COVID-19 WRAP | SA records more than 20,000 new Covid-19 cases

January 07 2021 - 21:19

SA records more than 20,000 new Covid-19 cases for second straight day

SA on Thursday recorded more than 20,000 new Covid-19 cases in a 24-hour period for the second day in a row.

In a statement on Thursday night, health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize confirmed that 20,999 new infections had been recorded in the past 24 hours. This took the national tally of confirmed cases to 1,170,590.

The new cases came from 69,271 tests, at a positivity rate of 30.3%.

January 07 2021 - 21:06

SA's two biggest pharmacies plan to offer Covid-19 vaccines

SA's two biggest pharmacy chains Clicks and Dis-Chem said they plan to offer Covid-19 shots at their stores and provide storage and distribution facilities in the vaccine rollout programme once the government provides more details.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Sunday called on the private sector, including pharmacies, to help with the rollout but the government is yet to outline how exactly they will help.

Dis-Chem and Clicks have a combined 45% dispensary market share. Dis-Chem, with more than 180 stores, will offer the vaccines at all its clinics nationwide and is also looking to offer them at its eight drive-through Covid-19 testing stations, Dis-Chem National Clinic Manager Lizeth Kruger told Reuters.

—Reuters

January 07 2021 - 19:00

SA hits the nail on the head with its first choice of vaccine

When health minister Zweli Mkhize announced on Thursday that the first Covid-19 vaccine SA will get is the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, it was an obvious first choice from the top contenders.

Most importantly, the science shows it works (70.4% efficacy) and it is safe. No severe side effects have been reported in ongoing clinical trials.

Half of the nearly 24,000 participants enrolled in the four randomised controlled trials taking place in Brazil, SA and the UK, from April to November 2020, have already got the vaccine.

January 07 2021 - 18:39

SA's Aspen could be producing J&J Covid shots by end of March

Aspen Pharmacare could start production of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines in SA by late March or early April if all approvals are in place, a senior company executive said.

All the vaccines produced will be exported to J&J and will be a part of its global supply inventory, Stavros Nicolaou, group senior executive for strategic trade at Aspen, added.

“We are going to receive a tech transfer to contract manufacture for J&J ... Aspen has current capacity to manufacture up to 300 million doses of Covid vaccine,” Nicolaou said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday, adding that these will be exported to J&J.

January 07 2021 - 18:14

Deputy minister David Mahlobo tests positive for Covid-19

Deputy minister of water and sanitation David Mahlobo has tested positive for Covid-19, the presidency said on Thursday.

Mahlobo, who received his results on Thursday, remains in good spirits and is in self-quarantine at home. All those who have recently been in contact with him will also self-isolate in their respective homes.

“As SA is undergoing the second wave of the pandemic, we wish deputy minister Mahlobo - as well as the thousands of South Africans who are battling this disease - a speedy recovery,” said the presidency in a statement.

January 07 2021 - 18:10

Cops raid Durban private hospital looking for banned Covid drug Ivermectin

A private hospital in Durban was raided by the police and the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) on Thursday after a tip-off that the outlawed drug Ivermectin was allegedly being dispensed at the facility.

Sahpra officials and police officers visited the Ahmed Al-Kadi Hospital in Sherwood around midday.

Sahpra spokesperson Yuven Gounden told TimesLIVE: “We had information that they were dispensing Ivermectin. We approached their responsible pharmacist and he said that a doctor or somebody dropped a consignment off and they dispensed, which is very irresponsible.

January 07 2021 - 17:16

Covid-19 vaccine deliveries under Covax could start this month - WHO

Covid-19 vaccine deliveries under the Covax facility coordinated by the World Health Organisation to support lower-income countries could start this month, WHO immunisation director Kate O'Brien said on Thursday.

"We need about $7 billion in order to deliver enough vaccine to these countries through the end of 2021. The facility has already raised about $6 billion of the $7 billion," she told an online social media event.

So the facility has access to over 2 billion doses of vaccine. We will start to deliver those vaccines probably by the end of January, and if not, then certainly by early February and mid-February."

—Reuters

January 07 2021 - 15:25

More than 100 positive Covid-19 tests at Beitbridge border post

The Limpopo health department is worried that Covid-19 may be spreading rapidly in the winding queues at the Beitbridge border as thousands of people — mostly migrants — queue to get back into SA.

Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba said they had noted that at least 104 people had tested positive for the virus at the border in the past four days.

Her department has now called on all people who have entered SA through the border to self-quarantine before interacting with other people once they reach their destinations.

January 07 2021 - 14:42

Will SA citizens be forced to get Covid-19 vaccine? Zweli Mkhize answers

The government will not force anyone to take the Covid-19 vaccine.

That was the message from health minister Zweli Mkhize, who briefed parliament's portfolio committee on health on Thursday. Mkhize was grilled by committee members who wanted to know if taking the vaccine would be compulsory for all citizens.

Committee members also wanted to know whether citizens who objected to taking the vaccines on religious or moral grounds would be allowed to opt out.

January 07 2021 - 14:34

Torching of three cellphone towers 'linked to 5G and Covid conspiracies'

Three telecommunications network infrastructure towers were burnt and destroyed within a matter of hours in KwaZulu-Natal this week — seemingly sparked by the spread of false information related to Covid-19 and 5G.

