19 December 2021 7 Min Read

COVID-19 WRAP | SA could soon drop quarantining Covid-19 contacts

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December 19 2021 - 22:01

Brazil's health regulator asks for protection as anti-vaccine threats mount

Brazil's federal health regulator Anvisa said on Sunday it had received a fresh torrent of threats and asked for greater law enforcement protection, as it faces pressure from President Jair Bolsonaro over its decision to approve Covid-19 vaccines for younger children.

For months, Anvisa has been at the center of a political storm in Brazil due to its role in approving Covid-19 shots. Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain, has said he is not vaccinated, and has sowed doubts about the dangers of the virus and the value of getting immunized.

Anvisa's five directors, who were all appointed by Bolsonaro, began getting threats in October, but they increased this week after the regulator approved shots for children between the ages of 5 and 11.

In the wake of that decision, Bolsonaro said on Thursday that he'd asked for the names of the officials involved and threatened to make their identities public - prompting a public rebuke from Anvisa.

On Sunday, the regulator said the number of threats had risen in the last 24 hours, and it was giving details of them to law enforcement. It also said it would seek police protection for its officials, many of whom were spread across Brazil.

"Anvisa is firm in its mission to protect the health of citizens," it said.

Bolsonaro's handling of the pandemic, which has claimed over 600,000 lives in Brazil, is widely cited as a reason for his plummeting popularity this year. Polls suggest he faces an uphill battle winning next year's presidential election.

- Reuters

December 19 2021 - 21:01

Israel in fifth COVID wave, mulls adding U.S. to Omicron 'red' list

Israel is in the midst of a fifth Covid-19 wave due to the Omicron variant, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Sunday, urging citizens to step up vaccination and to take precautions such as working from home.

In a televised address, Bennett said Israel had bought some time by moving fast to limit travel when Omicron was first detected last month, but that this was now waning. He predicted a surge of sicknesses within a few weeks.

Earlier on Sunday, a Health Ministry advisory committee recommended that Israel add the United States to the list of "red" countries to which its citizens cannot fly without special permission. Bennett did not mention this measure in his speech.

Israel has logged 134 confirmed Omicron cases and another 307 suspected cases, the Health Ministry said. Of these, 167 were symptomatic, it said.

- Reuters

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December 19 2021 - 19:56

No lockdown before Christmas, Germany says

Germany's health minister Karl Lauterbach ruled out a Christmas lockdown on Sunday but warned a fifth Covid-19 wave could no longer be stopped and backed mandatory vaccination as the only way to stop the pandemic.

"There will not be a lockdown before Christmas here. But we will get a fifth wave - we have crossed a critical number of Omicron infections," Lauterbach said, speaking on broadcaster ARD.

"This wave can no longer be completely stopped."

In another interview with BILD, Lauterbach added that he did not expect there to be a "hard lockdown" after the holidays either.

- Reuters

December 19 2021 - 18:27

UK health minister doesn't rule out new COVID restrictions before Christmas

Britain's health minister Sajid Javid declined on Sunday to rule out the chance of further Covid-19 restrictions before Christmas, saying the spread of the Omicron variant was a very fast moving situation.

Britain reported a surge in cases of Omicron on Saturday, which government advisors said could be just the tip of the iceberg. London's mayor declared a "major incident" to help the city's hospitals cope.

Asked whether he could rule out new restrictions before Christmas, Javid told BBC Television: "We are assessing the situation, it is very fast moving."

"There are no guarantees in this pandemic I don't think. At this point, we just have to keep everything under review."

Javid said the government was watching the data on an "almost hourly basis" and listening to its scientific advisors and would balance that against the broader impact of restrictions on things such as businesses and education.

He said there was a still a lot that is not known about Omicron but waiting until data is clearer may leave it too late to react to it.

- Reuters

December 19 2021 - 17:33

Threat of Omicron looms over Christmas holidays in Europe, U.S.

The Netherlands went into lockdown on Sunday and the possibility of more COVID-19 restrictions over the Christmas and New Year period loomed over several European countries as the Omicron coronavirus variant spreads quickly.

In the United States, White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci urged people travelling over the holidays to get booster shots and always wear masks in crowded public spaces.

He described Omicron as "raging through the world," and said travelling will increase the risk of infection even among vaccinated people.

Dutch urban centres were largely deserted as the country began a snap lockdown that left people's Christmas plans in disarray.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced the shutdown on Saturday evening, ordering the closure of all but essential stores, as well as restaurants, hairdressers, gyms, museums and other public places from Sunday until at least Jan.

- Reuters

December 19 2021 - 15:00

Kremlin convinced WHO will approve Sputnik V vaccine within months -Ifax

The Kremlin is convinced that the World Health Organization (WHO) will recognise Russia's flagship Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine within a few months, the Interfax news agency cited Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying on Sunday.

The Kremlin on Tuesday said Russia had still not handed over all the information needed for the vaccine to be approved by the WHO because of differences in regulatory standards.

The WHO expects to receive the relevant documents by the end of the year, RIA reported, citing WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic.

Russia reported 1,023 deaths from Covid-19 on Sunday. The country's overall death toll is the third worst in the world, behind only the United States and Brazil, according to Reuters calculations.

- Reuters

December 19 2021 - 14:00

France not planning to extend Christmas holidays due to Covid-19 -minister

French Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said on BFM television that the government has no plans to extend the Christmas school holidays because of the rapid spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

Some European countries have brought Christmas holidays forward, and French conservative presidential candidate Valerie Pecresse has called for an extension of them in order to help ensure any infections caught over year-end holidays are discovered before children return to school.

- Reuters

December 19 2021 - 12:44

Covid-19 pandemic exposed and amplified weaknesses of the health system — study

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit different parts of the world early last year healthcare workers were repeatedly praised for their "heroic" work as they risked their own lives while battling the virus on the front lines.

But a new local study done in Gauteng has found that while healthcare workers may have received praise in different parts of society, they certainly didn’t receive this admiration from health bureaucrats and politicians — instead they felt underappreciated and sidelined when it came the Covid-19 response.

December 19 2021 - 08:17

SA could soon drop quarantining Covid-19 contacts as this doesn't serve its purpose, says MAC

The 10-day requirement to quarantine when you have come into contact with a Covid-19 case, and the subsequent contact tracing, could soon become a thing of the past if health minister Joe Phaahla approves the proposal to discontinue these prerequisites.

In an advisory that’s dated December 16 and signed by the co-chairs of the ministerial advisory committee (MAC) on Covid-19, Prof Kholeka Mlisana and Prof Marian Jacobs propose that quarantining be discontinued with immediate effect for contacts of cases of Covid-19 as quarantining contacts of cases no longer serves a public health role.