Covid-19 Updates

Oprah Winfrey donates $10 million during coronavirus crisis

The Queen of All Media is the Queen of All Goodwill during the coronavirus crisis. Oprah Winfrey has revealed on Instagram that she’ll give a million-dollar donation to the charity America’s Food Fund, and 9 million dollars will be distributed to various coronavirus relief organizations around the country. On Wednesday, the GoFundMe-powered nonprofit organization was established by Leonardo DiCaprio, Apple and the Ford Foundation, among others, and is focused on fighting food insecurity.

DiCaprio and Powell Jobs together donated 5 million dollars, one-third of the fund’s 15 million dollar goal, with Apple contributing an additional $5 million and the Ford Foundation giving 1 million dollars. Twenty hours after its founding, the fund raised 12.4 million dollars.

As part of her AppleTV+ series “Oprah Talks COVID-19,” the media maven surprised World Central Kitchen’s Chef Jose Andres and Feeding America CEO Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, with a million-dollar donation to America’s Food Fund. “I know I can trust my money in your hands,” she told the altruistic philanthropists.

Oprah Winfrey

“I was struck by the work these organizations are doing and while everyone’s priority right now is to stay safer at home, I know there are many of us looking for ways to help,” she said.

“I believe that America’s Food Fund will be a powerful way $to make a difference for our neighbours in need and am committing 1 million to this fund to support those facing food insecurity. I am donating $10 million overall to help Americans during this pandemic in cities across the country and in areas where I grew up.

Born in the rural town of Kosciusko, Mississippi, Winfrey grew up in Nashville, Tennessee Her donations will also benefit Minnie’s Food Pantry in Plano, Texas, and Boys and Girls Club in Kosciusko with others to come.

In other news – French doctors apologise for suggesting COVID-19 treatment be tested in Africa

A French doctor apologised on Friday for suggesting a possible treatment for COVID-19 should be tested in Africa, after the remarks sparked an outcry on social media. Jean-Paul Mira, the head of the intensive care unit at the Cochin hospital in Paris, made the comments on Wednesday during an interview on French television channel LCI with the research director of France’s national health institute, Inserm.

covid-19 Coronavirus

The research director, Camille Locht, was discussing the BCG tuberculosis vaccine, which is being trialled in several European countries and Australia against COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus. Mira asked: “If I could be provocative, should we not do this study in Africa where there are no masks, treatment or intensive care, a little bit like it’s done, by the way, for certain AIDS studies or with prostitutes? Read more

Source: ghanagh