COVID-19 WRAP | Durban's beaches will not close in December, says eThekwini mayor

December 11 2020 - 22:24

More than 200 Covid-19 deaths and 8,300 new cases in 24 hours

SA recorded more than 200 Covid-19 related deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the national death toll close to 23,000.

There were also more than 8,300 new Covid-19 infections recorded in the same period.

December 11 2020 - 19:57

Lockdown cigarette ban was 'not necessary' and unconstitutional, says WC high court

The government’s decision to ban the sale of cigarettes during the country’s Covid-19 lockdown has been declared unconstitutional.

The Western Cape High Court on Friday ruled that regulation 45 of the Disaster Management Act — under which the cigarette prohibition was put in place — “cannot and does not withstand constitutional scrutiny”.

December 11 2020 - 16:36

Durban's beaches will not close in December, says eThekwini mayor

Durban's beaches will remain open during December.

That's the word from eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda, who confirmed on Friday that while the beaches, usually packed with thousands of holiday makers, will not be closed, events will be banned.

Kaunda said as part of a multidisciplinary campaign, Operation Vala, which aims to protect holiday makers and resident from crime and the Covid-19 pandemic, measures will be implemented.

December 11 2020 - 15:27

US FDA says working to authorise Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine fast

The US Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it was working rapidly to issue an emergency use authorisation for Pfizer Inc's Covid-19 vaccine, with the first Americans set to be immunised as early as Monday or Tuesday.

US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said regulatory authorisation should come within days.A panel of outside advisers to the FDA on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to endorse emergency use of the vaccine, paving the way for the agency to authorise the shot for a country that has lost more than 285,000 lives to Covid-19.

Pfizer has asked that the two-dose vaccine, developed with German partner BioNTech, be approved for use in people aged 16 to 85.

—Reuters

December 11 2020 - 14:45

Verification processes, unclaimed grants and fraudsters are behind delay in distribution of R350 grants

More than 40,000 approved Covid-19 social relief of distress (SRD) grants for unemployed people remain uncollected, the social development department announced on Friday as it struggled to track down the applicants.

Most of the unclaimed grants are those who opted for their grants to be distributed in the form of cash-send, minister Lindiwe Zulu said in Pretoria.

“We are experiencing challenges with regards to a number of unclaimed benefits despite the fact that they have been approved.

December 11 2020 - 14:23

UK cuts self-isolation period to 10 days for domestic contacts, international arrivals

Britain said on Friday it would cut the self-isolation period for Covid-19 to 10 days from 14, in a change which will apply to both those presumed to have been in contact someone with the virus within the country, and those arriving from abroad.

The shorter self-isolation period will begin from Dec. 14 and apply in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, a government statement said.

It already applies in Wales. "After reviewing the evidence, we are now confident that we can reduce the number of days that contacts self-isolate from 14 days to 10 days," said the United Kingdom's four Chief Medical Officers in the statement.

—Reuters

December 11 2020 - 13:02

Mbhazima Shilowa on criticism of Covid-19 restrictions: South Africans are not sure what they want

Former Gauteng premier Mbhazima Shilowa has questioned criticism from some people about the government's approach to fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

On Thursday, he asked people what they expect the government to do because what is being done never seems to be enough.

In a series of Tweets, the outspoken former premier said he was not sure what critics wanted.

December 11 2020 - 12:57

'I'm not a scientist, I'm a prayer warrior' - Mogoeng on his vaccines 'of the devil' stance

Chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng on Friday took a swipe on those who criticised his stance on “evil” vaccines “meant to corrupt the DNA of the people”.

Speaking at the annual judiciary report media briefing, Mogoeng said those who could vouch for the effectiveness of the vaccine and that it did not have side-effects, must be the ones who propagated it.

“I’m not a scientist ... I will pray for God’s intervention.”

