COVID-19 WRAP | SA records more than 5,000 new Covid-19 cases for third straight day
Image: REUTERS/Nathalia Angarita
June 04 2021 - 22:23
SA records more than 5,000 new Covid-19 cases for third straight day
SA recorded 5,668 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours — the third day in a row that the 5,000-mark has been breached.
This after 5,360 new daily infections were announced on Thursday and 5,782 on Wednesday. The majority of the new infections over the three-day period have been in Gauteng.
There have now been 1,686,041 total Covid-19 cases recorded across SA since the outbreak of the coronavirus in March last year.
June 04 2021 - 20:32
Fears in Limpopo at numbers of elderly people testing positive for Covid-19 at old age homes
The social development department in Limpopo has raised concerns over the number of new Covid-19 infections at two private old age homes in the Waterberg district.
Three elderly people recently died of Covid-19 complications at Die Oog old age home in Mookgophong, where 20 people also tested positive. There were also 25 positive tests at the Rusoord old age home in Bela Bela.
Social development MEC Nkakareng Rakgoale said social workers have been dispatched to the area, where they have started with the provision of psychosocial support and advice to the people infected and affected by the virus.
june 04 2021 - 18:47
Lioness dies from Covid-19 in Indian zoo
A nine-year old Asiatic lion has died from the coronavirus in a state-run zoo on the outskirts of the south Indian city of Chennai, the zoo said on Friday.
There have been various coronavirus cases in animals, including two white white tiger cubs thought to have died of Covid-19 in neighbouring Pakistan and lions also testing positive in Spain and two other cities of India.
"A 9-year old lioness Neela succumbed to the disease on the evening of 3rd June," the Arignar Anna zoological park said of the latest incident.
June 04 2021 - 18:45
Zimbabwe says 'don't panic' as some centres run out of Covid-19 vaccines
Zimbabwe's government said on Friday citizens should not panic because it had enough Covid-19 vaccines for those needing a second shot after some centres ran out of doses this week and turned people away.
The southern African nation, which aims to vaccinate 10 million people by the end of the year, has to date received just over 1.735 million doses from Sinopharm, Sinovac and Covaxin.
Some 684,164 people have received a first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine while another 364,240 got their second shot.
June 04 2021 - 17:39
Vaccinations to start for teachers from next week: sources
Teachers, cleaners and other support staff at the more than 25,000 public schools in SA will be vaccinated against Covid-19 from next week.
According to impeccable sources, the impending vaccination of teachers was confirmed by the acting director-general of basic education, Granville Whittle, during a meeting with teacher unions on Friday.
The unions were told that basic education minister Angie Motshekga and her health counterpart Zweli Mkhize would be announcing the vaccine rollout for teachers over the weekend.
June 04 2021 - 16:27
Makhura worried as Covid-19 hospital admissions increase in Gauteng
The rate of hospital admissions as a result of the increase in Covid-19 cases was a cause for concern, Gauteng premier David Makhura said on Friday.
He was addressing a media briefing of the Gauteng command council on Friday. It was revealed that there were 2,956 Covid-19 admissions in Gauteng hospitals as of Thursday. Of those, 753 were in public hospitals and 2,203 were in private health facilities.
“Over the past three weeks, evidence showed we have sustained increases in the number of infections. The spike is increasing. We are concerned about increases in hospital admissions,” he said.
June 04 2021 - 14:34
Covid-19 keeps high-spending US tourists from D-Day beaches on anniversary
Canadian-born Eric Leboeuf would usually spend the anniversary of the D-Day beach landings guiding North American tourists in a vintage military jeep to the sites where allied forces invaded France to drive out Nazi Germany in World War Two.
For the second year running however, the Covid-19 crisis will be keeping away the tourists who drive the local economy along this 80-km (50-mile) stretch of the northern French coast.
For many in the industry, it is the big-spending North American tourists who offer the biggest prize.
Leboeuf's company, the Gold Beach Company, has depended on government aid for its survival after tough Covid-19 border restrictions wiped out 80% of its business. Only he and the two founders remain on the payroll, down from 10 in early 2020.
"I can't wait to get my first Americans back on tour," Leboeuf told Reuters at the wheel of a restored US army Willys Jeep."
