COVID-19 WRAP | 852 965 confirmed cases in SA

December 12 2020 - 23:10

As of today, the total number of confirmed #COVID19 cases is 852 965, the total number of deaths is 23 106 and the total number of recoveries is 760 118.

December 12 2020 - 14:37

Social distancing aggravates lost kids headache on Cape Town beaches

The City of Cape Town has its work cut out this festive season.

As if safeguarding children on the beaches was not difficult enough, the city has to ensure social distancing — meant to curb the spread of Covid-19 — is adhered to.

The city will again roll out its Identikidz programme “which registers and issues young beach visitors with an identification armband”.

December 12 2020 - 14:28

Western Cape has record Covid-19 infections as death toll passes 5,000

The Western Cape's active cases of Covid-19 soared above 20,000 for the first time in Saturday.

The second wave of the provincial outbreak is significantly outpacing the first in the rate at which infections are spreading, and the number of cases has multiplied by almost six in the past month.

At 1pm on Saturday, there were 20,760 active cases in the Western Cape, compared with a high of 17,612 at the peak of the first wave on July 6.

December 12 2020 - 11:18

Choose between life and death this Christmas, Mkhize tells SA

South Africans must choose between life and “sickness or death” as the country faces a devastating second wave of Covid-19 infections, health minister Zweli Mkhize said on Saturday.

Speaking during a webinar, Mkhize said: “If we choose life, then we must realise that we have to make sacrifices during this festive season. It will not be possible to celebrate the holidays in the way we are accustomed to.

“We must now understand that the frivolities that are usually associated with the festive season must make way for the things that really matter — family and friends, caring for one another, physical and spiritual rejuvenation and preserving the spirit of ubuntu,” Mkhize told a virtual gathering to mark Universal Health Coverage Day.

December 12 2020 - 09:04

US govt secures access to 100 mln more doses of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine

Moderna Inc said on Friday the U.S. government will get an additional 100 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate, expected to be delivered in the second quarter of 2021 if authorised.

Shares of the company were up 2.8% at $161.30 (about R2,450) after the bell.

The government has ordered a total of 200 million doses till date, the vaccine developer said, adding that of first order lot, about 20 million doses will be delivered by December end and the remaining in the first quarter of 2021.

—Reuters

December 12 2020 - 09:00

Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 69.82 million death toll at 1,588,088

More than 69.82 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 1,588,088​ 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