On this edition of Africa 54, Malawi destroys more than 19,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines that expired 18 days after arriving, despite assurances from the African Union and World Health Organization that the vaccines were safe until mid-July; Zimbabwe detects the first cases of the new coronavirus variant that emerged in India.

A54 Sports: Host Patriots of Rwanda earned a slot into the next round of the Basketball Africa League with their second win of the tournament, a 78-72 victory over GNBC of Madagascar in a closely fought game Wednesday at the Kigali arena. After losing their opening game Monday, Mozambique’s Ferroviario de Maputo revived their chances in the BAL with an 88-74 win over AS Douanes of Senegal Wednesday at the Kigali stadium in Rwanda.