COVID-19 WRAP | 7999 new cases identified in the past 24 hours

13 December 2020 - 06:00 By TimesLIVE
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Health minister Zweli Mkhize says South Africans face a life-or-death struggle over the festive season.
Health minister Zweli Mkhize says South Africans face a life-or-death struggle over the festive season.
Image: Sandile Ndlovu

December 13 2020 - 20:53

860 964 Covid-19 cases have been reported with 7 999 new cases identified since the last report.

A cumulative total of 5 859 178 tests have been completed with 39 423 new tests conducted since the last report.

Regrettably, 170 more Covid-19 related deaths have been reported :

  • Eastern Cape 94,
  • Free State 11,
  • Gauteng 3,
  • Kwa-Zulu Natal 4,
  • Northern Cape 4 and
  • Western Cape 54.

This brings the total deaths to 23,276.

Our recoveries now stand at 761 011.

December 13 2020 - 18:32

Sixty-one staff contract Covid-19 at two hospitals in Durban

Sixty-one staff including doctors, nurses and clerks have tested positive for Covid-19 at two hospitals in Durban in the past two weeks.

Provincial health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu confirmed on Sunday that the affected hospitals were RK Khan and Addington Hospital.

December 13 2020 - 18:03

US expects to have immunized 100m against Covid-19 by end of March -Slaoui

The United States expects to have immunized 100 million people with the coronavirus vaccine by the end of March, the chief adviser for the US Covid-19 vaccine program said on Sunday.

The first vaccine was authorized for emergency use by US regulators on Friday night and began shipping on Sunday.

"We would have immunized 100 million people by the first quarter of 2021," US Operation Warp Speed chief adviser Dr. Moncef Slaoui said in an interview with Fox News Sunday.

He said the United States hopes to have about 40 million doses of vaccine distributed by the end of December, which would include the just authorized vaccine from Pfizer Inc and one from Moderna Inc expected to get a similar emergency use nod later this week.

Another 50 million to 80 million doses will be distributed in January, and the same number in February, Slaoui said. The vaccine requires two shots per person.

"We are working with Pfizer to continue helping them and supporting them achieve the objective of providing us with another 100 million doses in the second quarter of 2021," Slaoui said.

-Reuters 

December 13 2020 - 17:42

Covid-19 surge: Ramaphosa to address SA on Monday

President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation on Monday about the government's response to the second wave of Covid-19 infections in SA.

December 13 2020 - 16:43

Zip Zap circus cancels shows as Western Cape infections soar

Weeks after resuming its shows which were halted by the lockdown, the Zip Zap Circus School is halting its season as Covid-19 infections surge in the Western Cape.

The circus was to hold its final performance at the Artscape Theatre on Sunday night while the remaining eight performances would be cancelled, said founder Brent van Rensburg.

“We have to do the right thing,” said Van Rensburg. “It's so disappointing because the shows were going so well.”

December 13 2020 - 15:57

Covid outbreak at Stats SA training session in Pretoria

Stats SA employees and contract workers attending a training course at a Pretoria hotel have been asked to stay in their rooms after four people in the group tested positive for Covid-19.

The workshop, at the St George's Hotel, was to train workers for a planned census pilot project due to be carried out in late January 2021.

December 13 2020 - 13:12

Germany to impose stricter lockdown to battle Covid-19

Germany will close most stores from Wednesday until at least January 10, cutting short the busy Christmas shopping season, as it tightens coronavirus restrictions and tries to rein in the spread of the disease, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday.

"I would have wished for lighter measures. But due to Christmas shopping the number of social contacts has risen considerably," Merkel told journalists following a meeting with leaders of the country's 16 federal states.

"There is an urgent need to take action," she said.

—Reuters

December 13 2020 - 12:04

Historic US Covid vaccine campaign launches with convoy of trucks

Tractor trailers loaded with suitcase-sized containers of Covid-19 vaccine will leave Pfizer Inc's manufacturing facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on Sunday morning - launching the largest and most complex vaccine distribution project in the US, where the virus is raging.

US regulators late on Friday authorised the vaccine from Pfizer and partner BioNTech for use, and U.S. marshals will accompany the tightly secured shipments from factory to final destination.

"We have spent months strategising with Operation Warp Speed officials and our healthcare customers on efficient vaccine logistics, and the time has arrived to put the plan into action," Wes Wheeler, president of UPS Healthcare, said on Saturday.

