millions of unused covid vaccines with the rest of the world. they'll distribute 25 million doses immediately, with a goal of handing out 80 million by the end ofjune. of that initial batch, 19 million will be allocated to covax. portugal will be removed from the uk's green travel list from tuesday, amid rising coronavirus cases and concern over variants. it willjoin the amber list, meaning holidaymakers should not visit and returnees must isolate for ten days. seven new countries and territories will be added to the red list. four countries have started legal action against iran over the accidental shooting down of a ukrainian airliner last year. ukraine, britain, sweden and canada all had citizens aboard the plane. they want iran to officially take responsibility for what happened. now on bbc news, hardtalk.

welcome to hardtalk with me, zeinab badawi. it has been a well—used mantra during the covid pandemic — no—one is safe anywhere in the world until everyone is safe everywhere. well, the reality is far from this, particularly in africa. the continent has received only a fraction of the vaccine doses it needs for its 1.2 billion population. it's gotjust over a0 million doses. and the international scheme africa is relying on to obtain covid—19 vaccines cannot secure enough supplies because of a global shortage. meanwhile, some richer nations have stockpiled enough doses to vaccinate their populations several times over. my guest is the director of the africa centres for disease control and prevention, drjohn nkengasong. does africa have a strategy to tackle covid—19?

drjohn nkengasong, welcome to hardtalk. official figures show that five million cases exist in africa of covid—19, nearly 130,000 deaths. how worried are you? i'm very worried because we are not winning the battle against covid—19 in africa. if you look at our numbers as you already stated, they continue to increase, and several countries are edging towards a third wave of the pandemic now. and many countries have gone through their second wave,

so we are not absolutely winning the battle against covid in africa. are you confident that you know what is going on? i give you one example. the south african finance minister told hardtalk recently, because, of course, south africa has 1.7 million cases, the worst on the continent. he says, "we don't hide facts in south africa. "if you dig much deeper into the statistics "of many other african countries, "you will find hidden facts," he said. do you agree that it could be far worse than you think? there are two things that are in play in africa. for sure, the number of people that have been infected in africa are underestimated now. we know that for sure because of the serologic evidence that we have, which are serious surveys that essentially ask the question, who has been exposed to covid or who is currently exposed to covid? and if you look at a country like nigeria — in lagos, for example, about 23%

of a population of 20 million people have been exposed to the virus, that we know. but the other side of the story is interesting because, for sure, we have not been overwhelmed by a high number of deaths. absolutely, as you stated, 130,000 people have died. even if you multiply that number by two, which is not what we are seeing on the continent now, so there's really a discordance between the number of people that probably have been infected and the fatality of this infection on the continent. all right. so let's look at the treatment, though. a lot of african countries are in a dire state. let's take one, for example, the sudan, with a population of a0 million, and it's got 300 ventilators, a huge need for oxygen. you look at social media, desperate pleas from people wanting help because of their sick relatives. countries recorded 2,600 deaths, but people believe

that the figure is much higher. montasir 0thman, director of the emergency control department at the sudanese ministry of health, says, "at times of peak coronavirus infections, the crisis "of the weak capacity of hospitals in providing "beds, oxygen cylinders and ventilators "becomes clear." can you do anything to help countries like that? we are already doing a lot with the modest resources that we have at the africa centres for disease control and prevention to support countries. just last week, we shipped out almost 700 oxygen concentrators to countries to begin to, continue to make sure that they have consistent supply of oxygen there. but a key thing here, zeinab, is that you do not fix your health systems when you need them, you fix your health systems before you need them. so what you just described, it fits into what we have been saying for long, that, as a continent, we have to invest in revamping

our health systems as a measure of protecting our economies and protecting our people. how often have we heard african leaders such as yourself say we need to fix our health systems? back in 2001, african leaders signed the abuja declaration to say we're going to spend 15% of our annual budget on health. to date, only a few countries have achieved that. you're absolutely right. we look at that and the african union is actually working hard on that issue. as you will recall, president kagame, the president of rwanda, has been named the african champion to mobilise domestic financing for health, because they consider it very critical, and a cornerstone for our development. so, yes, we've not met that threshold of funding of our health systems, but there is work in progress led by president paul kagame.

i mean, do you actually know how many countries have actually met the 15% of annual budget target of the 5a countries in africa ? well, i know there are less than five countries that have met that, and it's unfortunate, but i'm really hoping that the covid crisis, which is unprecedented, will expose the need and the urgency for countries in africa to take that commitment very seriously. because sustainability and development of our health systems do depend on domestic financing, for the interest, for the people of africa. all right — and another thing that the covid—19 vaccine is exposing is that we know that in africa, there are many gender inequalities, and anecdotal evidence is emerging that there is a kind of gender bias in treating men first if there are depleted resources in africa. is that something that you are becoming aware of?

