COVID-19 WRAP | 28 new Covid-19 cases in Western Cape

Top stories today:

• SA rolls out mobile testing for Covid-19

• Pink on testing positive for Covid-19: This illness is serious and real

• 'I survived 24 weeks of isolation'

• 'Africans are not guinea pigs' - Drogba slams scientists who suggested testing vaccine in Africa

April 4 2020 - 17:39

Netball SA president Cecilia Molokwane recovers

Netball South Africa president Cecilia Molokwane has recovered from the novel coronavirus, the sports association revealed on Saturday.

Molokwane had been among the first prominent South Africans to test positive for Covid-19.

April 4 2020 - 16:52

Premier League players' 'backs against wall' over coronavirus

Newcastle defender Danny Rose says footballers feel their "backs are against the wall" over talks about wage cuts, with Premier League clubs due to speak with players' representatives on Saturday.

Top-flight stars, currently out of action due to the coronavirus, have come under fire after a number of clubs furloughed non-playing staff but left players' wages untouched.

The Premier League said on Friday that clubs would consult players over a combination of pay cuts and deferrals amounting to 30 percent of their annual salary.

April 4 2020 - 16:20

28 new Covid-19 cases bring Western Cape's total to 446

Another 28 people in the Western Cape have been diagnosed with Covid-19, premier Alan Winde said on Saturday.

The new cases bring the provincial total to 446, with 23 in hospital and nine in intensive care.

More than three-quarters of Western Cape patients are in Cape Town, with 45 in the Garden Route, 28 in the Cape winelands, 10 in the Overberg and three in the West Coast.

April 4 2020 - 16:09

Gauteng health department calls for donations of protective gear and ventilators

The Gauteng health department has called for donations of personal protective equipment and ventilators, saying the fight against Covid-19 requires a “joint effort by all sectors of society”.

April 4 2020 - 14:56

April 4 2020 - 14:28

Health expert: 'There is an urgent need to upscale Covid-19 testing facilities'

The total number of people testing positive for the deadly coronavirus in SA is “an underestimate of the burden of Covid-19".

This is the view of Shabir Madhi, a professor of vaccinology at the University of the Witwatersrand, who delivered a presentation to the university's council on Friday.

Madhi said that the number of confirmed cases is lower than the number of total cases “due to limited and/or restrictive testing criteria”. 

April 4 2020 - 14:04

This is who is most likely to die from Covid-19: Wuhan researchers

Men over 50 with high blood pressure, heart disease or diabetes are most likely to die of Covid-19.

This is according to the records of 85 fatal cases in Wuhan, the Chinese city at the epicentre of the disease's early stages.

April 4 2020 - 13:57

April 4 2020 - 13:41

76 students quarantined after returning from China go home

The 76 TVET college students who have been in quarantine at the Birchwood Hotel in Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg, since returning from China, were allowed to go home on Saturday morning.

The students returned from China after having been in work placement at Chinese companies arranged through various sector education and training authorities (Setas).

Addressing the students ahead of their release, higher education minister Blade Nzimande said government took precautions to put them under quarantine to ensure that the virus was not imported into the country.

April 4 2020 - 13:32

Another call centre busted for operating during lockdown

A Durban call centre for a major clothing retailer has been busted for working illegally during the Covid-19 lockdown.

On Thursday police visited the premises in the Durban CBD and found that it was operating in contravention of disaster management regulations in that the business was not an essential service. Two managers were arrested.

April 4 2020 - 12:56

Experts call for mediators to ease tensions created by soldiers and officers during lockdown

Policing oversight and social conflict experts have called for urgent dialogue and immediate deployment of community mediators to ease tensions between law enforcement and the communities they have to keep indoors during the national lockdown.

Almost halfway through the 21-day lockdown, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) and the Military Ombudsman have received 12 and six complaints respectively against officers and soldiers ranging from murder, attempted murder and assault.

April 4 2020 - 12:02

'It's uncomfortable but you've got to be strong' - SA rolls out mobile testing for Covid-19

South African public health care workers dispersed into the buzzing streets of Johannesburg's Yeoville neighbourhood on Friday as Africa's worst virus-hit country rolled out mass door-to-door testing for Covid-19.

Armed with screening questionnaires and testing kits, medics and volunteers set up their testing station on the front porch of a block of flats in the gritty business neighbourhood.