Taking these small streets through the Normandy countryside, it reminds them of those movies or documentaries that they’ve watched over the years. To them it’s like a dream to do this in a vehicle from 1943.
From the D-Day tour companies in the north to campsites in the Dordogne, businesses in the battered tourism industry are in a race against time to secure bookings for a second summer as new coronavirus variants cloud the outlook
Reuters
June 04 2021 - 14:00
How Covid-19 transformed the future of medicine | Daniel Kraft
The pandemic forced the world to work together like never before and, with unprecedented speed, bore a new age of health and medical innovation. Physician-scientist Daniel Kraft explains how breakthroughs and advancements like AI-infused antiviral discoveries and laboratory-level diagnostic tools accessible via smartphones are paving the way for a more democratized, connected and data-driven future of medicine and personalized care.
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June 04 2021 - 13:53
Berlin pole dancing club turns into Covid test centre under government scheme
Eugen Harf had to close his pole dancing club Angels in Berlin when the pandemic hit, but in April his luck changed when the government threw him and thousands of other shuttered businesses a lifeline.
Under a subsidised scheme that went into effect on March 1, the German government pays businesses to privately operate coronavirus test centres - an income opportunity as lockdown restrictions ease and demand for tests surged.
At Angels, swabs are administered by Harf's staff, including dancers, in the club's red padded leather cubicles decked out with golden mirrors and chandeliers. Harf said the government was paying him 18 euros ($21.80) for each test.
"It's a huge incentive for businesses like ours," he said at his club, which has a pole dancing stage and heaven-themed bar. Outside, a white banner saying "Corona Test-to-go Station" in red letters hung next to the club's black and gold sign.
As the economy gradually started to reopen this spring, a negative test no older than 24 hours was required to dine at restaurants, sit at cafes or shop in non-essential stores, leading to a surge in demand for tests.
In Berlin alone, the number of test-to-go facilities grew from 400 in early March to almost 1,600 this week, according to the city government. This is in addition to 26 government-run testing centres in the German capital.
Harf started with eight tests a day, but as infection numbers fell sharply in mid-May and outdoor dining and malls reopened for anyone with a negative test, demand surged to about 120 tests a day.
A 20-year-old student who gave her stage name Lika worked as a dancer at Angels before the pandemic hit was delighted when Harf asked her to work at the test centre.
Clad in a medical gown, visor, mask and gloves, she now spends her shifts at the club administering rapid antigen Covid tests.
"The thought of returning to this place after so many months of lockdown and help people engage in activities like shopping and eating out made me so happy," she said.
Reuters
June 04 2021 - 11:05
Paramedic strike & hitting the million mark: 5 things you need to know about the vaccine rollout this week
More than a million people have been vaccinated in SA under the Sisonke protocol and second phase of the government’s mass vaccination campaign.
To date, a total of 1.12 million have received at least their first doses of the vaccine.
June 04 2021 - 11:00
Thailand says has enough supplies for start of Covid-19 vaccinations
Thailand will have its promised amount of Covid-19 vaccines for use during this month, a health official said on Friday, amid supply concern and public anxiety ahead of a so far chaotic mass immunisation drive.
Some hospitals have postponed vaccination appointments citing lack of supply, the hospitals said, with one group saying the delay would affect nearly 40,000 people, just days ahead of the start of Thailand's main vaccination programme.
That drive depends on 61 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to be made locally by a firm owned by Thailand's king, which is making vaccines for use across Southeast Asia.
The Thai government had used the Sinovac brand for early inoculations but this week said 11 million more of those had been ordered.
"Both AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines will be distributed to hospitals in all province throughout June ... there will be more than 6 million doses," said Kiattaphum Wongrachit, permanent secretary of the health ministry.
Concern about availability has grown as Thailand suffers its deadliest outbreak so far, with only 2.7 million people having received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
The government has been scrambling to source more and the ministry on Friday said it hoped to sign a contract next week for 20 million shots of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
It received 1.8 million AstraZeneca shots on Friday, of 6 million due this month.An additional 200,000 doses of that vaccine have been sourced from South Korea, a health ministry source told Reuters.
Concerns had emerged about the production capacity of royal-owned Siam Bioscience, after the Philippines said its AstraZeneca order had been reduced and delayed.
