Month: June 2021

Luanda – The Multisectoral Commission for the Prevention and Fight against Covid-19 meets this Tuesday with the political parties represented in Parliament to address issues related to the Presidential Decree on the Situation of Public Calamity.

The Parliament has four political parties and one coalition, namely MPLA, UNITA, CASA-CE, PRS and FNLA.

In a statement sent to Angop on Monday, the commission explained that the meeting was the result of non-compliance by the parties with the rules on mass political events in public spaces.

According to the commission, for some time now, political parties have been organising mass events with their militants, friends and sympathisers, in several arteries of the city and outlying areas, which essentially call into question the observance of biosecurity rules laid down in Presidential Decree 150/21 of 8 June.

The decree establishes that mass political activities should only take place with a maximum of 50 people, in Luanda, while in the other provinces they may take place in the presence of 100 people. The violation of this assumption is liable to a fine.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Benguela – The provincial governor of Benguela, Luís Nunes, asked Monday in this city for a more active participation of the people of Benguela in the management of the several administrative processes in favour of the common welfare.

According to Luis Nunes, who was speaking at the presentation ceremony of the new municipal administrator of Benguela, Paula Correia, work should be done with all and for all, in order to solve the various problems that still affect the community.

“The unconditional support of the population to the new administrator is of capital importance to raise Benguela to the level it deserves. This will only be possible with the support of the residents in identifying and defining strategies to solve the social problems that affect the population”, he emphasised.

The governor assured, on the other hand, that he would continue to bet on gender to administer the province, given the skills, technical and leadership capacity that women have shown over the years.

Luís Nunes took the opportunity to highlight the work done by the outgoing female administrator, for her performance and knowledge during her mandate at the mother municipality of the cities.

Meanwhile, the new Benguela municipal administrator, Paula Mariza Correia, said that the current social conjuncture still conditioned the execution of some projects, but she believes that with union and solidarity of the citizens it will be possible to overcome difficulties.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Luanda – Angola registered, in the last 24 hours, 57 new cases, 28 recovered patients and two deaths.

According to Secretary of State for Public Health Franco Mufinda, amongst the new cases 43 are in Luanda, five in Huambo, four in Zaire, three in Cabinda, one in Namibe and the same number in Malanje.

The list includes 34 men and 23 women between the ages of two and 89.

The deaths, which involve two Angolans, were registered in Cuando Cubango province, with one, and in Huíla, also with one.

As for those recovered, 21 reside in Luanda, five in Huíla and two in Malanje.

The laboratories processed 231 samples.

There are 71 people in institutional quarantine centres and 2,401 under epidemiological surveillance.

Angola has a total of 38,613 positive cases, with 891 deaths, 32,891 recovered and 4,903 active cases. Of those active, 14 are in critical condition, 28 severe, 53 moderate, 18 with mild symptoms and 4,790 asymptomatic.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

On the 24th June 2021, as part of World Health Organization Eritrea support to Ministry of Health for the continuity of essential health services on Maternal and Newborn health, WHO Eritrea delivered vital Infection prevention and Control (IPC) equipment, that will significantly contribute to the effectiveness of Infection prevention and Control Interventions in the Eritrean Maternity Waiting Homes that valued at 162,000.00 Nakfa.

Maternity waiting homes are residential facilities where women living remotely stays before giving birth at health facilities and were introduced as a strategy in 2007 in hard to reach regions of Southern Red Sea supported by WHO. This is to strengthen the capacity to increase facility delivery for women living in remote geographic areas.

Remarking, the best practices of Eritrea in reducing maternal and child mortality rate, strengthening the Maternity Waiting Homes will play role in maintaining the remarkable achievements. Thus, these essential equipments include twelve Washing Machines of 14 kilograms capacity and will be distributed to the twelve maternity waiting homes in the Southern Red Sea which is a remote area of the country. They are expected to supplement the ongoing effort to the Infection prevention and Control Interventions especially during the COVID-19 pandemic era.
 

Source: World Health Organization. Africa

WASHINGTON – A key U.S. Republican lawmaker said Sunday he takes President Joe Biden at his word that he has no intention of vetoing a $1.2 trillion infrastructure measure Biden agreed to last week even though initially the U.S. leader said he would reject it if Congress does not also approve social spending legislation.

Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, one of the five Republican centrists who negotiated the infrastructure package with Biden to repair the country’s deteriorating roads and bridges, told CNN, “I do trust the president” to sign the funding measure if Congress approves it alone in the coming months.

Biden created confusion about his support for the politically bipartisan roads-and-bridges bill by first saying Thursday he had agreed to the deal with the handful of opposition lawmakers. Shortly after, Biden said he would veto it if it was not passed by Congress in tandem with trillions more in spending on expanding the social safety for U.S. families and advancing the use of clean energy.

On Saturday, Biden said that his comments “created the impression that I was issuing a veto threat on the very plan I had just agreed to, which was certainly not my intent.”

Biden said he hopes Congress approves both pieces of legislation, even though he well understands Republicans will oppose the social safety net spending, with that legislation likely only garnering support from Democrats in the politically divided Congress.

“So, to be clear: our bipartisan agreement does not preclude Republicans from attempting to defeat my Families Plan; likewise, they should have no objections to my devoted efforts to pass that Families Plan and other proposals in tandem,” Biden said. “We will let the American people—and the Congress—decide.”

Romney said, “We Republicans are saying, ‘Absolutely, no,’ to what Democrats are calling the “human infrastructure” spending.

“Don’t raise taxes; fix the (roads and bridges) infrastructure,” Romney said. “Get it done.”

But Romney added, “I think [Biden] is making a huge mistake” with the social spending bill. “We’re not going to sign up for a multi-trillion-dollar bill.”

Another of the Republicans who negotiated the infrastructure package with Biden, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” show that the lawmakers who negotiated with Biden had been assured it would not be linked with the Democratic package on spending to benefit families.

“Why is that important?” Cassidy said. “First, there’s bipartisan opposition to the non-hard infrastructure portion of [the Democrats’] bill. Bipartisan in both chambers, that’s Number One. Number Two, Republicans think that portion is bad for our country. We have an inflation rate that is higher than it’s been in quite some time. And that bill would make it higher.”

“This infrastructure bill is good for America, for all Americans,” Cassidy said. “It is going to make us more productive; it’s going to create lots of jobs.”

Many Democrats, especially progressives, argue that aggressively combating climate change and expanding America’s social safety net are just as important as repairing physical infrastructure. Biden proposed raising taxes on some U.S. corporations to pay for an initial infrastructure plan of about $2 trillion.

Source: Voice of America