COVID-19 WRAP | SA hits 600,000 Covid-19 cases & CT Covention Centre field hospital officially closed

August 21 2020 - 22:11

SA hits 600,000 Covid-19 cases, but stats show virus spread has slowed

SA reached 600,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases on Friday,  171 days after the first positive test in Durban on March 5.

Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said that there were 603,338 total cases by Friday night, an increase of 3,398 from the day before.

Mkhize also announced on Friday that more than half-a-million recoveries from the respiratory illness have been recorded.

August 21 2020 - 18:31

Editors' forum awards all SA journos for Covid-19 coverage

The SA National Editors Forum (Sanef) will on Saturday award its coveted Nat Nakasa Award to all journalists who have reported on the coronavirus.

The award is traditionally presented to a single SA practitioner in newspapers, magazines, broadcasting and online media, and whose reporting celebrates freedom of speech and media integrity. But as the virus spread through the world, and hit SA from March, the forum said it was right to recognise all journalists for their coverage.

The announcement will be made with the airing of a documentary commissioned to commemorate the vital role journalists play in society — especially in light of the harsh circumstances journalists as individuals find themselves in during the coronavirus pandemic.

August 21 2020 - 18:05

Metrorail to resume Cape Flats service for first time since level 5 lockdown

Metrorail will reopen its Cape Flats train service from Monday. It will be the first time the line has run since the commuter rail service suspended its services at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in March.

It will become the second Metrorail corridor to be reopened, with the southern line having reopened when SA downgraded to lockdown level 3 in June.

Cape Town Metrorail spokesperson Riana Scott said 12 trains would operate on weekdays between 6.16am and 7.30pm, from Heathfield to Cape Town, and 13 trains would operate in the other direction.

August 21 2020 -17:12

Lockdown cigarette ban helped 51-year-old woman stub out her habit

Smokers breathed sighs of relief on Tuesday when they were finally able to — legally — buy cigarettes again.

But for Alana Potter, it didn't make a difference. The human rights researcher said she used the lockdown and the ban on the sale of tobacco products as a way to quit smoking.

The ban kicked in when SA went into lockdown in March as one of the measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.

August 21 2020 - 16:19

Cape Town International Covention Centre field hospital officially closed as virus cases in the province drop

August 21 2020 - 15:42

Tax skeletons exposed as net closes on those who feasted on PPE billions

The SA Revenue Service (Sars) is investigating 307 cases of possible tax fraud and other irregularities with a revenue loss of close to R300m involving companies that recently benefited from government personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement under questionable circumstances.

This was disclosed to parliament's standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) by Sars commissioner Edward Kieswetter during a meeting of the cabinet's interministerial committee set up to deal with allegations of corruption in PPE procurement worth more than R5bn.

Kieswetter told MPs that Sars had also received a request from the Free State branch of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate the tax affairs of 300 companies that benefited from PPE procurement in the province, with 139 already red-flagged for potential tax evasion.

August 21 2020 - 10:49

Gauteng company bank accounts holding nearly R40m frozen in PPE scandal

The Special Tribunal of South Africa has granted an urgent order freezing nearly R40m in the bank accounts of 40 companies in Gauteng involved in supplying personal protective equipment (PPE) during the coronavirus pandemic.

The accounts include those belonging to Ledla Structural Development, Royal Bhaca Projects and Mediwaste - companies at the centre of an unfolding PPE scandal.

Special Tribunal spokesperson Selby Makgotho said in a statement that Judge Billy Mothle had granted an order on Thursday to freeze R38.7m held in the company accounts.

August 21 2020 - 08:24

Airbnb bans parties at rental properties to support Covid-19 measures

Home-sharing platform Airbnb has announced a ban on parties at its rental properties.

The global ban comes after the platform was given the green light to operate in SA under level 2 lockdown, after a five-month-long ban.

Speaking at a media briefing on Wednesday, tourism minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane said Airbnbs could reopen and it was up to the host of the venue to comply with all sanitation and social distancing regulations.

August 21 2020 - 07:00

From cars to Covid: SA companies repurposed for ventilators

Car manufacturers making breathing devices. The thought may be ironic, but during Covid-19 anything is possible.

And so it's a twist of fate that with passenger vehicles being one of the biggest contributors of air pollution, the manufacturers of their parts have repurposed factories to produce ventilators instead.

Roleplayers in the local automotive manufacturing sector believe the new venture is a natural progression of their industry because the automotive and the medical manufacturing processes are similar. And, they say, their factories are low on orders but have the manpower and mechanical capacity to make the life-saving equipment.

August 21 2020 - 06:30

Disinfectant tunnels are doomed, but what of disinfectant foggers?

With the disinfectant tunnels now roundly condemned as being both ineffective and potentially harmful, the new hard sell to offices, gyms, churches and schools is the disinfectant fogger.

And with the country now in level 2, the marketing of these fogging products has been stepped up.

But many of them have not been proven to be effective against viruses, much less the new coronavirus specifically. And without sufficient contact time on surfaces, even the appropriate disinfectant won’t kill the virus, authorities and industry experts say.

August 21 2020 - 08:29

Staff cuts loom for iconic Cape Town hotels amid tourism gloom

The Table Bay Hotel at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town could face retrenchments due to the ongoing embargo on international travel, the hotel’s general manager told TimesLIVE.

The five-star hotel largely depends on international visitors and has seen a huge drop in occupancy since March.

It is one of several high-end hotels battling sustainability amid a jobs bloodbath in the hospitality industry, with pressure mounting on the government to ease international travel restrictions sooner rather than later.

August 21 2020 - 00:29

SA records 195 Covid-19 deaths in 24 hours, as fatalities rise to 12,618

SA's Covid-19 death toll climbed to 12,618 on Thursday, as 195 new fatalities were recorded.

Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize on Thursday released the figures, and also revealed that 3,880 new cases had been confirmed in the past 24 hours. This bring the country's total number of infections to 599,940.

Of the new deaths, 26 from Eastern Cape, 83 from Gauteng, 36 from KwaZulu-Natal, 25 from Free State, 12 from Limpopo, and 13 from Western Cape