COVID-19 WRAP | SA records 1,447 Covid-19 cases
February 27 2021 - 21:30
SA records 1,447 Covid-19 cases
As of today, the total number of confirmed #COVID19 cases is 1 512 225 the total number of deaths is 49 941, the total number of recoveries is 1 429 047 and the total number of vaccines administered is 67 303. pic.twitter.com/r5CUMceI7I
— Dr Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) February 27, 2021
February 27 2021 - 16:30
One killed and one wounded in oxygen explosion at Ukraine hospital
One person was killed and another wounded in an oxygen explosion at a hospital in the western Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi, Ukraine's emergency service said on Saturday.
The explosion occurred on the second floor of the hospital at lunchtime on Saturday and 20 people were evacuated, the service said in a statement, which did not specify the cause of the incident.
-REUTERS
February 27 2021 - 11:14
Covid-19's first wave hit poor hardest, according to tests of V & Waterfront staff
The first wave of Covid-19 hit poorer people hardest, according to tests of 405 employees at the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town.
The test volunteers at SA's leading tourist destination came from all social strata. But the 23.7% with Covid-19 antibodies were more likely to live in informal housing, said a team of pulmonologists from the Medical Research Council and Stellenbosch University.
“When stratified by occupation, the largest proportion of the participants who tested positive arose from housekeeping services [cleaners], whereas the participants who worked in management were least likely to test SARS-CoV-2 antibody positive,” the doctors said in the journal PLOS One.
February 27 2021 - 10:36
New Zealand's largest city Auckland back to lockdown after Covid-19 case
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Saturday that the country's biggest city, Auckland, will be put into a seven-day lockdown from Sunday after a coronavirus community case of unknown origin was recorded.
The rest of New Zealand will be put into Level 2 restrictions that limit public gatherings, among others, she told a news conference.
In mid-February, Auckland's nearly 2 million residents were plunged into a snap three-day lockdown after a family of three were diagnosed with the more transmissible UK variant of COVID-19.
-REUTERS
February 27 2021 - 10:00
Russia reports 11,534 new Covid-19 cases, 439 deaths
Russia on Saturday reported 11,534 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, including 1,825 in Moscow, taking the national tally to 4,234,720 since the pandemic began.
The government coronavirus taskforce also reported 439 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the official death toll to 85,743.
-REUTERS
February 27 2021 - 09:15
US House approves Biden's $1.9 trillion Covid-19 aid
President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion plan to address the human and economic toll of the COVID-19 pandemic passed the U.S. House of Representatives early on Saturday, with the next step Senate consideration.
-REUTERS
February 27 2021 - 08:50
South Korea launches review of Johnson & Johnson's Covid-19 vaccine
South Korean has begun a review of Johnson & Johnson's coronavirus vaccine after the U.S. pharmaceutical firm submitted an application for approval, the government said on Saturday.
The food and drug safety ministry said it would study the one-shot vaccine with private advisory panels before it authorises the vaccine.
-REUTERS