Tag Archive for: COVID-19

Sisipho Ntsabo
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Senegal to start manufacturing Covid-19 vaccines

Senegal has joined the list of African countries to secure the patent right to manufacture the COVID-19 vaccines in 2022. The country has signed a deal with Belgian biotech group, Univercells to produce these vaccines in the next year. Senegal joins the likes of Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa in the list of African countries that have successfully secured the rights to produce the jabs.

In April, Univercells announced the signing of a letter of intent for collaboration with the Institut Pasteur in Dakar, Senegal. Under the Univercells agreement, the Institut Pasteur supplies Covid-19 vaccines to countries across West Africa using vaccine production technology developed by Univercells. The initial packaging and distribution of these vaccines would begin early next year.

This is good news for Africa. As we reported in our last article, Africa is currently undergoing its third wave. Out of a continent of 1.3 billion people, only 7 million people have been fully vaccinated. Institut Pasteur director Amadou Sall says that the facility is at work with donors to secure financial backing for this huge project. Furthermore, Sall adds that there is a lot of political will for this project to create a real opportunity in Africa.

In other good news, the European Union (EU) said last month that it is willing to invest at least 1bn to build manufacturing hubs in Africa, with Senegal, SA, Rwanda, Morocco, and Egypt among the leading candidates. South Africa’s Biovac Institute has been in contact with the German and French governments and their respective pharmaceutical companies to produce 30m Covid-19 vaccines annually. Further, South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare is already in the process of Janssen vaccine shots locally.

Senegal will be a great destination for investment, and we are proud to offer services for Immigration and Relocation services into Dakar, Senegal. Please contact us for further information.

Have a look at the brief overview, housing, school and immigration information about Senegal on our locations website: https://www.relocationafrica.com/locations/senegal/

 

 

 

Sisipho Ntsabo
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Relocation Africa: The Effects of the Global Pandemic

The world has come to a complete standstill due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many industries, companies and businesses have been affected by this, compelling them to restructure the way business is conducted. The global mobility and relocation industries are some of the industries that have been severely impacted by the global pandemic. This in turn has affected the mobility industry, ultimately affecting the relocation industry. Relocation Africa, mobility, relocation, and immigration business has been largely affected by this pandemic.

In efforts to combat the spread of the virus and ensure the safety of their citizens, states have enforced bolder border entry restrictions, travel bans, and quarantine adherences. This has made managing the expatriate and international assignee workforce complex and challenging. Relocation Africa, situated in a continent that has been administered severe travel restrictions from third world countries while undergoing a slow vaccine rollout. Relocation Africa provides a variety of Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration and Expatriate Tax services across the continent of Africa, assisting individuals and corporate clients settle into new environments as efficiently as possible.

The mobility, immigration and relocation industry has had to change the way they conduct business, to resort to flexible and remote ways in engaging their mobile expatriates and international assignees. At Relocation Africa has had to change their normal procedure/ operations of mobility and relocation to accommodate the travel restrictions and their clients.

Relocation Africa has flexed all its programs. Adding new services such as remote packing up for clients, remotely or virtually selling products for countries who are not in the country, conducts virtual and adjusted services such as opening bank accounts to allow expatriates to do this more remotely. Relocation Africa has also extended its online platforms to include more information that is readily available to its clients. Relocation Africa has also had to ensure that all training and expectation management has considered COVID-19 protocols and to ensure each assignee safe and prioritised. We have also attempted to communicate more extensively to all our clients as we cover a large geography with very different regulations, border closing and re-opening, as well as immigration regulations that are adjusting as the pandemic changes.  We would like you to connect with us on LinkedIn, Instagram, or Twitter to ensure you are getting our updates on service offerings as well as travel updates and border regulations.

 

 

 

 

 

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Sisipho Ntsabo
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Ghana Selected as Manufacturing Hub for COVID-19 Vaccines in Africa

Ghana has been selected as the manufacturing hub for COVID-19 vaccines in Africa and has also been excluded from the European Union’s list of money laundering nations.