James Teague, president of AstraZeneca Thailand, said on Friday that its Thai partner was on track in terms of quality control and regular doses would be delivered locally in June, then to Southeast Asian countries from July.
Reuters
June 04 2021 - 10:56
Fauci calls on China to release medical records of Wuhan lab workers
Top US infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has called on China to release the medical records of nine people whose ailments might provide vital clues into whether Covid-19 first emerged as the result of a lab leak, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
"I would like to see the medical records of the three people who are reported to have got sick in 2019. Did they really get sick, and if so, what did they get sick with?" the report quoted Fauci as saying about three of the nine.
The origin of the virus is hotly contested, with US intelligence agencies still examining reports that researchers at a Chinese virology laboratory in Wuhan were seriously ill in 2019 a month before the first Covid-19 cases were reported.
However, Chinese scientists and officials have consistently rejected the lab leak hypothesis, saying the virus could have been circulating in other regions before it hit Wuhan and might have even entered China through imported frozen food shipments or wildlife trading.
A spokesman for China's foreign ministry, Wang Wenbin, declined to comment directly on whether China would release the records of the nine but firmly denied that the laboratory was linked to the outbreak of Covid-19.
At a regular briefing on Friday, he referred to a March 23 statement from the Wuhan Institute of Virology that said no staff or graduates were confirmed to have contracted the virus.
Wang reiterated China's position that reports of a lab leak are a "conspiracy theory."
Financial Times reported that Fauci continues to believe the virus was first transmitted to humans through animals, pointing out that even if the lab researchers did have Covid-19, they could have contracted the disease from the wider population.
Reuters
June 04 2021 - 10:40
Russia says been asked to create Covid vaccine combining Sputnik V, Chinese shot
Russia has been asked to create a vaccine combining its Sputnik V vaccine and a Chinese shot, the Interfax news agency quoted the head of Russia's RDIF sovereign wealth fund as saying on Friday.
Trials for the shot could be conducted in Arab countries, the fund chief Kirill Dmitriev was cited as saying. He gave no indication who had requested the project.
Reuters
June 04 2021 - 10:11
France donates 184,000 AstraZeneca doses to Senegal via COVAX
France has donated 184,000 doses of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine to Senegal through the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility, the programme's sponsors said in a statement on Thursday.
This is the second batch of Covid-19 vaccines Senegal has received through the global scheme, after an initial 324,000 AstraZeneca doses arrived in March.
June 04 2021 - 09:32
Congo faces third wave of coronavirus, says health minister
Democratic Republic of the Congo is facing a third wave of coronavirus infections, with its epicentre in the capital, Kinshasa, one of Africa's most-populous cities, Health Minister Jean-Jacques Mbungani said on Thursday.
June 04 2021 - 08:50
Malaysia warns of rising number of Covid-19 deaths, cases among children
Malaysian health authorities have raised concerns about a growing number of coronavirus deaths and serious cases involving children, after a surge in overall infections forced the Southeast Asian nation into a strict lockdown.
June 04 2021 - 08:46
New Zealand tackles 'vaccine apartheid' with ambitious APEC free-trade plan
New Zealand is pushing Asia-Pacific trade group APEC to remove all tariffs on Covid-19 vaccines and related medical products, but is facing opposition from some members who believe the plan is too ambitious, people familiar with discussions said.
June 04 2021 - 07:29
Johnson & Johnson talking to Taiwan about providing Covid-19 vaccine
Johnson & Johnson said on Friday that it has been in talks with Taiwan about providing its Covid-19 vaccine to the island since last year.
"Johnson & Johnson has been in confidential discussions with the Taiwan Government regarding supply of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine since last year," it said in an emailed statement to Reuters, without giving details.
Reuters
June 04 2021 - 07:15
Covid delays homecoming for 'lost' Jews in India
Before heading to the airport for a new life in Israel, some of the 40 members of the Bnei Menashe community from India's north-eastern Manipur state tested positive for Covid-19, delaying a homecoming 2,700 years in the making.
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June 04 2021 - 07:00
US to share 25 million Covid-19 vaccine doses globally
The White House laid out a plan for the United States to share 25 million surplus COVID-19 vaccine doses with other countries.
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