COVID-19 LIVE UPDATES | SA recorded 3,069 new cases of Covid-19 in 24 hours

November 27 2020 - 16:35

Alarming 117% increase in Covid-19 cases on Garden Route as parts of SA battle rising infections

Covid-19 cases continue to rise in the Western Cape's Garden Route area, with a recorded 117% increase in new infections and 96% increase in deaths in the past seven days.

The Western Cape government said all areas on the Garden Route were of great concern after 1,282 new Covid-19 cases and 25 new deaths related to Covid-19 were recorded in the past week.

Last week, provincial health authorities announced they will be turning their attention to the Garden Route after a spike in infections resulted in increased hospitalisations.

November 27 2020 - 14:58

Britain presses on with AstraZeneca vaccine amid questions over trial data

Britain gave AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine a vote of confidence on Friday when it asked its regulator to assess the shot for a rollout after experts raised questions about trial data and the company said it may run another study to gauge efficacy.

The UK government has secured 100 million doses of the vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, the most it has ordered of any shot to fight a pandemic that has killed more than 1.4 million people globally.

The British drugmaker expects 4 million doses to be available in the country by the end of next month, and Health Secretary Matt Hancock aims for a rollout to begin before Christmas.

-Reuters

November 27 2020 - 13:52

Five Covid-19 patients killed in Indian hospital fire

Five patients were killed in India on Friday in a fire that broke out in a Covid-19 ward, the fourth blaze in a novel coronavirus hospital since the outbreak began, which drew angry questions from the Supreme Court.

The early morning blaze in Rajkot city in the western state of Gujrat gutted the intensive care unit (ICU) of the private hospital, television footage showed. The most likely cause was an electrical short circuit, said government official Udit Agarwal.

"Three of the patients in the ICU died on the spot, and two others succumbed on way to hospital. The two other patients in the ICU were unhurt," Agarwal told Reuters.

-Reuters

November 27 2020 - 12:43

Russia to vaccinate armed forces against Covid-19 as new cases hit daily record

Russia plans to vaccinate more than 400,000 military personnel against Covid-19, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday, as authorities reported a record 27,543 new coronavirus cases.

Russia, which is working on several vaccines against the virus, has seen a surge in infections since September but authorities have resisted imposing lockdowns, relying instead on targeted measures in certain regions.

Indian pharmaceutical company Hetero will manufacture more than 100 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine per year under the terms of a deal with Russia's RDIF sovereign wealth fund unveiled on Friday

-Reuters

November 27 2020 - 12:23

It's not just about viral dance vibes: TikTok launches tool to help small businesses survive Covid-19

While lockdowns and regulations to stop the spread of Covid-19 have gripped the world, leaving small businesses especially vulnerable, TikTok thinks it may be able to help.

The social media platform kept many entertained in the first few months of the pandemic and wants to go a step further by helping businesses to get back on their feet.

This week it launched the SMB Knowledge Hub to provide tools for businesses to help them keep their clients and bring in new customers. 

November 27 2020 - 12:20

Gout drug Colchicine to be tested as Covid-19 treatment in UK trial

Anti-inflammatory colchicine will be tested as a possible Covid-19 treatment in one of the world's biggest trials, the study website posted on Friday, the latest effort to repurpose existing medicines to fight the pandemic.

The RECOVERY trial, which is the world's largest clinical trial of treatments for patients hospitalised with Covid-19, will randomly allocate at least 2,500 patients recruited to receive colchicine, which is used as a treatment for gout.

"Colchicine is an attractive drug to evaluate in the RECOVERY trial as it is very well understood, inexpensive and widely available," said Oxford University Professor Peter Horby, who is co-chief investigator for the trial.

-Reuters

November 27 2020 - 11:45

Steak out: China's coronavirus testing chokes beef trade

In a supermarket in downtown Beijing, refrigerator shelves normally filled with steak from around the world sit empty as tougher testing for the novel coronavirus creates supply bottlenecks and raises prices for importers.

Fresh supplies of beef won't arrive for days, a salesman at the Suning.com-owned Carrefour outlet told Reuters - if then. That's a big setback for the industry at traditionally one of its busiest times of the year.

"Whether we can get supplies then, and how much, remains a question," said the sales person, who declined to be identified as he was not allowed to talk to media.

-Reuters

November 27 2020 - 10:45

Philippines secures 2.6 mln doses of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine

The Philippines will get 2.6 million shots of a potential Covid-19 vaccine developed by AstraZeneca under the country's first supply deal for a coronavirus vaccine, senior officials said on Friday.

This supply, to be paid for by the private sector, will inoculate over 1 million Filipinos as the British drugmaker's vaccine requires two doses, said Jose Concepcion, a government business adviser representing the private sector.

Carlito Galvez, a top coronavirus task force official, said authorities were also negotiating with AstraZeneca a possible purchase of a further 1 million doses of the vaccine.