well, we've seen how covid has created and exposed inequalities in each country, between countries and between regions, we have not analysed data to back that up, but we are fully aware that covid has exposed the vulnerabilities and inequities that exist in communities, and i would not be surprised that if data were available, we'll certainly see differences in gender with respect to access to care and treatment for covid. all right. let's look at your wider strategy, because, obviously, africa cdc is part of the african union, and african governments have said that they want to immunise 30% of their populations by the end of this year and 60% by the end of 2022. 0k, to date, the figure is 1%. you're not going to achieve that target by any means, are you? no, at this rate, we are not

going to achieve our target of immunising at least 60% of our population by the end of 2022, for sure. however, we remain optimistic that if our partners and friends of africa begin to release the excess doses of vaccines that are out there, it would be possible to play catch—up and be able to immunise at least 30% of our population by the end of this year and then up to about 60% by the end of next year — but it has to be tied on the goodwill and the need for global cooperation and solidarity to release those vaccines and do them in a timely fashion. we cannot delay, otherwise, as i said earlier, we are not winning the battle against covid in africa. all right, let's just suppose the goodwill is there, and there are many who say it doesn't exist, but you can't get the supply.

we know that india, which is the biggest producer of vaccines, the serum institute in india, india's said, "look, we're going to pause any exports "on covid—19 "because we are battling our own massive crisis here." so where are the vaccines going to come from? that's a very good question. and if you recall, the serum institute in india was only supplying us with the astrazeneca vaccine through the covax facility. at the same time, covax was designed to support the continent with up to about 20% to 30% of our vaccine needs. we as a continent under the leadership of the african union have establish what we call the african vaccine acquisition task team that was designed to complement the efforts of covax and take us to the 60%. so in that arrangement, we have secured 220 million doses of thejohnson & johnson vaccine. so any country in africa who wants to acquire vaccines needs to go to the platform, the platform that we established at the african

union, to make a request for the vaccines. so there are 220 million doses of vaccines there, and we believe that because they are single—dose vaccines, they should be able to be given to at least 220 million people. 0k, as you say, you mentioned covax there, which, of course, is the international framework to ensure that the world's poorest countries do get access to vaccines — butjust on the india decision to ban exports of the vaccine, the au special envoy on vaccines, the businessman strive masiyiwa, said he was "beyond anger" at the decision and said that people had been "let down". are you angry or sympathetic with the actions that india's taken? the situation in india is very complex. i mean, we've seen an unprecedented situation in india where they cannot even meet their own vaccination needs, i think that is clear — but we have to step back

and say, and recognise that maybe, and just maybe, the strategy that we had with respect to making india the sole supplier of that particular vaccine was probably not the best. we should have minimised our risk by having several places around the world that could produce that vaccine. nobody anticipated the situation in india. so you're not angry, you're not angry like strive masiyiwa. was he wrong to say that he was beyond anger, then? i think the situation is very concerning, and it's not necessarily about being angry. it is very concerning that because of the situation in india, we are not, as a continent, going to meet our vaccination needs by the end of this year, which was heavily reliant on supplies from the serum institute in india. so i'm deeply concerned with that scenario. all right. so you've talked about how you're looking at other vaccines, notjust astrazeneca, which is produced mostly in india, you've said, and gavi, the international vaccine alliance, which is

backing the covax scheme, has also said it's considering a number of options to make up the jab shortfall to lower—income countries, mostly in africa, by building a wider portfolio of 10 to 12 vaccines. is that a good idea, do you think, is that a strategy you back? i think it's a strategy that i believe has been there since the beginning of the initiative, that is the creation of the covax mechanism. what we need now very urgently is again a redistribution of existing vaccines. this pandemic offers a unique opportunity to show global cooperation and solidarity, which has not been there with respect to distribution of vaccines. so whether covax has 12 vaccines or not, we know for sure that there are enough vaccines out there that could be distributed quickly to end this pandemic. all right. well, the imf said at the recent virtual g20 health summit precisely

that, that countries with sufficient vaccine supplies could afford to donate a billion vaccines while still prioritising their own populations. so is that happening, though, and is it happening soon enough, in your opinion? well, we are very encouraged by the news that we heard from the global health summit last week in rome, where several countries pledged that they were going to redistribute their vaccines, their excess vaccines — but that needs to happen quickly, because this is a very unprecedented, unpredictable virus that spreads very quickly, and if we do not vaccinate at speed and at scale, then we will be playing catch—up to beat this virus. so we welcome the news that we heard last week from the global health summit, but want that to happen quickly. but is it happening quickly, or do you think that this global cooperation that you say

