Africa Business Radio

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the United States is providing the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children’s Fund and five other global aid groups an additional $580m to fight COVID-19. The pledge came as health officials in the US say the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus now accounts for 73.2 per cent of new cases over the past week, and as the country’s first known death linked to the variant is reported in the state of Texas. The WHO also said the Omicron variant of the coronavirus is spreading faster than the Delta strain and is causing infections in people already vaccinated or who have recovered from COVID-19.