COVID-19 WRAP | SA records 965 new confirmed Covid-19 cases
March 28 2021 - 22:19
SA records 965 new confirmed Covid-19 cases
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases has risen to 1,545,431 with 965 new cases recorded over the past 24 hours.
The national death toll is 52,663 with 1,471,899 total recoveries.
Dr Zweli Mkhize also confirmed SA has vaccinated 231,605 health-workers under the Sisonke Protocol.
March 28 2021 - 20:12
US administers 143 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines - CDC
The US has administered 143,462,691 doses of Covid-19 vaccines as of Sunday morning and distributed 180,646,465 doses, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Sunday.
The tally is for Moderna, Pfizer/BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson's vaccines as of 6am on Sunday, the agency said.
According to the tally posted on March 27, the agency had administered 140,180,735 doses of the vaccines and distributed 180,644,125 doses. The agency said 93,631,163 people had received at least one dose while 51,593,564 people are fully vaccinated as of Sunday.
A total of 7,715,923 vaccine doses have been administered in long-term care facilities, the agency said.
Reuters
March 28 2021 - 17:44
More than 30 million Britons have received first Covid-19 vaccine dose
A total of 30,151,287 people have received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine in Britain, representing around 57% of all adults, the health ministry said on Sunday
.A total of 3,527,481 people have been given their second doses.
"The vaccine is saving lives and is our route out of this pandemic," said health minister Matt Hancock.
Reuters
March 28 2021 - 14:37
School sport matches and cultural activities like choir practice allowed again but with no spectators
School sport matches including provincial and national school sport tournaments may resume, but without spectators and with various Covid-19 controls in place.
The basic education department gazetted the new regulations on Saturday.
Other activities including physical education, extra-curricular activities and interschool, district, provincial and national school sport tournaments also received the go ahead.
March 28 2021 - 10:22
UK has planned for second Covid-19 vaccine doses, says minister
Britain has planned to ensure second Covid-19 doses are administered on time, culture minister Oliver Dowden said on Sunday amid concerns over supplies due to friction with the European Union.
"In all of our planning, we have factored in getting that second dose of the vaccine," he told Sky News.
When asked about a Mail on Sunday newspaper report that the Moderna vaccine would be deployed in Britain for the first time in mid-April, Dowden said: "We do expect Moderna to come later this month."
Reuters
March 28 2021 - 10:11
Russia reports 9,088 new coronavirus cases, 336 deaths
Russia reported 9,088 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, including 1,878 in Moscow, which brought the national tally to 4,519,832.
The Russian coronavirus task force said that 336 more deaths of Covid-19 patients had been confirmed in the past 24 hours, taking Russia's official coronavirus death toll to 97,740.
Reuters
March 28 2021 - 9:38
Ukraine's daily Covid-19 hospitalisations rise to record high
A record number of Ukrainians were taken to hospital with Covid-19 over the past 24 hours, health ministry data showed on Sunday as the country grapples with a surge in infections.
Health minister Maksym Stepanov said on Facebook 5,052 people had been hospitalised in the past day compared to the previous record of 4,887 people registered on March 17.
Ukraine also reported 11,932 new infections in the past 24 hours and 203 coronavirus related deaths.
The number of daily hospitalisations did not exceed 2,000 during the peak of the pandemic in late 2020 but has begun to rise in recent weeks. Ukraine registered a record daily high of 18,132 new cases and 362 coronavirus-related deaths last week.
The minister has linked the worsening of the situation to the spread of the coronavirus variant first found in Britain, which was detected in Ukraine in late February, amid a slow pace of vaccination.
Reuters
March 28 2021 - 9:25
Salim Abdool Karim: SA’s Covid-19 tzar proud of the job done
Just days after his appointment to head SA’s Covid-19 ministerial advisory committee (MAC) last year, acclaimed epidemiologist and scientist professor Salim Abdool Karim was asked by health minister Zweli Mkhize to explain the epidemic to a parliamentary portfolio committee.
Mkhize’s request would set in motion the birth of “the slides” as Abdool Karim went about educating the nation about the virus. “I don’t know if they could see my slides because it was during those early days with Zoom, but the minister thought it was a very good presentation and everyone had benefited from it. He asked me if I could do the presentation again the next day for the NatJoints [National Joint Operations and Intelligence Structure on Covid-19] and I said sure,” Abdool Karim said this week.
