Ghana has become the first country to receive coronavirus vaccines through the Covax vaccine-sharing initiative.

The World Health Organization (WHO) programme aims to ensure that vaccines are shared fairly among all nations.

Covax is aiming to deliver about two billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines globally by the end of the year.

A total of 600,000 doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University arrived in Ghana’s capital Accra on Wednesday.

In a joint statement, the WHO and the United Nations children’s fund (Unicef) said it was a “momentous occasion”.

“The arrival of the Covid-19 vaccines into Ghana is critical in bringing the pandemic to an end,” they said.

The West African country has recorded more than 80,700 cases of coronavirus and 580 deaths since the pandemic began. These numbers are believed to fall short of the actual toll because of low levels of testing.

The WHO and Unicef said the shipment represented “part of the first wave of Covid vaccines headed to several low and middle-income countries”.

What is Covax?

So far, richer countries have been able to buy far more Covid jabs than poorer ones.

The Covax scheme was set up by the WHO, the Gavi vaccines alliance and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to try to prevent poorer countries from being pushed to the back of the queue.

The programme is designed so that richer countries buying vaccines agree to help finance access for poorer nations, too.

It hopes to deliver more than two billion doses to people in 190 countries in less than a year. In particular, it wants to ensure 92 poorer countries will receive access to vaccines at the same time as 98 wealthier countries.

Most African countries are intended recipients of Covax, but a number of them like Senegal have been making provisions for vaccines outside the initiative.

The scheme has so far raised $6bn (£4.3bn), but says it needs at least another $2bn to meet its target for 2021.

Covax has faced some criticism for not moving quickly enough. One WHO board member, Austria’s Dr Clemens Martin Auer, said it had been slow to secure vaccine deals and deliver doses to countries.

The joint statement on Wednesday said the shipment to Ghana represented “the beginning of what should be the largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history”.

Italy’s ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Congo has been killed in an attack in the east of the country, its foreign ministry has said.

Luca Attanasio, 43, died in hospital on Monday after the United Nations convoy he was travelling in came under fire near Goma, a statement said.

The convoy reportedly belonged to the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP).

An Italian military police officer travelling with the envoy and a Congolese driver were also killed.

“It is with deep sadness that the foreign ministry confirms the death, today in Goma, of the Italian ambassador,” the ministry’s statement democratic republic of Congo. Ambassador. Italy. United Nations.

The attack in North Kivu province is believed to have been an attempted kidnapping, according to officials at the nearby Virunga National Park.

What do we know about the attack?

Mr Attanasio was a passenger in one of two vehicles travelling about 15km (nine miles) north of Goma when the attack happened on Monday morning.

The vehicles were “ambushed by a group of six attackers, who fired warning shots before taking all the passengers into the Virunga National Park”, the governor of North Kivu province, Carly Nzanzu, told the BBC.

“That’s when a patrol of Virunga National Park rangers intervened and managed to free four people,” he said.

“Unfortunately, before they ran away, the assailants shot the ambassador and his bodyguard, and they killed the Congolese driver at the start of the attack,” the governor added.

The WFP said Mr Attanasio was travelling from Goma to visit a “schools programme” in the village of Rutshuru in eastern DR Congo.

“The attack… occurred on a road that had previously been cleared for travel without security escorts,” the Rome-based agency said in a statement.

The two other fatalities were military police officer Vittorio Iacovacci, 30, who had been serving at the embassy since last September, and their Congolese driver, whose name has not yet been officially released.

A number of other passengers were reportedly injured.

It is not clear who was behind the attack, but the interior ministry has accused a Hutu rebel group known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

Many armed groups are known to operate in and around the park and militias clash regularly in the east of the country, where a large UN force is struggling to keep the peace.

The DRC army has deployed troops to help search the area.

All schools in England are expected to reopen on 8 March as part of the prime minister’s “cautious” four-part plan to lift the coronavirus lockdown.

Boris Johnson will share his finalised “road map” with ministers later, before unveiling it to MPs and then leading a news conference at 19:00 GMT.

It is understood that up to six people or two households will be allowed to meet outdoors from 29 March.

Rules will be lifted in phases and four conditions must be met at each stage.

It is understood that the first phase will be split into two parts:

• Phase one, part one (from 8 March) – All schools expected to open with outdoor after-school sports and activities allowed. Recreation in a public space – such as a park – could be allowed between two people, meaning they would be allowed to sit down for a coffee, drink or picnic
• Phase one, part two (from 29 March) – Outdoor gatherings of either six people or two households are expected be allowed, including in private gardens. Outdoor sports facilities such as tennis or basketball courts could reopen and organised adult and children’s sport, such as grassroots football, could also return

Also on 8 March, new rules will allow each care home resident in England to have one regular visitor, who they can hold hands with.

And from 29 March it is also understood that people will once again be able to travel out of their areas – although guidance will likely still recommend staying local, and overnight stays will not be permitted.

Data will be used to inform “every step” of lifting restrictions, Mr Johnson said.

“We will be cautious about this approach so that we do not undo the progress we have achieved so far and the sacrifices each and every one of you has made to keep yourself and others safe,” he added.

The four conditions that must be met at each phase of lockdown easing are:

1. The coronavirus vaccine programme continues to go to plan
2. Evidence shows vaccines are sufficiently reducing the number of people dying with the virus or needing hospital treatment
3. Infection rates do not risk a surge in hospital admissions
4. New variants of the virus do not fundamentally change the risk of lifting restrictions

Downing Street said the four tests are currently being met so the first step of lockdown easing in England will proceed as planned on 8 March.

The first stage of easing restrictions will be across the whole of England, Downing Street added, due to the current uniform spread of the virus.

MPs will be given the chance to vote on the regulations enabling England’s road map in the coming weeks.

Former Governor of Imo State, Rochas Okorocha, is currently at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Owerri.

He was arrested for allegedly leading armed men to break into an estate the Imo State Government seized from his wife.

Some persons sustained injuries while many vehicles were vandalised during the crisis that broke out before his arrest.

Below are pictures of  someone injured the the incident and the destroyed v

A vehicle destroyed during the clash

One of the injured victims of the clash