The towers, belonging to telecom providers Vodacom and MTN, were burnt in the Durban area between Tuesday and Wednesday.

This is according to communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, who described the attacks as a threat to investments made to develop vital telecoms network infrastructure.  

January 07 2021 - 14:21

Cosatu boss Zingiswa Losi becomes latest ANC leader to sow doubt over Covid vaccine

Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi has become the latest high-ranking leader of the ANC and its alliance partners to sow doubt over Covid-19 vaccines.

Losi, addressing the ANC Women's League Charlotte Maxeke intergenerational dialogue on Thursday, questioned what vaccines the country was “looking at”.

“Because some of the vaccines are not organic, some of the vaccines leave side-effects. But as African people we have our indigenous herbs. We are not putting forward these issues as African women, to liberate SA and the African continent,” said Losi.

January 07 2021 - 14:04

Nothing fishy about reopening beaches, says KZN hotspot as it seeks clarity on regulations

The city of uMhlathuze, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, has opened its beaches for fishing purposes while it awaits final clarity on Covid-19 hotspot beach closure regulations, which it says are “open to interpretation”.

“While the city seeks further official clarity on this matter with all relevant departments concerned, beaches will be opened for fishing purposes only, with no time restrictions to all fishermen with valid fishing permits and exemptions - and upon satisfaction that they adhere to all health and safety protocols inclusive of the number of fishermen on the boat as stipulated on the permits and exemptions,” city spokesperson Mdu Ncalane said. 

January 07 2021 - 14:00

Click-and-collect & at-home consumption: Here are some of the proposals for lifting the booze ban

Various proposals have been made to the government to lift the ban on liquor sales and distribution under level 3 lockdown.

The booze sales ban was put in place just days before New Year’s Eve, when President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the move from lockdown level 1 back to adjusted level 3.

It is set to be reviewed on January 15, when other regulations will also be reviewed.

January 07 2021 - 13:41

Private field hospital built in Limpopo to cope with rising Covid-19 infections

Private health-care group Netcare has built a field hospital to create more capacity for emergency patients at Pholoso Hospital in Limpopo due to a sharp rise in Covid-19  admissions.

“No health-care system in the world is designed for so many people requiring hospitalisation at the same time, as has been experienced during this global pandemic,”  said Netcare CEO Dr Richard Friedland.

“In many parts of our country, the second wave of Covid-19 is already considerably worse than the initial wave and this is reflected in hospital admission rates.”

January 07 2021 - 12:44

SA to get first million doses of Covid-19 this month: Zweli Mkhize

Health minister Zweli Mkhize on Thursday announced that the country will receive its first million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine this month.

Mkhize was addressing the portfolio committee on health on the country's Covid-19 vaccine programme.

He said his department had reached an agreement with the Serum Institute of India for the first batch of doses, for frontline workers.

January 07 2021 - 11:03

How I identified Covid-19 variant in a week: KZN virus hunter

The SA virus hunter who identified the new variant of Covid-19 driving the country's second wave of infections has told the dramatic story behind his discovery.

Speaking to CNN, Prof Tulio de Oliveira, from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said Eastern Cape doctors started telling him in mid-November that they were seeing a sudden and “shocking” explosion in Covid-19 cases.

January 07 2021 - 09:44

Limpopo 'paying the price of social gatherings' as Covid-19 cases rocket

Limpopo's health department has expressed concern about the alarming number of people who are getting infected with Covid-19 in the province.

Health MEC Phophi Ramathuba said on Thursday that at one point in December, the province was recording just 20 new cases a day, but that had significantly increased to 1,575 new infections a day on Wednesday.

“This is the highest ever figure to be recorded in a reporting cycle in the province since the first case of Covid-19. This is a sharp increase from 900 over the previous cycle,” she said.

January 07 2021 - 08:00

'Will this ever end?': Mzansi reacts to SA's deadliest Covid-19 day yet

Social media was flooded with messages fearing the worst and urging people to stay at home, after SA reported its highest number of Covid-19 deaths and new infections in a 24-hour period.

Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize announced on Wednesday that 844 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours, along with 21,832 cases.

Of the deaths, 452 were in the Eastern Cape alone, as a result of “data reconciliation” dating between May and November 2020.

January 07 2021 - 06:00

Emmerson Mnangagwa urged to cut holiday as Covid-19 spirals in Zimbabwe

There are growing calls for Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa to cut short his annual holiday because the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has “run over” his government.

One of his deputies, Constantino Chiwenga, effectively put the country on a 30-day lockdown that started on Tuesday. His other deputy, Kembo Mohadi, announced that this time around, individual effort was key in fighting the virus.

January 07 2021 - 00:00

Deadliest Covid day in SA, with 840 deaths and 21,800 cases reported in 24 hours

SA had its deadliest day since the outbreak of the coronavirus in the country, setting grim new records in terms of both fatalities and new cases.

Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize announced that 844 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours, along with 21,832 cases. Of the deaths, 452 were in the Eastern Cape alone, as a result of "data reconciliation".

The previous high for single-day deaths was 572 on July 22, and the previous daily high for cases was the 18,000 infections recorded exactly a week ago on December 31.