March 28 2021 - 9:04
Boffins say no third wave, just yet
Some are panicking that we’re heading into the third wave of SA’s Covid-19 outbreak, while others are acting as if masks and social distancing count for nothing. But experts cautioned this week that neither approach is correct.
Professor Salim Abdool Karim, outgoing head of the ministerial advisory committee, told the Sunday Times there was “no indication of an upward trajectory compatible with a third wave”.
March 28 2021 - 8:37
Saudi Arabia daily Covid-19 cases climb back above 500
Daily coronavirus cases in Saudi Arabia have risen above 500 for the first time since October and the health ministry on Saturday blamed the increase on gatherings and laxity in complying with preventive measures such as social distancing.
The Gulf state recorded 510 new infections on Friday and 502 on Saturday to take its total tally to 387,794 cases with 6,643 deaths. More than 200 of the cases were in the capital Riyadh.
The kingdom had seen daily infections fall to below 100 in January from a peak of more than 4,000 in June.
Reuters
March 28 2021 - 7:53
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido says he tested positive for Covid-19
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said on Saturday that he has tested positive for the coronavirus and has mild symptoms.
Guaido said on his Twitter account that he is in isolation and expressed concern about the number of infections in the country.
"I want to express my solidarity with the thousands of Venezuelans suffering during the pandemic," Guaido wrote on Twitter. "Today we all have a relative or acquaintance affected by Covid-19."
Dozens of countries have backed Guaido as interim president of Venezuela following Maduro's re-election in 2018 in a vote Western governments called a sham.
The opposition leader added that he considered the arrival of Covid-19 vaccines to Venezuela urgent. Venezuela has received 700,000 doses, of which 500,000 were donated by China's Sinopharm and the rest are Russia's Sputnik V.
Opposition leaders are separately negotiating to buy vaccines via the Covax programme using funds frozen in the US.
Venezuela's official figures as of Saturday showed 155,663 cases of coronavirus and 1,555 deaths, though opposition critics say the actual figure is likely higher due to limited testing.
Reuters
March 28 2021 - 7:48
Germany's confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 17,176
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 17,176 to 2,772,401, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday.
The reported death toll rose by 90 to 75,870.
Reuters
March 28 2021 - 7:17
El Salvador to receive 1 million vaccines from China on Sunday
El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele said on Saturday that 1 million Sinovac vaccines against Covid-19 would arrive in the Central American country early on Sunday from China.
Writing on Twitter, Bukele said the vaccines were already en route and part of a purchase El Salvador made with Sinovac.
Reuters
March 28 2021 - 7:09
China reports 8 new Covid-19 cases
China reported eight new Covid-19 cases on March 27, compared with 12 new infections the previous day, the country's national health authority said on Sunday.
The National Health Commission said in a statement that all of the new cases were imported infections originating from overseas.
The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell to 19 from 27 cases a day earlier.
The total number of confirmed cases in mainland China now stands at 90,167 while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,636.
Reuters
March 28 2021 - 6:51
'A recipe for sickness and death': Easter 'plan' fear amid Covid-19
The government is considering allowing outdoor gatherings of up to 5,000 people and indoor gatherings of up to 1,000 to accommodate religious gatherings over the coming Easter weekend.
It is also toying with the idea of restricting or barring alcohol sales over Easter and banning interprovincial travel to limit the movement of people between provinces, according to two senior sources privy to discussions that took place in the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) this week.
Though nothing has yet been decided, the Sunday Times understands that a number of options were placed before the NCCC.
March 28 2021 - 6:14
Covid-19 vaccine rollout: 200,000-a-day jabs plan unveiled
The government has finally unveiled details of its vaccine rollout plan, which sets an ambitious target of inoculating up to 200,000 people a day.
More than 2,000 vaccination sites - including stadiums, shopping centres, churches and hospitals - have been identified. The rollout is due to kick off in mid-May, following the expected arrival of the first batch of 2.8-million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses at the end of April.
March 28 2021 - 6:03
Panama to impose temporary ban on travellers from South America
Panama's government said on Saturday it would from next week temporarily suspend the entry of people to the country who have been in South America in the previous 15 days after local health authorities detected a case of the Brazilian strain of Covid-19.
The health ministry said the restrictions would apply from Wednesday, March 31, and that afterwards only Panamanian citizens or residents would be allowed into the country.
Between Sunday and Wednesday, all people arriving in Panama from South America, or who have been there in the previous 15 days, would have to do a Covid-19 test before registering with migration authorities, the ministry said.
Reuters