December 11 2020 - 12:30

AstraZeneca to test combining Covid vaccine with Russia's Sputnik

Britain's AstraZeneca signalled on Friday it would investigate combining its own experimental Covid-19 vaccine shot with Russia's Sputnik V, a move Russian scientists have suggested could sharply boost efficacy.

The developers of Sputnik V last month used Twitter to suggest AstraZeneca try the combination.

They said it was worth experimenting with the Russian model and using two different shots rather than the same ones.

—Reuters

December 11 2020 - 11:26

Sanofi/GSK announce delay in Covid-19 vaccine project

An experimental Covid-19 vaccine developed by Sanofi and Britain's GlaxoSmithKline showed an insufficient immune response in clinical trial results, the French drugmaker said on Friday, a blow to efforts to fight the pandemic.

The two companies said they planned to launch another study next year, hoping to come up with a more effective vaccine by the end of 2021.

The news comes as a disappointment for a crop of vaccines under development that rely on more conventional proven designs as the shot developed by Pfizer and Biotech using breakthrough technology gets rolled out across Britain.

—Reuters

December 11 2020 - 11:09

Gates Foundation pledges $250m towards global fight against Covid-19

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation this week announced that it would contribute an additional $250m (about R3.77bn) to support the research, development and equitable delivery of life-saving tools in the global fight against Covid-19.

“Everyone, everywhere deserves to benefit from the science developed in 2020,” said Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation.

“We are confident that the world will get better in 2021, but whether it gets better for everyone depends on the actions of the world's leaders and their commitment to deliver tests, treatments, and vaccines to the people who need them, no matter where they live or how much money they have,” she said.

December 11 2020 - 10:27

Ellen DeGeneres tests positive for Covid-19 but says she's 'feeling fine'

US TV show host Ellen DeGeneres has tested positive for Covid-19 but assured fans that she is feeling fine.

The host of The Ellen DeGeneres Show shared the news of her diagnosis on her various social media pages on Thursday evening.

In a short note posted on her Instagram and Twitter pages, the comedienne did not explain how she contracted the deadly virus but said “anyone who has been in close contact with me has been notified and I am following all proper CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines”.

December 11 2020 - 10:21

Mzansi split over chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng's 'vaccine of the devil' prayer

South Africans are divided after chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng's prayer against any “vaccine of the devil” during a visit to Tembisa Hospital in Gauteng on Thursday.

Seemingly responding to health minister Zweli Mkhize's announcement about a Covid-19 second wave, Mogoeng said: “Whatever phase is said to be coming, Lord I judge it, I run it down in the name of Jesus. I lock out every demon of Covid-19. I lock out any vaccine that is not of you.

“If there be any vaccine that is of the devil, meant to infuse triple-six in the lives of people, meant to corrupt their DNA. Any such vaccine, Lord God almighty, may it be destroyed by fire in the name of Jesus.”

December 11 2020 - 10:09

WATCH LIVE | Social development minister Lindiwe Zulu gives update on R350 Covid-19 relief grant

Minister of social development Lindiwe Zulu will on Friday provide an update on the R350 Covid-19 social relief grant.

TimesLIVE reported last month that the SA Social Security Agency (Sassa) had approved the applications of more than 1.3 million people for the Covid-19 social relief of distress grant in KwaZulu-Natal.

However, this has resulted in snaking queues outside post offices every day, with scores of people checking whether their money has been paid.

December 11 2020 - 10:04

Contracts were not transparent, competitive and cost-effective, says judge on Diko-affiliated Covid deal

After being awarded a tender by the Gauteng health department for Covid -19 personal protective equipment (PPE), the person who paid suppliers on behalf of Ledla Structural Development was not a director nor employee of Ledla, but “a cousin and a family member of Mr Diko’s wife [Khusela],” the Special Tribunal said in a judgment.

On Thursday, the tribunal set aside a contract awarded to Ledla by the Gauteng health department for nearly R39m, saying it was unlawful.