-Reuters

November 27 2020 - 09:46

Symptomless and spreading, South Korea battles surge in silent Covid-19 cases

Asymptomatic Covid-19 patients are driving a surge in new cases in South Korea, frustrating efforts to control transmission by the Asian country which managed to keep infections under control in previous outbreaks.

South Korea reported 569 new cases in the 24 hours ending Thursday midnight, a level unseen in nearly nine months, as it grapples with the third wave of the pandemic that appears to be worsening despite tough new social distancing measures.

With young people at the centre of the surge, health authorities in South Korea estimate asymptomatic patients now account for 40% of total infections, up sharply from 20-30% in June.

-Reuters

November 27 2020 - 09:31

Covid-19 infections in Germany surpass one million

The number of Covid-19 infections in Germany surpassed the one million mark and the daily death toll hit a record of 426, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Friday.

The figures reflected the reality that Germany was at best keeping new infections stable, which Chancellor Angela Merkel has said would not suffice to ease restrictions and eliminate the risk of overwhelming hospitals.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases increased by 22,806 to 1,006,394, according to the RKI.

-Reuters

November 27 2020 - 09:15

SA's Black Friday queues are online in 2020, amid Covid-19 pandemic

There may not be the usual crazy crowds of shoppers in stores this Black Friday, but many South Africans are sitting in online queues, waiting to pay.

With South Africans having embraced online shopping since the hard lockdown in March, and many fearing a lack of Black Friday crowd control in stores, the traditional frenzied shopper scenes in stores have not materialised this year.

“Also, our extended promotion, over four weeks, has been popular with customers and has in our view also reduced the weekend concentration of Black Friday shoppers,” said Massmart’s group corporate affairs executive Brian Leroni on Friday morning.

November 27 2020 - 09:02

South Korea braces for bed shortages as coronavirus cases near nine-month high

South Korea reported more than 500 new coronavirus cases for the second consecutive day on Friday, a level unseen in nearly nine months, as a third wave of infections spread nationwide, leaving authorities scrambling to provide more hospital beds.

"The situation is extremely serious and acute, as all of the 17 metropolitan cities and provinces and especially all the 25 districts in Seoul are reporting new cases," Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun told a meeting on Covid-19 responses.

The daily tally of 569 came a day after the numbers hit the highest level since March 6, when South Korea was reeling from the first major Covid-19 outbreak outside China.

-Reuters

November 27 2020 - 08:35

Covid-19 and 2021 local government elections: No mail-in ballots but expert says remote voting is the future

Unlike the US in their recent presidential elections, SA does not have the capacity to hold elections by way of postal ballots as a measure to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, but political analyst Ralph Mathekga says it is high time SA geared up for remote voting.

The global community recently watched as the US found itself in uncharted territory amid the global coronavirus pandemic, where most citizens cast their votes by post to prevent the spread of the virus.

Mathekga says this is not only crucial during a global pandemic, but also to boost voter turnout and ensure transparency.

November 27 2020 - 08:25

Once Australia's Covid-19 hotspot, Victoria goes 28 days without an infection

Australia's second-largest state, Victoria, once the country's Covid-19 hotspot, said on Friday it has gone 28 days without detecting any new infections, a benchmark widely cited as eliminating the virus from the community.

The state also has zero active cases after the last Covid-19 patient was discharged from hospital this week, a far cry from August when Victoria recorded more than 700 cases in one day and active infections totalled nearly 8,000.

The spread of the virus was only contained after a lockdown lasting more than 100 days, leaving some 5 million people in Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, largely confined to their homes.

-Reuters

November 27 2020 - 08:12

Brazil's Bolsonaro says he will not take coronavirus vaccine

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday evening that he will not take a coronavirus vaccine, the latest in a series of statements he has made expressing skepticism toward coronavirus vaccination programs.

In statements broadcast live over multiple social media platforms, the right-wing leader added that Congress was unlikely to require Brazilians to take a vaccine.

Brazil has the second highest number of coronavirus deaths in the world, and Bolsonaro has for months played down the seriousness of the pandemic despite being infected with the virus in July.

-Reuters

November 27 2020 - 08:07

Matric pupils rise above the challenges of writing exams during a pandemic

Mackenzie Teise had big plans for her matric year. She would attend her matric dance, would celebrate academic achievements and bask in her valedictory ceremony. But Covid-19 scuppered those plans.

Never did she imagine that she would be home schooled and write her final examinations with such uncertainty.

Teise, a matriculant at C &  Oranje Meisieskool in Bloemfontein, like many in her position, has battled a profound sense of uncertainty throughout the academic year.

November 27 2020 - 07:00

Mexico's coronavirus death toll rises above 104,000

Mexico's health ministry on Thursday reported 8,107 additional cases of the novel coronavirus and 645 more deaths in the country, bringing the official number of infections to 1,078,594 and the death toll to 104,242.

Health officials have said the real number of infections is likely to be significantly higher.

-Reuters