastrophic third wave of COVID-19 in Africa, look at data to drive the response
By Amanda McClelland and Dr. Richard Mihigo
Although the light at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic tunnel is visible in certain parts of the world, it remains dim across much of Africa. Vaccine availability ranges from severely lacking to nonexistent even for priority groups such as health care workers. COVID-19 surges in places such as India, where the dominance of new, more dangerous variants has had devastating consequences, are cause for concern in many countries in Africa.
It is likely that cases have been underestimated across much of Africa since the start of the pandemic, contributing to a dangerous global myth that the continent has escaped the most devastating effects from the virus. Limitations on testing capacity and surveillance make it difficult for governments to properly track the virus, although countries have made great strides in testing capacity. In the past six months, tests per 10,000 people have doubled.
More than one year into the pandemic, we are contending with the threat of the virus itself and the threats associated with pandemic fatigue. To combat the latter, governments must be smart about balancing the use of public health measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 with the impact these measures have on lives and livelihoods.
A group of organizations including Resolve to Save Lives, an initiative of Vital Strategies, and the World Health Organisation formed a public-private partnership* to compile and analyze data to provide African Union Member States insight into the direct and indirect effects of COVID-19 in Africa, including the acceptability, impact and effectiveness of public health measures to combat COVID-19. The Partnership for Evidence-Based Response to COVID-19 recently released its third report based on data compiled in February 2021 from more than 24,000 surveys, data from social and news media and trend analysis with the previous report. The findings speak to a real and immediate need for us, as part of the global community, to increase support to country leadership as they work to prevent further spread of COVID-19 in Africa, lest another, deadlier wave sweep across the continent.
Here’s what we learned from our recent survey:
COVID-19 has become more prevalent across Member States, although this varies from country to country. The percentage of respondents reporting they or someone in their household had COVID-19 more than doubled from our previous survey fielded in August 2020: from 3 percent to 7 percent in February 2021. And people may not be seeking care for potential COVID-19 symptoms; more than 20 percent of respondents that reported missing health care services said they did not seek care despite experiencing symptoms which may overlap with COVID-19.
There has been significant disruption to health service delivery since the start of the pandemic. Among respondents that reported they or someone in their household required a health care visit, almost one in four (23 percent) reported missing or skipping services since November 2020, and 43 percent reported difficulty obtaining medication in the same timeframe.
Income loss and food insecurity continue to increase, particularly among the most vulnerable. More than three quarters of all respondents (77 percent) reported losing some or all of their income since the start of the pandemic. More than 80 percent of respondents reported challenges accessing food in the previous week, an increase of 8 percentage points since August 2020. Lower-income households reported higher rates of complete income loss and barriers to accessing food.
Overall, respondents reported high adherence to individual measures to prevent COVID-19, particularly face mask use an encouraging finding, because masks are low-cost and high-impact. However, adherence to measures restricting social gatherings and mobility decreased between August 2020 and February 2021 in most Member States surveyed, in line with governments loosening public health measures.
What can we do now to prevent another India?
Africa needs more vaccines as quickly as possible, and the global community must step up to increase production, ensure equitable allocation and rapidly share technology and expertise with Member States to allow long-term regional production. That said, vaccination is not a panacea; Member States should take urgent steps to increase capacity to detect, test, sequence and trace cases and new variants to mount effective COVID-19 responses and implement targeted public health measures.
With vaccine rollout proceeding slowly, targeting public health measures to the areas most affected by COVID-19 will be vital to ensuring continued adherence in the coming months and years. Continued emphasis on individual measures mask-wearing, hand-washing and maintaining physical distance will be necessary for keeping transmission low while economies remain open. Focused public health measures will maximize adherence for the long haul, while minimizing their secondary burdens allowing governments to prevent surges before they start and limit the need for the most restrictive measures.
Transparency in decision-making and community engagement are key to convincing people to adhere to public health measures and receive the vaccine if offered. Respondents who were satisfied with their government were more likely to report adhering to public health restrictions and express interest in vaccination (for the latter, 71 percent versus 50 percent). With this in mind, the slow vaccine rollout across Africa offers the opportunity for governments to craft targeted information campaigns. Health literacy will be the vaccination against misinformation.
Relief for high-risk populations will offset at least some of the crushing indirect burdens cascading from the pandemic such as income loss, food insecurity and access to essential health services. Such burdens were more likely to be experienced by lower-income households, who were simultaneously less likely to receive government support. Only 13 percent of respondents reported receiving any government support in the past month; within this number, a higher percentage was from higher-income households, which indicates that the communities in most need are, dismayingly, receiving the least support. Governments must use evidence-based and targeted strategies to identify and offer relief to their most vulnerable populations.
This relief also applies to essential health services. COVID-19 threatens to undo decades-long progress in strengthening health systems and improving access to care and treatment. Fear of catching COVID-19, health facility disruptions or closures and affordability were the top three reasons for missing care. To mitigate these factors, governments must prioritize vaccinating and otherwise protecting health care workers, as well as strategically communicate to the public that seeking care at health facilities is safe.
With the slow vaccine rollout and the threat of new variants, the African continent remains vulnerable to COVID-19. The global community must step up for vaccine manufacturing. Governments must be vigilant in their continued fight against the disease and use data to find the balance between public health measures and the indirect burdens they pose. We all the global community, as well as country leadership have the responsibility to protect our people in times of crisis. With targeted campaigns, community engagement and support for their country’s people, governments have the capacity to save lives.
Amanda McClelland is Senior Vice President of the Prevent Epidemics and Dr. Richard Mihigo is Immunization and vaccine development coordinator at WHO
*Resolve to Save Lives and the World Health Organisation partnered with Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Economic Forum, UK Public Health Rapid Response Team, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and market research firms Ipsos and Novetta Mission Analytics to produce the PERC report.