In his judgment, Judge Billy Mothle found Ledla had been a proxy for Royal Bhaca, the company owned by Thandisizwe Diko, “a close family friend” of former Gauteng health MEC Bandile Masuku and husband of presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko.

December 11 2020 - 09:20

SA drops to 18th in Covid-19 infections globally, despite entering second wave

As SA battles with a spike in the number of daily recorded Covid-19 cases, the country continues to drop on the list of countries with the most Covid-19 infections.

According to Worldometer, SA has dropped two spots to number 18 on the list.

Worldometer is a data source that tracks real-time statistics on several topics, including Covid-19. The numbers change daily as updates stream in.

December 11 2020 - 08:36

More women than men in US nervous about fast rollout of Covid vaccine, and that's a problem

American women, who traditionally make most of the health care decisions in their families, are more wary than men of the new, rapidly developed Covid-19 vaccines, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, presenting a potential challenge to efforts to immunise the public.

The December 2-8 national opinion survey showed that 35% of women said they were “not very” or “not at all” interested in getting a vaccine, an increase of 9 points from a similar poll conducted in May when vaccines were still being developed.

Some 55% of women said they were “very” or “somewhat” interested in getting vaccinated, a drop of about 6 percentage points in the same time span. Meanwhile, 68% of men said they would get vaccinated, which is unchanged from May.

—Reuters

December 11 2020 - 08:18

Australia halts local Covid-19 vaccine development due to false HIV positives

Australia cancelled the production of a locally made vaccine against Covid-19 after trials showed it could interfere with HIV diagnosis, with the government instead securing additional doses of rival vaccines.

Antibodies generated by the vaccine being developed by the University of Queensland (UQ) and biotech firm CSL, one of four candidates contracted by the Australian government, were found to lead to some false positive HIV test results, the makers said.

While the vaccine had elicited a “robust” immune response to the novel SARS-COV-2 virus without serious adverse effects in a Phase 1 trial with 216 participants, re-engineering a fix could take another 12 months, they said.

—Reuters

December 11 2020 - 08:11

Roche launches lab antigen test to support high-volume Covid-19 testing

Roche said on Friday it launched a laboratory SARS-CoV-2 antigen Test to support high-volume testing of suspected Covid-19 patients, as very high demand for tests prompts the Swiss drugmaker to offer new options to the market.

The Elecsys SARS-CoV-2 antigen Test is an automated laboratory assay intended as an aid in diagnosis of active SARS-CoV-2 infection, Roche said in a statement.

Roche said it would be able to ramp up to a double-digit million number of tests per month by early 2021.

—Reuters

December 11 2020 - 07:00

'Second wave' brings new dangers for back-to-work 2021

The second wave is now officially under way in South Africa. This means that when you return to work in January after the holidays you are likely to be at high risk of Covid infection on account of your colleagues who have been travelling to Covid hotspots.

Employers who don't plan for this now are going to have higher staff absenteeism - or worse, infections in the workplace.

Measures that employers should implement include:

December 11 2020 - 06:53

Coronavirus: What will my medical scheme pay for?

Many South Africans breathed a sigh of relief when the country seemed to be over the peak of the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, the alarming recent resurgence in cases is a stark reminder that we cannot afford to become complacent.

With the festive season around the corner, many of us will be attending family gatherings which could act as superspreader events if we don’t stringently observe the now commonplace essential precautionary protocols like meticulous handwashing, social distancing, wearing of masks and adequate ventilation. Where possible, outdoor family gatherings and other activities are much safer than indoor meetings.

Even with best practices in place, it is inevitable that some of us will contract the virus and become ill. Given the health-care costs associated with testing and treating, it is important for consumers to have peace of mind in knowing that the disease is covered by their medical scheme and to understand the benefits which they are entitled to.

December 11 2020 - 06:16

As SA's daily virus cases rapidly rise, will it cross the 1-million mark soon?