we need is being undermined by the lack of action at a speedy rate? no, absolutely. i don't think anyone watching this space for one and a half years now will say that global cooperation has lived up to expectations. we've said all the good things, all the right things in the pulpit, but we've failed to exercise that global cooperation to the maximum where it was needed, and it was needed when vaccines were available, but i remain hopeful that the news coming out of the global health summit in rome will change the situation, and countries will begin to recognise that we are in this together and we have to come out together or we all fail together. how did we get to this situation, do you think, where rich countries bought up nearly 90% of global supplies

of the covid vaccine? the president, cyril ramaphosa, of south africa, has talked of vaccine apartheid. is he right, is that a term that you recognise and that you share that sentiment? i share that sentiment because, clearly, again, the statistics you indicated at the start of this conversation speak to that, there's clearly been a vaccine apartheid that we need to end for the collective interests of humanity so that we vaccinate everybody almost at the same time. there are three principles that should guide a vaccination programme — fairness, speed and skill. unless we do those three things simultaneously, we are not going to succeed in winning the battle against this pandemic. all right. well, one other way to win it is, why doesn't africa

make its own vaccines? i'll tell you what patrick soon—shiong, a south african—born medical practitioner and entrepreneur, is pushing for vaccine manufacturing on the continent. he says, "it is very clear that until africa builds "capacity, that it will always be dependent as second—class "citizens of the world for vaccines." he's right, isn't he? he is absolutely right. absolutely right, and we are taking measures to address that. 0n the 12th and 13th of april, we hosted — we, the africa cdc and the african union — hosted a large meeting to discuss just that. and there are two outcomes of that meeting. first of all, with the launch of the partnership for african vaccine manufacturing, that president tshisekedi, as the chair of the african union and president of the democratic republic of congo, announced, and i'm very encouraged that last week at the global health summit, the european union announced a commitment of 1.2 billion to support that partnership for vaccine

manufacturing in africa. unless, as patrick said, africa begins to manufacture vaccines and reverse that situation, which says that we import 99% of our vaccines and make only 1% of our vaccines, we'll continue to be extremely vulnerable, as we have seen in this scenario here. so that scenario doesn't work for our health security. we have to reverse that and begin to produce vaccines on the continent. our strategy, and our goal and aspiration, is that by 20110, the continent should be able to produce at least 60% of its vaccines. that is what is going to put us on course to begin to be independent from outside resources to protect our health security. all right. so where do you stand on the demands for waivers on intellectual property? because there are those who say, look, for drugs as important as vaccines for covid, we need

to have waivers. the united states is backing this. the european union is saying, hm, we're not so sure. do you want to see the waivers? absolutely. the african union have expressed a formal position with respect to the un, which is the position that supported the south african position, which was the call for the waiver to intellectual property. i think that position is my position as well. and notjust europe, but any person who is sitting on... ..who has the ability to produce or to argue for waivers should do so and be on the right side of history. unless we do that, the crisis we are facing is unprecedented and it speaks to the need to come together as humanity to solve this problem, and a temporary waiver of intellectual property is the right way to go. but you also need the raw materials for the vaccines and there's a huge shortage

of those. so waiving the intellectual property rights is not going to be the solution, is it, in the short term? it's not going to be the solution in the short term, but it's the beginning of, at least, a short—term to a long—term solution that we need to embark on that journey. look, countries like india, china, thailand started somewhere, and the somewhere was that it took them at least 15 years to 20 years to be able to produce vaccines as care, and that is where we find ourselves as a continent. as we speak, there are several sites on the continent that have the capacity and capabilities of producing vaccines like the pasteur institute in senegal. south africa, egypt, morocco and tunisia, they all have that capacity and know how to produce, but they need to be supported, both in terms of technology transfer, both in terms of ip waiver, and in terms of really appropriate partnerships to enable them to move quickly into the areas of vaccine manufacturing there. so we are notjust a continent

that we do not have anything, we do have the resources to do that, but it requires the appropriate partnerships. all right. look, you're director of the africa centres for "diseases" control, not just covid. and you've got people like peter sands, executive director of the global fund, saying, "i'm worried about the knock—on impact of the covid pandemic in terms "of incremental malaria deaths that may well exceed "the direct impact of covid—19." you've got other diseases that you're having to manage in africa. we've seen hiv testing fall over a0%, tb referrals by nearly 60%. how worried are you about the knock—on effect on treating other illnesses? like peter, i'm very worried. we all know in the history of pandemics that most often the consequences of the pandemic is less than the knock—on effect on other diseases, that many more people who actually

die due to the covid than from covid infection, like dying from hiv, tb, malaria and others, so it's clearly a cause of concern. when we designed a continental strategy last year, in january and february, we were very clear that one pillar of that was harm. we're very focused on making sure that covid do not harm other programmes, which unfortunately, it's doing so now. we should always remember that we're still living with another pandemic in africa, which is the hiv pandemic, which has killed over 30 million people over the course of a0 years, and we cannot minimise the impact of covid on those other programmes, that is the tb, the malaria and hiv. ok, when you see the resources, the money, the effort that's been put into finding vaccines for covid—19, and yet, malaria, which is the biggest killer in africa, nearly half a million people die every year, mostly in africa, mostly children under five.

