COVID-19 WRAP | Ramaphosa to address parliament as national state of disaster expires on Thursday

October 13 2020 - 21:08

Grim milestone as SA reaches more than 18,000 Covid-19 deaths

SA passed 18,000 Covid-19 related deaths on Tuesday night, health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said.

The country also climbed towards 695,000 total Covid-19 cases, with 1,178 new cases recorded in the past 24 hours. There are now 694,537 total confirmed infections across SA.

Mkhize said 18 Covid-19 related deaths occurred in the past “24 to 48 hours”.

October 13 2020 - 18:10

Cape Town nightclub faces investigation over Covid-19 'super-spreader' event

The Western Cape Liquor Authority and the police will launch an investigation into a Cape Town bar following reports that it is responsible for dozens of Covid-19 cases.

There have been about 63 new Covid-19 cases identified in the city's southern suburbs, mostly among matric pupils in some of the city’s top schools. The infections have been traced to a party at the bar a week ago.

Western Cape premier Alan Winde said preliminary data indicated that of the 63 cases detected to date, 37 were matric pupils who attend schools in the southern suburbs. Most of the pupils attend private schools.

October 13 2020 - 16:06

Ramaphosa's advisers say SA's plans to reduce debt are too ambitious

The government's plans to curb rising public debt are too ambitious, says a team of local and international economic advisers to President Cyril Ramaphosa. They recommend a “more gradual and credible” approach.

Debt-service costs in SA risk hampering efforts to fight the Covid-19 crisis and crowding out spending on priorities such as health care, education and lifting millions out of poverty.

Debt repayments are close to 12% of total government spending and the fourth-largest spending item, similar in size to what is spent on health, according to the budget presented in June to combat the coronavirus.

—Reuters

October 13 2020 - 14:41

Ramaphosa to address parliament on economic recovery plan

President Cyril Ramaphosa will provide details on SA's "economic reconstruction and recovery plan" in parliament on Thursday.

In a short statement on Tuesday afternoon, parliament confirmed that its presiding officers received a letter from Ramaphosa calling for a joint sitting of the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces. Ramaphosa's address is set to take place at 2pm on Thursday.

-TimesLIVE

October 13 2020 - 14:00

Should the national state of disaster continue past Thursday? Here are some reactions

The national state of disaster is due to come to an end on Thursday, and plans on whether it will be extended are yet to be announced.

President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a state of disaster on March 15 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The declaration was made to enable government to put together an integrated and co-ordinated disaster management plan that would focus on preventing and reducing the spread of Covid-19 infections. 

October 13 2020 - 13:00

MSF praises SA's call for no patents on Covid-19 medical products during pandemic

Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders, MSF) has hailed SA's call to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to allow countries the choice not to enforce patents on Covid-19 drugs, vaccines, diagnostics and other technologies as a “landmark move”.

SA together with India recently appealed to the WTO to allow countries to choose to neither grant nor enforce patents and other intellectual property on tools and medicines while the world fights the pandemic.

October 13 2020 - 13:00

Covid-19 again? Reinfection cases raise concerns over immunity

The case of a man in the United States infected twice with Covid-19 shows there is much yet to learn about immune responses and also raises questions over vaccination, scientists said on Tuesday.

The 25-year old from Reno, Nevada, tested positive in April after showing mild symptoms, then got sick again in late May with a more serious bout, according to a case report in the Lancet Infectious Diseases medical journal.

The report was published just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump, who was infected with Covid-19 and hospitalised earlier this month, said he believes he now has immunity and felt "so powerful".

-REUTERS

October 13 2020 - 12:11

Partying pupils contract coronavirus in Cape Town

School pupils are being cautioned to minimise their risk of contracting Covid-19 after reports that some Cape Town matrics have been partying at nightclubs without wearing masks.

A school in the southern suburbs raised concerns about a large gathering that took place at a nightclub on October 3, which was described as a “super-spreader” event in a letter sent to parents. The letter stated 59 people that attended the event had tested positive for Covid-19.

October 13 2020 - 12:00

Polish PM in quarantine after contact with Covid-19

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has gone into quarantine after he had contact on Friday with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19, a government spokesman said in a statement on Tuesday.

Morawiecki has no coronavirus symptoms and so far has not tested positive for the disease, the spokesman also said, adding that the prime minister continues to fulfil his duties.

-REUTERS

October 13 2020 - 10:54

Covid-19 spike in Eastern Cape caused by ‘bad behaviour’, warns expert

The recent spike in Covid-19 cases has been attributed to “bad behaviour” and people no longer adhering to health regulations.

The Eastern Cape has the fourth-highest number of cases in SA.

To date, SA has had 692,471 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 17,780 deaths.

October 13 2020 - 09:47

Russia reports new all-time records of daily coronavirus cases and deaths

Russia's coronavirus cases rose by 13,868 on Tuesday, a new daily record since the start of the outbreak early this year, pushing the overall total number of infections to 1,326,178.

The previous record of 13,634 new cases was registered on Sunday.

Russia's coronavirus crisis centre also reported a record daily rise of 244 deaths from the virus, bringing the official death toll to 22,966.

-REUTERS

October 13 2020 - 08:45

Homeless reunited with families in Durban during Covid-19 lockdown

“Not everything that came out of this Covid-19 situation was bad,” says aspiring artist Njabulo Khuzani.

Khuzani is one of the many homeless people who were moved into eThekwini Homeless shelters across Durban since March as part of the municipality’s attempt to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.

October 13 2020 - 08:11

Relief says some COVID-19 patients who got its drug survived longer, awaits trial data

Relief Therapeutics said on Tuesday that more people who received a 50-year-old drug that the Swiss company is seeking to re-purpose against COVID-19 were alive beyond 60 days than were those who did not get the medicine.

Relief -- which is still awaiting results of randomized studies of aviptadil, also called RLF-100 -- said 17 of 21 intensive-care patients who got the medicine met the survival threshold, compared to four of 24 patients who did not get aviptadil.

Scientifically rigorous randomized studies are the gold standard for evaluating a potential medicine's effectiveness, and Relief expects results from two such trials this year.

The company said the patients in this study were too ill with other diseases to be eligible for those trials but said it was "encouraged" by the initial results.

"We look forward to the upcoming results from the randomized, double-blind, prospective trial in less severely comorbid patients for confirmation of these results," said Jihad Georges Youssef, the study's principal investigator at Houston Methodist Hospital, in a statement issued by Relief and its U.S.-based partner, privately held NeuroRx Inc.

-REUTERS

October 13 2020 - 08:04

J&J pauses Covid-19 vaccine trial after 'unexplained illness'

Johnson & Johnson said on Monday it had temporarily paused its Covid-19 vaccine candidate clinical trials due to an unexplained illness in a study participant, delaying one of the highest profile efforts to contain the global pandemic.

The participant's illness is being reviewed and evaluated by an independent data and safety monitoring board as well as the company's clinical and safety physicians, the company said in a statement.

October 13 2020 - 07:35

Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 37.74 million, death toll at 1,078,572

More than 37.74 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 1,078,572​ have died, according to a Reuters tally.

Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

-REUTERS