COVID-19 WRAP | SA records 2,320 new Covid-19 cases & SA has enough vaccine doses for 40 million people: Mkhize

17 February 2021 - 07:32 By TimesLIVE

February 17 2021 - 21:14

SA records 2,320 new Covid-19 cases, as positivity rate remains low

As SA began the first phase of its Covid-19 vaccination programme, health authorities would have also been buoyed by another day where new infections and the positivity rate remained low.

Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize confirmed on Wednesday night that 2,320 new cases were recorded in 24 hours. These were from 35,413 tests, at a positivity rate of 6.55% — again well below the 10%-12% range that Mkhize has previously cited as being of concern.

The new infections take the country's cumulative tally of Covid-19 cases to 1,496,439. To date, 8,772,743 tests have been conducted.

February 17 2021 - 19:32

Study reveals black and less-educated people more willing to take Covid-19 vaccine

Black South Africans who don't have matric are seemingly more willing to take the Covid-19 vaccine than white and better-educated people.

That is according to a University of Johannesburg study, whose findings were made public on Wednesday — coinciding with the first administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccines which were given to some of the country’s health-care workers and high-ranking government officials including President Cyril Ramaphosa.

February 17 2021 - 19:10

Dlamini-Zuma hits back at critics of the tobacco ban

Co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma on Wednesday hit back at those who criticised her handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The pandemic also displayed the inequalities confronting us. While the majority are struggling to survive, a few have poured millions into court cases to challenge our response to the pandemic,” Dlamini-Zuma told a joint sitting of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces to debate President Cyril Ramaphosa’s state of the nation address.

Last year, Dlamini-Zuma was slammed when the government announced a temporary ban on all tobacco products during level 4 of the Covid-19 lockdown. Dlamini-Zuma was taken to court by British American Tobacco SA as well as the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association for her handling of the matter.

February 17 2021 - 19:08

KZN health MEC 'instructs' hospital to postpone vaccination of health-care workers, DA claims

KwaZulu-Natal health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu has come under fire from the DA in the province, which claims she gave an instruction to postpone the vaccination of about 40 health-care workers on Wednesday.

The DA claims the instruction was made on a WhatsApp group consisting of staff members from the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital.

Simelane-Zuma's spokesperson, Noluthando Nkosi, said the MEC's team would respond to the DA's claims in due course.

February 17 2021 - 17:45

Bongani Zungu among 5 Rangers players dropped, fined after Covid-19 breach

Five Rangers players have been removed from the squad after breaching Covid-19 regulations and will be fined, manager Steven Gerrard said on Wednesday.

Midfielder Bongani Zungu, defenders Nathan Patterson and Calvin Bassey, striker Dapo Mebude and goalkeeper Brian Kinnear are the five players involved, with British media reporting that they attended a party in Glasgow which was broken up by police.

Gerrard said Scottish Premiership leaders Rangers had contacted the country's Football Association and the government over the incident.

February 17 2021 - 15:40

Ramaphosa upbeat about Covid-19 vaccine rollout as he gets his shot in the arm

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday said he believes the countrywide vaccination process is going to be flawless and straightforward.

“It is going to be done effectively and as we get more and more of these vaccines, as the minister brings them in, I think we will be able to vaccinate up to the 40 million South Africans that we should,” said Ramaphosa.

Speaking shortly after being inoculated with the newly acquired Johnson & Johnson vaccine at Khayelitsha District Hospital in the Western Cape, Ramaphosa thanked the staff for their efficiency in administering the vaccines which arrived in SA on Tuesday.

February 17 2021 - 14:30

SA has enough vaccine doses in pipeline for 40 million people, minister says

SA has enough Covid-19 vaccine doses in the pipeline for 40 million people and is "not at all anxious" that it will run into problems with its immunisation programme, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Wednesday.

The government plans to vaccinate 40 million people, or two-thirds of the population, to achieve some level of herd immunity.

Mkhize added that the country had a long discussion with AstraZeneca's leadership about possibly conducting another study in the country to reduce levels of uncertainty over the efficacy of its vaccine.

Reuters

February 17 2021 - 14:02

'We are taking a giant step, like a baby' - David Makhura hails Gauteng rollout of Covid vaccines

Dr Steve Mankupane, acting CEO of Soweto's Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, will be among the first health workers in Gauteng to be vaccinated against the coronavirus on Wednesday.

