AFRAQ21 to go ahead despite Covid
Aquaculture Africa 2021 is to go ahead as a physical event in Alexandria, Egypt from December 11-14, the African Chapter of the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) said this week.
The decision follows an assessment of the Covid health and safety situation in Egypt, and approval by the Egyptian government and the Alexandrina Bibliotheca convention centre where the event will be held.
“WAS and AFRAQ21 Conference Management is cognisant of the need to hold the Conference under Covid-19 health and safety protocols as stipulated by the government of Egypt as well as the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, to ensure safety of Conference attendees,” the organisers said in a press release.
Those wishing to attend can register here, and those wishing to submit an abstract or full paper for presentation at the conference can do so here. The submission deadline has been extended until September 30.
Vaccine shortage
Participants are being urged to get vaccinated to reduce Covid-19 risks, although that might not be easy to do. The New York Times today reported that Africa was now in the deadliest stage of the pandemic, with the Delta variant sweeping across the continent and with Namibia and Tunisia reporting more deaths than any other country.
Only about 1% of Africans have been fully vaccinated, largely because rich countries had bought up most vaccine doses long into the future. Hundreds of millions of shots from a global vaccine-sharing effort have failed to materialise.
