COVID-19 LIVE UPDATES | Egypt to close stores, restaurants for two weeks to curb coronavirus

May 05 2021 - 18:10

Younger people filling up Covid-19 intensive care wards in Americas, PAHO says

Covid-19 infections continue to spread fast across the Americas as a result of relaxed prevention measures and intensive care units are filling up with younger people, the director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday.

In Brazil, mortality rates have doubled among those younger than 39, quadrupled among those in their 40s and tripled for those in their 50s since December, Carissa Etienne said.

May 05 2021 - 16:00

Egypt to close stores, restaurants for 2 weeks to curb coronavirus

Egypt will close stores, malls and restaurants to curb the spread of the coronavirus for two weeks from Thursday evening, straddling the last days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Eid celebrations, the prime minister said on Wednesday.

Large gatherings and concerts will be banned over the same period and beaches and parks will be shut between May 12-16, Mostafa Madbouly said.

-REUTERS

May 05 2021 - 13:43

Japan town builds giant squid with Covid-19 relief funds

A Japanese coastal town in the western part of the country has drawn ire on social media for using some of the coronavirus relief funds it was given by the government to build a statue of a giant squid in the hopes of boosting tourism.

The town of Noto in Ishikawa Prefecture was awarded 800 million yen ($7.31 million) in grants from the central government as part of an aid programme aimed at boosting local economies amid the pandemic, according to domestic media.

From that amount, Noto used 25 million yen to cover part of the cost of building the statue, which is four metres high and is nine metres long, domestic media reported. Total construction costs were around 30 million yen, they said.

May 05 2021 - 11:47

Covid-19 scare at G7 meeting after Indian delegates test positive

India’s entire delegation to the Group of Seven (G7) summit in London is self-isolating after two of its members tested positive for Covid-19, the British government said on Wednesday.

“Two delegates tested positive so the entire delegation is now self-isolating,” a British official said.

“The meeting had been enabled by a strict set of Covid-19 protocols, including daily testing of all delegates.”

May 05 2021 - 10:39

Tanzania stops flights to and from India amid coronavirus surge

Tanzania has suspended flights to and from India amid the Covid-19 surge in the Southeast Asian nation, the country's health ministry said, the latest sign of its increasingly active approach to tackling the pandemic under its new president.

It joins a growing list of East African countries that have halted flights to and from India, including Uganda and Kenya.

The suspension is effective immediately and will apply until further notice, the statement from health minister Abel Makubi dated Tuesday said. Exceptions would be made for cargo planes and pre-approved flights on humanitarian, diplomatic, and medical missions.

May 05 2021 09:03

Tourism goes cold as popular shisanyama, Mzoli's Place, closes its doors

Cape Town's iconic township eatery where people from different walks of life used to mingle over braai’d meat and pap, Mzoli’s Place in Gugulethu, has shut down indefinitely, in part because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

This Cape Town shisanyama was the heart of the township and an incredible attraction for international visitors and locals alike.

Sisanda Mangele, the daughter of businessman and philanthropist Mzoli Ngcawuzele, said she was not sure if the business will open again.

May 05 2021 - 09:02

Brazil Covid-19 inquiry told of Bolsonaro's blind faith in chloroquine

Brazil's former health minister told a parliamentary inquiry on Tuesday that President Jair Bolsonaro's right-wing government knew full well that the treatment they were advocating for Covid-19 patients had no scientific basis.

Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who was fired last April by Bolsonaro for not agreeing to push the malaria drug chloroquine as a Covid-19 treatment, testified before a parliamentary inquiry into the handling of the pandemic that has killed more than 408,000 Brazilians.

The Senate investigation is expected to hurt the president politically 17 months ahead of elections by showing the country that his opposition to lockdowns and social distancing measures, his failure to secure vaccines and the touting of unproven treatments deepened the crisis Brazil is now in.

May 05 2021 - 09:01

Australia's most populous state reports first Covid-19 case in more than a month

Australia's most populous state on Wednesday reported its first locally acquired Covid-19 case in more than a month and health authorities are working to trace the source of the infection.

Australia has largely eradicated Covid-19, but a man in his 50s with no known links to hotels used to quarantine people who have arrived from overseas tested positive for the coronavirus on Tuesday, the New South Wales (NSW) Ministry of Health said in a statement.

It is NSW's first local Covid-19 case since March 31.

May 05 2021 - 08:45

Biden aims for 70% of US adults to get one vaccine dose by July 4

President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a goal to vaccinate 70% of US adults with at least one Covid-19 shot by the July 4 Independence Day holiday and said the government would inoculate 12- to 15-year-olds as soon as allowed.

The president, who has made fighting the coronavirus a key priority of his administration, had previously announced July 4 as a target date for Americans to gather in small groups to celebrate the holiday and signal a return to greater normalcy in the middle of the pandemic.

Biden's new goal takes into account an increasing, though not unexpected, challenge of getting shots into the arms of people who are hesitant about the vaccine.

May 05 3032 - 08:30

Canada's Alberta confirms first death linked to AstraZeneca vaccine

The Canadian province of Alberta reported its first death of a patient from a rare blood clot condition after receiving the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, its chief medical officer confirmed late Tuesday.

The Alberta case marks the second case of blood clots, and the only death after more than 253,000 doses of AstraZeneca were administered in the province, the statement added.

AstraZeneca did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for a comment.

May 05 2021 - 07:00

Should SA be concerned about Covid-19 strain from India hitting the shores?