COVID-19 WRAP | SA records more than 100 Covid-19 deaths in past 24 hours

May 14 2021 - 22:21

SA records more than 3,000 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours for second consecutive day

More than 3,000 new Covid-19 infections were recorded in a 24-hour period for the second straight day, health minister Zweli Mkhize said on Friday.

There were also more than 100 Covid-19 related deaths recorded in the past 24 hours — the first time this has happened since April 20. Mkhize explained that this was because the Free State and Northern Cape “have back captured data over several months as part of their auditing processes”.

May 14 2021 - 20:40

Cape Town gets a boost in its campaign to dispel vaccination myths

Scepticism about the safety of Covid-19 vaccines and whether it is even necessary to vaccinate against the coronavirus have become hot topics of conversation lately, as vaccination campaigns intensify in different parts of the world.

Warnings about possible blood clots brought more fear and worry, while conspiracy theories about Covid-19 vaccines continue to rage.

But authorities in Cape Town have now launched an awareness campaign to debunk misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccination — thanks to a multimillion-rand donation by Bloomberg Philanthropies in partnership with the World Health Organisation (WHO), which will help cities around the world to reach vulnerable groups, including transgender people and the homeless.

May 14 2021 - 19:34

State of disaster extended for another month

The national state of disaster has been extended for another month, until June 15.

Co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma gazetted the extension on Friday.

May 14 2021 - 14:59

There were vaccine queue jumpers but no widespread fraud, says Western Cape health head

Non-healthcare workers who “jumped” the queue and got vaccinated did not commit “widespread fraud”.

This is according to the Western Cape head of health, Dr Keith Cloete, who addressed the outrage over reports of non-healthcare workers receiving the Covid-19 jabs this week.

On social media, poet Lebo Mashile and a technology and motoring journalist were among those accused of “jumping the queue”, after they shared that they had been vaccinated.

May 14 2021 - 12:31

Fungal infections might be dangerous for Covid-19 patients with severe symptoms in ICU, experts say

Covid-19 patients with severe symptoms who end up in intensive care units (ICU) in hospital are at risk of contracting an invasive fungal infection that might influence their outcomes and affect treatment.

This is according to a recently published study which suggests these fungal co-infections in Covid-19 patients on ventilators may contribute to their high mortality rate.

Prof Carlien Pohl-Albertyn and Dr Obinna Ezeokoli, from the Pathogenic Yeast Research Group in the department of microbiology and biochemistry at the University of the Free State (UFS), recently published an article on the incidence of fungal infection in Covid-19 patients.

May 14 2021 - 11:37

Covid-19 vaccine rollout will begin at private sector sites on May 24

The next stage of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout starts on Monday at state facilities, while those hoping to get the jab at private sector sites will need to wait another week.

This is according to an update from the SA Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and shared by the Gauteng health department.

People older than 60 and health workers are eligible for this imminent phase.

Under the Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Sisonke Protocol, 455,169 health workers had been vaccinated by late Thursday.

May 14 2021 - 11:17

Origins of Covid-19 need to be investigated further, leading scientists say

The origin of the novel coronavirus is still unclear and there is not yet enough evidence to say conclusively if it occurred naturally or was caused by a laboratory leak, a group of leading scientists said in a letter.

The novel coronavirus, which emerged in China in late 2019, has killed 3.34 million people, cost the world trillions of dollars in lost income and upended daily life for billions of people.

“More investigation is still needed to determine the origin of the pandemic,” said the 18 scientists, including Ravindra Gupta, a clinical microbiologist at the University of Cambridge and Jesse Bloom, who studies the evolution of viruses at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

May 14 2021 - 11:16

India's Covid-19 cases above 24 million as mutant spreads across globe

The number of recorded Covid-19 infections in India climbed above 24 million on Friday amid reports that the highly transmissible coronavirus mutant first detected in the country was spreading across the globe.

The Indian B.1.617 variant of the virus has been found in cases in eight countries of the Americas, including Canada and the United States, said Jairo Mendez, a WHO infectious diseases expert.

People infected by the variant included travellers in Panama and Argentina who had arrived from India or Europe. In the Caribbean, cases of the Indian variant have been detected in Aruba, Dutch St Maarten and the French department of Guadeloupe.

May 14 2021 - 11:15

SA not in third wave yet, says NICD — but here are provinces at risk

New Covid-19 data released by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) shows infections rising in parts of SA. 

The NICD is a division of the national health laboratory service and according to the institute, SA has not entered a new wave. 

May 14 2021 - 07:00

Vaccines aren't being distributed equitably, putting the vulnerable and healthcare workers at risk: Tedros Ghebreyesus