A statement was issued by the Jubilee House, Ghana’s presidential palace following a recent meeting in Belgium with Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and Vice President of the European Commission, Valdis Dombrovskis. According to the European Commission, the Government of Ghana has taken remarkable initiatives towards the domestic manufacturing of vaccines.

Ghana was the first country in the world to receive COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Facility and began its first phase of mass vaccination earlier this year. Ghana has administered over 900 000 doses, projecting to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of the year. Taskforce teams elected from the European Union (EU) and Ghana will convene to discuss the approach in the realisation of this initiative that the European Investment Bank (EIB) could be supporting.

The European Commission has also announced the decision to remove Ghana from the AntiMoney Laundering and Terrorism Financing deficiency list. “The European Union acknowledged the efforts Ghana has made in implementing the action plan of the International Country Risk Guide (ICRG) in record time. The Commission, thus, congratulated Ghana for the reforms embarked on, as well as the sustainable, robust systems deployed towards being taken off the list” the release added.

Ghana will be a great destination for investment and we are proud to offer services for Immigration and Relocation services into Accra, Ghana. Please contact us for further information.

Sisipho Ntsabo
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African countries introduce travel restrictions on India

Africa’s global mobility continues to suffer as the world watches the COVID-19 crisis in India. Several African countries have introduced travel restrictions, and some have temporarily banned travel from India. This comes as India’s coronavirus cases skyrocket and new infection numbers reach record numbers.

Africa is largely dependent on India for their vaccine supply as India, whose Serum Institute is the source of the AstraZeneca vaccines delivered by the global COVAX project. India has placed an export ban on vaccines due to the increased domestic demand. This has adversely affected Africa’s rollout of its vaccination programs.

Countries in Africa have introduced new travel restrictions in response to India’s COVID-19 crisis:

  • Malawi – Malawi’s Minister of Health, Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda has also announced a ban on travellers from India.
  • Nigeria – Nigeria’s chairman of the presidential steering committee on COVID-19, Boss Mustapha, announced in a statement that the country will ban travellers coming from India from May 4.
  • Tanzania – Tanzania’s health ministry announced that Tanzania has suspended flights to and from India amid the Covid-19 surge in India.
  • Kenya – Kenya’s Health Cabinet Secretary (CS) Mutahi Kagwe has announced that flights to and from India will be temporarily banned for the next two weeks from May 1st.
  • Uganda – Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng reported that Uganda has so far recorded one case of the Indian strain of the coronavirus. “Further to the existing Covid-19 control measures, all travellers and passengers originating from India shall not be allowed into Uganda starting at midnight of May 1, 2021,” she said.

 

Not only is the COVID-19 a threat to Africa’s vaccine supply but also global economic growth. India is the world’s sixth-largest economy and is a contributor to economic growth. These new strict travel restrictions affect the airlines and airports, and businesses dependent on the travel industry.

One of the industries heavily dependent on the travel industry is the global mobility industry. PWC reports that “40% of companies told us the pandemic has had a moderate or significant impact on the ability of mobile employees to continue with business as usual. Two-thirds of companies who had employees on secondment or transfer at the outset of the pandemic had offered them the option of returning home. As for future relocations, many have been postponed, but 58% of surveyed companies said they were allowing employees to start new roles from their home country.”

This is an adverse effect for the global mobility industry in Africa, as smaller African economies depend on the mobility of employees from large transnational companies. The ripple effect on smaller economies is much to think about. As Relocation Africa, a global mobility and immigration company, we know have seen and felt the struggles of this pandemic. We can only hope that in the near future, things will look up. In our next article, we speak in greater detail about the COVID-19 impact on global mobility.

At Relocation Africa, we specialise in mobility, research, immigration and remuneration. Feel free to contact us. We are always happy to help.