—Reuters

December 13 2020 - 11:10

984 pupils from Gauteng who went to matric Rage in KZN test positive for Covid-19

Almost 1,000 people from Gauteng who travelled to KwaZulu-Natal to attend the annual matric Rage event have tested positive for Covid-19.

The Gauteng health department said it had made significant progress in tracing the majority of pupils from the province who attended. Out of 1,322 pupils, mostly from the Johannesburg and Tshwane districts, 1,050 had already undergone testing for Covid-19. Of those 984 tested positive.

“These students had 340 contacts of which 32 tested positive,” the department said in a statement, adding that it “continues to plead with learners and their parents to co-operate with health-care workers who are doing contact tracing as this is an important process aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus.

December 13 2020 - 10:28

KZN hospital diverting patients after Covid-19 outbreak

RK Khan hospital in KwaZulu-Natal is diverting patients to other health facilities after a number of health-care workers tested positive for Covid-19.

Paramedics and other emergency workers were instructed not to bring patients to the hospital in Chatsworth, Durban, after nurses and doctors working in two key wards tested positive.

In an electronic note, confirmed by two paramedics, emergency services were told: “Please note R K Khan is on complete divert due to a Covid outbreak. Further info to follow as to where to go [with patients] from that area. Suggest St Mary's for minors at least.”

December 13 2020 - 09:31

US readies Covid-19 inoculation rollout as regulators OK first vaccine

US health authorities, shipping services and hospitals stood ready on Friday to immediately launch a mass-inoculation campaign of unparalleled dimension, as federal regulators granted emergency approval to the first Covid-19 vaccine in the US.

Last-minute preparations for the vaccine rollout came as the US death toll from the coronavirus pandemic approached 300,000 to date, capping weeks of ominously surging infections and hospitalisations that have strained healthcare systems to their limits.

Another 2,902 US deaths were reported on Thursday, a day after a record 3,253, a pace projected to continue over the next two to three months even as distribution of available vaccine supplies ramps up.

—Reuters

December 13 2020 - 06:40

SANDF Covid drug report amounts to anti-Cuba propaganda

TheSunday Times report, SANDF's Cuba drug probed (November 15), is an endeavour on the part of a small fraction of insiders and others to pour as much mud as possible on deepening Cuba-South Africa relations to achieve their goal, whatever goal that is, and in the process cast aspersions on the person and integrity of the head of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), Gen Solly Shoke.

In the prevailing environment and amid attempts to taint the organs of state, the SANDF will almost certainly also come into focus - both for remnants of the old SADF and others.

It is also obvious that the SANDF's deepening programmatic relationship with Cuba has become an avenue through which these battles could be waged in an attempt to win public support through an anti-Cuba agenda. The SANDF also has a contingent of trainees in the second city of Cuba, Santiago de Cuba, who have not escaped the scrutiny of the anti-Cuba factions doing the rounds.

December 13 2020 - 06:28

US government secures access to 100 million more doses of Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine

Moderna Inc said on Friday the US 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 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.

December 13 2020 - 06:05

Racist medical history should not feed fears around Covid vaccine

I have a dear friend and former classmate from my time in the US named Lisa Fitzpatrick, who is also an infectious diseases doctor, a medical epidemiologist and public health specialist.

Earlier this year she volunteered to participate in the phase 3 Moderna mRNA-1273 Covid-19 vaccine trial in order to publicly demonstrate her confidence in the science of vaccinations and to offer a counter-narrative to the fear and mistrust which often accompany discussions about vaccination — especially in the US today.

As an African-American medical doctor, Lisa has extensive experience of the levels of mistrust in the American medical establishment by members of that country’s black community.

December 13 2020 - 06:00

Mkhize says citizens must 'make a choice — life, or sickness and death'

Health experts have pleaded with authorities to ramp up the enforcement of Covid-19 protocols as a second wave “that seems determined to dwarf the first wave” sweeps across SA.

“We are going to be very busy this festive season. A lot of people will be in a jolly mood and will likely want to party beyond midnight,” said Joburg metro police spokesperson chief supt Wayne Minnaar.

Minnaar admitted that the metro police were monitoring clubs and venues “in a reactionary manner” — only responding when a complaint against an establishment had been laid. He said they had closed “numerous” places, especially those operating after the midnight curfew, but no fines have been issued.

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