and yet we still don't have a malaria vaccine. do you think that a rich person's disease gets more resources from big pharma, the pharmaceutical companies, poor people's disease tends to get overlooked? i think the progress we have seen with covid evolution and vaccine development speaks to evolving technology and speaks also to the cooperation in science there. now, that cooperation has always been there for malaria, but malaria is a more challenging pathogen to look for a vaccine, just like hiv, to identify a vaccine for. and i don't think it's necessarily because of the neglect of investment in science and technology there, but it'sjust the challenging nature of those pathogens there — but i really hope that with the development and advances we've seen in covid, especially with the messenger rna,

that that technology can actually begin to have a ripple effect on our ability to manufacture malaria vaccines, hiv vaccines and other vaccines that are more specific to africa and the developing world. 0k, finally, drjohn nkengasong, ayoade alakija, co—chair of the africa vaccine delivery alliance, says, "no—one will help us in africa if we do not attempt "to help ourselves. "it is time to stop feeding off the scraps from the table "of high—income countries." this whole debate goes wider than health, doesn't it? i agree entirely with her. we have to take our own health security and developmental agenda into our hands — and we have seen how devastating a disease can be on our ability for the continent to meet its continental aspirations, including the continental free trade agreement and other programmes that the african union has put on the table to meet our agenda 2063. so clearly, our health security should be central to our developmental agenda.

drjohn nkengasong, director of the africa centres for disease control and prevention, thank you very much indeed for coming on hardtalk. thank you. hello there, it was a bit cooler on thursday. we still managed temperatures into the low 20s in northern scotland. highest temperatures were across east anglia and the south—east — 25 degrees in suffolk. you may not find temperatures quite as high as that in the next couple of days but for many it will still be dry and there will be warm spells of sunshine, as well. the fly in the ointment is all this cloud we have kept a close eye on moving up

from northern parts of spain across france, and threatening to bring some showers across east anglia and the south—east. we have seen more cloud coming in across eastern parts of england for a while, hence the higher temperatures early in the morning. some clear skies for many other areas, quite a cool start for wales and the south—west. for many on friday, it will be dry with some sunshine, the threat of these showers coming up as the cloud thickens to east anglia and the south—east and already more cloud coming into northern ireland — that will be spilling its way into western parts of scotland. it could bring one or two showers towards the highlands. not as warm as it was thursday for northern scotland. much of the country dry with sunny spells, top temperature of 19 degrees. a couple of degrees lower in northern ireland and already more cloud. it will be brighter towards the east. a good deal of sunshine for many parts of england and wales — strong sunshine and high uv — but more cloud for east anglia and the south—east for a time through the day and a threat of some showers and wetter weather towards kent and east

sussex. a chance we could see a little rain in london during the cricket at lord's but it looks dry on saturday and sunday with some sunshine, as well. that threat of showers pulls away overnight and the cloud will break early on saturday morning. then we look into the atlantic and this is where our weather is slowly coming from for the weekend. that weak weather front will bring more cloud to western parts of the uk, it could deliver some heavy showers in the afternoon across northern ireland and western parts of scotland. drier elsewhere with more in the way of sunshine towards the south east, and temperatures climbing up to around 23 celsius or so. heading into the second half of the weekend, probably starting sunny in many areas, temperatures rising and bubbling up a little bit of cloud, could squeeze out a few showers. a very low risk. the sunniest skies likely to be continuing around coastal areas and temperatures on sunday similar to those of saturday.

this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. arrested belarus journalist roman protasevich has appeared again on state television tea rfully confessing to organising anti—government protests. his family say he was clearly speaking under duress. leading hong kong pro—democracy activist chow hang—tung has been detained by police as the city braces itself for protests on the anniversary of the tiananmen square massacre. the prime minister of nepal makes an urgent plea to the uk prime minister borisjohnson to provide vaccines for his country, as it undergoes a severe second wave of covid—19. supersonic flights could return to the skies as a major airline conditionally agrees to buy jets capable of flying at speeds twice as fast as modern planes