COVID-19 WRAP | SA records 1,778 confirmed Covid-19 cases

May 09 2021 - 22:00

SA records 1,778 confirmed Covid-19 cases

SA recorded 1,778 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, according to health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize. 

The total number of cases in the country since the start of the pandemic in 2020 now stands at 1,596,595. The national death toll as of Sunday evening is 54,735, with 11 deaths recorded. 

382,480 vaccines have been administered since the start of the vaccine rollout.  

May 09 2021 - 15:30

Free State school closed after 32 pupils contract Covid-19

A Free State high school has had to shut its doors after 32 of its pupils tested positive for Covid-19.

Pupils at Reutlwahetse High School in Excelsior were sent home just days after returning to school after the Easter vacation, Netwerk24 reported on Sunday.

A number of pupils returned to school with flu-like symptoms after which they were tested for Covid-19, Free State education department spokesperson Howard Ndaba reportedly said.

May 09 2021 - 15:16

China to create 'line of separation' at Everest summit amid Covid fears

China will set up "a line of separation" at the summit of Mount Everest to prevent the mingling of climbers from Covid-hit Nepal and those ascending from the Tibetan side as a precautionary measure, Chinese state media reported on Sunday.

Everest base camp on the Nepalese side has been hit by coronavirus cases since late April.

The Nepalese government, starved of tourism revenue, has yet to cancel the spring climbing season, usually from April to early June before the monsoon rains. It was not immediately clear how the line would be enforced on the summit, a tiny, perilous and inhospitable area the size of a dining table.

Reuters

May 09 2021 - 14:15

India turns to ex-army medics as Covid surge sparks calls for lockdown

India is to recruit hundreds of former army medics to support its overwhelmed healthcare system, the defence ministry said on Sunday, as the country grapples with record Covid-19 infections and deaths amid angry calls for a complete nationwide lockdown.

Some 400 medical officers are expected to serve on contract for a maximum of 11 months, the ministry said in a press release, adding that other defence doctors had also been roped in for online consultations.

Covid-19 cases and deaths have been hitting records every two or three days. 

Reuters

May 09 2021 - 11:45

'Freedom' fiestas: Spaniards celebrate end of Covid curfew

Exhilarated Spaniards danced in streets, chanted "freedom" and partied on beaches overnight as a Covid-19 curfew ended across most of the nation.

In scenes akin to New Year's Eve celebrations, hundreds of mainly young people gathered in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square to applaud the clock striking midnight while in Barcelona revellers headed to the beach with drinks in hand.

Police in Barcelona had the strange task of moving people on after the last curfew began at 10pm, only to let them back at midnight when it ended for good.

Reuters

May 09 2021 - 08:30

'Dead quiet': South Africa losing cultural landmarks to Covid-19

Having been forced to close their doors for months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, South African cultural institutions like Johannesburg's Apartheid Museum are finding they are too cash-strapped to reopen.

May 09 2021 - 08:00

World leaders weigh in on Covid-19 vaccine waiver

World leaders are weighing in after the US said it would support suspending patent protection for Covid-19 vaccines in an effort to boost global production.

May 09 2021 - 07:00

Dutch researchers train bees to detect Covid-19

Dutch researchers have trained bees, which have an unusually keen sense of smell, to identify samples infected with Covid-19, a finding they said could cut waiting times for test results to just seconds.

May 09 2021 - 06:30

‘This precious little human gave me my strength back’

On the day four months ago that Dellisa Moodley became a mother, giving birth to a son, Atreus, in a Durban hospital, she also tested positive for Covid-19.

Eight days later she was on a ventilator fighting for her life.

A month later, after recovering from temporary paralysis, she was finally discharged — and feels especially lucky to be celebrating Mother’s Day today.

Moodley’s ordeal began on January 15 when she was admitted to Chatsmed Hospital with labour pains.

She was discharged from hospital after the birth but her condition deteriorated and on her first wedding anniversary, January 26, the first-time mother was separated from her baby and placed on a ventilator.

May 09 2021 - 06:15

All eyes on the lab to see if Indian variant has landed in SA

SA will know this week whether the B.1.617 variant associated with the deadly new Covid wave in India is present in the country.

This is as fears mounted after health minister Zweli Mkhize announced this week that three travellers from the subcontinent had tested positive for Covid upon entry into SA.

May 09 2021 - 06:10

India's Covid-19 cases rise by over 400,000 despite state lockdowns

India's total Covid-19 cases rose by over 400,000 for the fourth consecutive day on Sunday even as several states imposed strict lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus.

India's health ministry reported 4,092 fatalities over the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 242,362. Cases rose by 403,738, increasing the total since the start of the pandemic to 22.3 million.

Reuters

May 09 2021 - 06:00

Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for SA has '95% success rate'

The Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, 325,000 doses of which landed in Johannesburg this week, offers 95% protection against hospitalisation and death, according to a big new study from Israel published in the Lancet medical journal this week.

The latest results are further evidence that the two Covid-19 vaccines to be rolled out to South Africans from May 17 — the Pfizer/BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson vaccines — offer real protection.

The J&J vaccine is the only Covid-19 vaccine tested in a big study, of 44,000 participants, against the B1.351 variant of Covid-19 dominant in SA. The vaccine was found to offer 64% protection against severe disease and death. It also has the advantage of being a single-dose vaccine.

Scientists, clinicians and health officials warned this week that Covid-19 cases were picking up in SA “after a lull”, and vaccinating at speed and scale was critical to control the third wave.