April 4 2020 - 12:00

Pink on testing positive for Covid-19: This illness is serious and real

Singing sensation Pink revealed during the early hours of Saturday morning that she and her three-year-old son, Jameson, had made a full recovery after testing positive for Covid-19 two weeks ago.   

Pink released a lengthy statement on Twitter, in which she also put the lack of access to tests on blast. 

April 4 2020 - 11:52

April 4 2020 - 11:44

'Our health care workers are being sent into war without weapons': Numsa

Trade union Numsa has expressed its solidarity with Nehawu, which has asked the labour court to compel the health department to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) for health workers amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In court papers filed on Friday, public sector union Nehawu’s general secretary Zola Saphetha said their attempts to first engage with health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize over the shortage of protective equipment were ignored.

April 4 2020 - 11:32

UK unlikely to relax coronavirus lockdown until end of May — top epidemiologist

Britain will not be able to relax its stringent lockdown rules until the end of May, a leading government adviser said on Saturday, warning that first the spread of coronavirus must slow and intense testing must be introduced.

Neil Ferguson, a leading professor of mathematical biology at Imperial College London, said work was under way to establish how more relaxed rules could be introduced in time.

April 4 2020 - 11:21

New York in 'race against time' as Trump stresses face masks are voluntary

Surging deaths in New York City and New Orleans showed that a wave of lethal coronavirus infections expected to overwhelm hospitals, even in relatively affluent, urban areas with extensive health care systems, has begun to crash down on the United States.

April 4 2020 - 10:45

IN PICTURES | Space and spray: saftey measures enforced in Joburg

Disinfectant was sprayed around shops in Johannesburg on Friday while shoppers practiced physical distancing.

April 4 2020 - 10:18

'Africans are not guinea pigs' - Drogba slams scientists who suggested testing Covid-19 vaccine in Africa

Two leading French doctors on Friday insisted they had been misunderstood after sparking a storm of criticism by discussing the idea of testing a vaccine for coronavirus in Africa.

Although they later apologised for any offence caused if their comments had not been clear, former international and Ivory Coast football star Didier Drogba joined lawyers and a French anti-racism organisation in criticising the remarks made on Wednesday in a broadcast on the LCI channel.

April 4 2020 - 10:15

'I survived 24 weeks of isolation. People are tougher than they think'

Zwelethu Mazibuko wants to tell South Africans taking strain during the lockdown or placed in medical isolation due to Covid-19: “You will survive this.”

He should know.

A horrific car accident shattered his body, and after a painstaking two-year recovery process he was placed in medical isolation for 24 weeks due to a deadly superbug he caught in the hospital.

April 4 2020 - 9:48

FIFA cancels all June internationals over virus

All international football matches scheduled for June were postponed on Friday following the first meeting of FIFA's coronavirus working group.

It was also decided to hold discussions with confederations to draw up a revised schedule for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers which have been shelved.

April 4 2020 - 9:45

Serie A says no date for return to action

Serie A bosses said that doubts remain over when football can return to Italy as the country battles the coronavirus pandemic.

All sport in Italy is suspended until at least April 13 as a result of Covid-19, which has killed nearly 15,000 people in the country.

April 4 2020 - 9:23

April 4 2020 - 9:14

R500,000 hangover for Cape Town tavern selling booze during lockdown

A tavern's decision to keep selling alcohol in defiance of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions cost it more than R500,000 on Friday.

That was the value of the stock confiscated in Dunoon, Cape Town, after two men selling alcohol from a car led them to the tavern.

April 4 2020 - 9:03

Danny K and Kabelo Mabalane want to raise funds for masks to fight Covid-19

Local musicians Danny K and Kabelo Mabalane, founders of Shout SA, have launched a campaign to help raise money to buy masks for health care workers and patients.

Shout SA has partnered with SMD Technologies, a private company, to raise funds for the Shout4Masks campaign, which was launched on Friday.

April 4 2020 - 9:01

Bassie spreads hope during lockdown with gospel song

While many in Mzansi freak out over the spread of Covid-19 and worry about the 21-day lockdown imposed by the government to curb its spread, Bassie Kumalo is spreading hope.

The businesswoman and former beauty queen has taken up the challenge by Tyler Perry to sing the gospel song He's Got The Whole World In His Hands, to spread hope across the globe.

April 4 2020 - 9:00

Recap of SA's latest Covid-19 stats