Gauteng health MEC Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi will also receive the jab, alongside about 28 other health workers at Bara.

The inoculation programme kicked off in SA on Wednesday afternoon, after the arrival of the first batch of 80,000 single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccines on Tuesday evening.

February 17 2021 - 13:00

'Happy vaccine day to health-care workers': SA reacts to J&J vaccine arrival and rollout

The arrival of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) vaccine in SA has been welcomed by many online.

The first delivery of 80,000 J&J vaccines arrived on Tuesday at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg and has been approved by the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra).

Health minister Zweli Mkhize told parliament that the vaccine has a 57% efficacy against the 501Y.V2 variant and is fully protective against serious illness or death.

February 17 2021 - 12:26

Health advocacy group calls for sugar tax to be doubled to fund fight against Covid-19

Advocacy group the Healthy Living Alliance (Heala) believes if SA doubled its sugary drinks tax, it could raise billions to help fund the fight against Covid-19.

Lawrence Mbalati, head of Heala, said beverages are taxed about 2.21c per gram of sugar for anything over a four gram threshold.

The advocacy group was at the forefront of pushing for the sugary drinks tax implemented in 2018.

February 17 2021 - 12:00

UK calls for conflict zone ceasefires to roll out vaccines

Britain will on Wednesday call for a UN resolution to help negotiate ceasefires so that people in conflict zones can be vaccinated against Covid-19, saying member states have a moral duty to protect the vulnerable.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will chair a virtual meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday to discuss the threat facing the more than 160 million people living in areas of instability and conflict, such as Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia.

“We have a moral duty to act, and a strategic necessity to come together to defeat this virus,” Raab said in a statement.

February 17 2021 - 11:16

J&J Covid-19 vaccine to be distributed across SA from Wednesday: Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has confirmed the arrival of the Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccine and said the doses were being prepared to be distributed across South Africa.

"As this batch has already been approved by the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) under the Sisonke protocol, these vaccines will be rapidly dispatched to all provinces.

"It is expected that most vaccination centres will be ready from today, 17 February 2021, to begin the vaccination programme," he said.

February 17 2021 - 10:46

Hunger increases in South Africa despite Covid-19 welfare payments

Eighteen percent of South African households reported someone going hungry at the end of last year, a survey published on Wednesday found, with the situation worsening despite welfare payments to fight the impact of COVID-19.

The hunger rate compares to 14% recorded in an official survey in 2018, showing the impact of the pandemic, researchers wrote in findings of the National Income Dynamics Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM), which followed 10,000 adults.

"The reduction of social protection while rates of adult and child hunger are still at the highest they have been for a decade will have severe consequences," they wrote.

Reuters

February 17 2021 - 10:21

End of the line for VW field hospital?

Hundreds of contract health-care workers could lose their jobs because the fate of the Dr Elizabeth Mamisa Chabula-Nxiweni Field Hospital in Port Elizabeth - which offered a glimpse of hope in the fight against Covid-19 - is up in the air.

The contract between automotive giant Volkswagen SA (VWSA) and the Eastern Cape health department comes to an end on March 31.

This includes the contracts of 331 health-care workers hired by the government.

February 17 2021 - 09:55

Tornadoes, historic cold across US kill seven, disrupt Covid-19 vaccinations

Killer tornadoes in the US Southeast and historic sub-zero cold as far south as Texas were blamed on Tuesday for seven deaths and massive power outages that cancelled Covid-19 inoculations and threatened to disrupt vaccine supplies.

Treacherous weather will maintain its grip on many parts of the US from Tuesday through Friday, with up to 4 inches of snow and freezing rain expected from the southern Plains into the Northeast, forecasters said.

“We're calling it Storm System No. 2, with very similar placement to the previous storm,” said meteorologist Lara Pagano of the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. She was referring to a system that blasted the nation through the long Presidents Day holiday weekend, dumping snow and ice from Ohio to the Rio Grande.

February 17 2021 - 08:20

Rollout of Covid-19 vaccine is underway across SA

The needle of SA's first Covid-19 vaccination is expected to be inserted into the arm of a healthcare worker on Wednesday afternoon.

The first batch of the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Covid-19 vaccine arrived at Johannesburg's OR Tambo International Airport on Tuesday night, health minister Zweli Mkhize confirmed.

The consignment was moved to a secure facility in Gauteng before being distributed overnight to vaccine centres in all provinces, government said.