COVID-19 WRAP | More than 231,000 health workers vaccinated in SA

March 26 2021 - 21:46

1,516 new Covid-19 cases and 67 deaths recorded in SA in 24 hours

SA recorded 1,516 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, along with 67 more fatalities, health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said on Friday.

This means that 1,543,079 infections have been recorded to date, and 52,602 deaths.

The new cases came from 29,240 tests, at a positivity rate of 5.18%.

March 26 2021 - 17:32

Germany issues travel warning for France, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark

Germany on Friday issued Covid-19 related travel warnings for various European countries including neighbouring France, Austria, Denmark and the Czech Republic.

The step means that people coming from those countries must provide a negative coronavirus test not older than 48 hours at the border and they are then obliged to go into a 10-day quarantine which can be shortened via a second negative test after five days, the Robert Koch Institute said. 

Reuters

March 26 2021 - 16:46

LISTEN | One year on: Did SA enter lockdown at the right time?

Midnight March 26 2021 marks the first anniversary of lockdown in SA due to Covid-19.

With the advantage of hindsight, we asked experts if March 2020 was in fact the ideal time for SA to have entered its hard lockdown.

March 26 2021 - 14:59

Kenya's president orders new lockdown to battle Covid-19 wave

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta restricted travel in the capital Nairobi and four other counties on Friday as Covid-19 infections hit record levels in East Africa's richest economy.

In a televised address, Kenyatta said a wave of new lockdown measures including a stricter curfew and the closure of bars in the capital were essential to fight Covid-19.

Residents of Nairobi and the four other areas were ordered to stay in their counties and not cross into other areas. In-person schooling was suspended, apart from for students taking exams.

On March 12 Kenyatta extended a nationwide overnight curfew for 60 days to battle the third wave of infections, but on Friday he said further action was needed amid a "devastating" death rate and an overstretched health system.

Reuters

March 26 2021 - 13:31

Medical scientists slam sale of AstraZeneca vaccine to African Union

SA has “squandered the opportunity to protect at least 500,000 of its most vulnerable citizens before the next resurgence” of Covid-19 infections, said top medical scientists.

In an editorial published on Thursday in the SA Medical Journal, the scientists attacked the country’s decision to resell its million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to the African Union (AU).

March 26 2021 - 12:54

Britain approves 20-second Covid-19 test, distributor says

Britain’s medicine regulator has approved a 20-second Covid-19 test, the product’s distributor said on Friday when it launched a testing system it said could be used in airports, sports venues and businesses.

Rapid tests are seen as a key part of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown, but concerns have been expressed about the accuracy of existing lateral flow devices.

March 26 2021 - 12:28

Mbalula catches smoke for asking which country is handling Covid-19 better than SA

Transport minister Fikile Mbalula is getting shaded on social media for his opinion on the government’s fight against Covid-19.

On Thursday Mbalula suggested no other government in the world was better than the SA government when it came to dealing with the pandemic.

“Which part of the world is better than us?” Mbalula responded to a tweet suggesting the pandemic would affect SA for the next five years because of the government.

March 26 2021 - 11:56

'Stricter precautions' ahead of Easter weekend are being 'finalised', says Mkhize

Health minister Zweli Mkhize says discussions around “stricter precautions” ahead of the Easter long weekend are being finalised.

Speaking to the SABC on Thursday, Mkhize said the decision to move the country to a higher lockdown level was being discussed by government officials and will be based on recommendations from epidemiological experts.

“The matter is being finalised. I don’t have the full answer as we speak, but there have been recommendations for stricter lockdown regulations,” said Mkhize

March 26 2021 - 11:54

Top German health official says third coronavirus wave could be worst so far

There are clear signals that the current wave of coronavirus infections in Germany could be worse than the first two, the chief of Germany's RKI health insitute said on Friday.

If people use the Easter days to reduce contacts, then this third wave could at least be tempered, Lothar Wieler, head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for Infectious Diseases, told a news conference on Friday.

Reuters

March 26 2021 - 11:29

Coronavirus pandemic highlights need to bolster SA’s health systems: hospital manager

Starting a new job is generally challenging and stressful, but doing so in the medical field during the onset of a global pandemic that has changed the world adds extra layers of stress and anxiety.

However, Lehlohonolo Majake-Mogoba, 39, a public health specialist and operations manager at a private hospital in Pretoria, has taken it all in her stride, running the hospital, looking after nearly 200 staff members and taking care of her family.

It’s been a little over a year since Covid-19 arrived in SA with the first case identified on March 5 2020. Since then, more than 52,000 people have lost their lives to the coronavirus and more than 1.5 million people have been infected by it.

March 26 2021 - 10:49

India plans to widen vaccination campaign as infections surge

India plans to widen a coronavirus vaccination campaign soon to include more younger people, the health minister said on Friday, as its new infections rose by the most in more than five months.

The world's biggest vaccine-making nation has held back large exports of the AstraZeneca shot to meet growing domestic demand. But there is no outright ban, a government source said, and vaccine supply will be staggered.

All above the age of 45 are eligible for vaccination from April 1, the government has said, and it is now working to meet a demand by many states for the inclusion of all adults, after new infections nearly quadrupled this month.

Reuters

March 26 2021 - 10:42

Four things to know about Prof Abdool Karim's replacement Prof Koleka Mlisana

Prof Koleka Mlisana has been appointed to replace Prof Salim Abdool Karim as co-chair of the ministerial advisory committee (MAC) on Covid-19 after his one-year term came to an end this week.

In a statement, Abdool Karim said he was stepping down to focus on his other academic work.

March 26 2021 - 10:34

Pandemic sent pastor 'down a financial hellhole'

When President Cyril Ramaphosa extended the country’s first hard lockdown, a pastor had to rely on handouts and a reprieve on his rent to survive, while a salon owner was forced to retrench all 29 of her employees and close her two salons.

Steven Ndlovu, 33, a pastor from Diepkloof, Soweto, and Smangele Sibisi, 30, a salon owner from Protea, also in Soweto, told Sowetan of how their lives were changed after the lockdown forced them to leave their full-time jobs.

March 26 2021 - 10:16

Russia's Covid-19 case tally passes 4.5 million mark

Russia's Covid-19 case total reached 4,501,859 on Friday after authorities reported 9,167 new infections nationwide in the last 24 hours, including 1,813 in Moscow.

The government coronavirus taskforce also said that 405 people had died in the last 24 hours, pushing its death toll to 97,017.

Reuters

March 26 2021 - 07:30

Quarter of small businesses closed because of Covid-19 — survey

A quarter of small, medium and micro (SMME) enterprises reported being forced to close their doors as a result of Covid-19 and there was a chance that a collective 1.2 staff could be laid off over the next six months.

These are figures from the BeyondCovid Business Survey, which paints a bleak picture for the future of the country's SMME sector one year on from when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country.