COVID-19 LIVE UPDATES | 100 pupils in isolation after teen failed to disclose positive Covid-19 test

March 19 2021 - 19:17

WHO gives nod to AstraZeneca vaccine and its 'tremendous potential'

The World Health Organization's vaccine safety panel said on Friday that available data from AstraZeneca's Covid-19 shot do not point to any overall increase in clotting conditions but it would continue to monitor for any adverse effects.

"The AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine (including Covishield) continues to have a positive benefit-risk profile, with tremendous potential to prevent infections and reduce deaths across the world," the WHO's global advisory committee on vaccine safety said in a statement.

March 19 2021 - 17:41

100 pupils in isolation after teen failed to disclose positive Covid-19 test

About 100 pupils at a Pretoria school are being monitored after a schoolmate failed to declare he had tested positive for Covid-19.

The Gauteng education department confirmed that it was monitoring the situation after the pupils came in close contact with an undisclosed Covid-19 positive case.

TimesLIVE has reached out to the school, but had not yet received a response by Friday afternoon.

March 19 2021 - 15:29

Gauteng must brace for third Covid-19 wave, advisory committee warns

The Gauteng premier’s advisory committee (PAC) has warned of a third wave of Covid-19 infections in the next few months due to the slow start to the vaccination programme and relaxed alert level 1 restrictions.

Committee chair Dr Mary Kawonga told a Gauteng provincial command council media briefing that the second wave ended five weeks ago but the province was not out of the woods. The briefing came ahead of a long weekend and the upcoming Easter weekend.

March 19 2021 - 12:49

Covid-19 chaos: Bafana coach Ntseki salvages five players‚ including Percy Tau

Bafana Bafana coach Molefi Ntseki’s squad appears to have emerged relatively unscathed from a Fifa circular decimating squads across the continent for the final two rounds of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

By the assurances Ntseki has received from frantically contacting clubs‚ just four of Bafana’s nine overseas-based players will be ruled out of the crucial matches against Ghana at FNB Stadium on March 25 and Sudan in Khartoum on March 28.

And, crucially, English Premiership-based star striker Percy Tau of Brighton and Hove Albion is among those coming. The others are the three Portugal-based players – Thibang Phete‚ Luther Singh and Lyle Foster; and Israel-based Siyanda Xulu.

March 19 2021 - 12:37

Covid-19 vaccine rollout: electronic system will be used to register in SA

The electronic system now being used in the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine for health workers will also be used in subsequent stages for the rest of the population in SA.

Health minister Zweli Mkhize confirmed this in response to a parliamentary question from EFF MP Naledi Chirwa who asked about the process ordinary citizens would follow when registering to be vaccinated.

Mkhize said the registration system for beneficiaries was built to respond to phases of the vaccine rollout programme and the sequencing of the population within the phases.

March 19 2021 - 12:35

Mexico to tighten borders against Covid-19 as US offers vaccine help

Mexico's government said on Thursday it would restrict movement on its southern border with Guatemala to help contain the spread of Covid-19 as the Biden administration set out plans to loan Mexico vaccines to fight the pandemic.

Mexico's announcement that it would curb travel on the Guatemala frontier dovetails with its preparations to step up enforcement efforts in the area against surging illegal immigration, according to a Reuters report.

The mutually beneficial steps follow weeks of diplomacy to address concerns over rising apprehensions of migrants trying to enter the United States, many of them unaccompanied minors, as well as setbacks to Mexico's initial vaccine rollout.

March 19 2021 - 12:34

Paris goes into lockdown as Covid-19 variant rampages

France imposed a month-long lockdown on Paris and parts of the north after a faltering vaccine rollout and spread of highly contagious coronavirus variants forced President Emmanuel Macron to shift course.

Since late January, when he defied the calls of scientists and some in his government to lock the country down, Macron has said he would do whatever it took to keep the euro zone's second largest economy as open as possible.

However, this week he ran out of options just as France and other European countries briefly suspended use of the AstraZenca vaccine.

March 19 2021 - 07:00

Mboweni warns a third wave of Covid-19 could hurt country's ratings

Finance minister Tito Mboweni said on Thursday that a third wave of the coronavirus could destabilise the government's efforts to control its finances and avoid a further downgrade of the country's sovereign rating.

Two of the top three rating agencies - Moody's and Fitch - downgraded South Africa's sovereign rating further into junk in November on concerns of rising debt levels and the government's ability to raise revenues and pay off debt amid the economic shock inflicted by the pandemic.

Mboweni was replying to questions in a virtual parliament session, and said the rating agencies would be looking closely at how the government was moving on its promised structural reforms such as infrastructure growth, telecom spectrum allocation, reliable power supply and reducing the public sector wage bill.

Reuters