COVID-19 WRAP | More than 960,000 South Africans have received vaccinations

May 30 2021 - 21:43

Mexico records 1,307 coronavirus cases, 52 more deaths

Mexico recorded 1,307 coronavirus cases and 52 more deaths on Sunday, according to health ministry data, bringing the overall number of cases to 2,412,810 and the death toll to 223,507.

Reuters

May 30 2021 - 21:01

US administers 294.9 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines

The US has administered 294,928,850 doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the country as of Sunday morning and distributed 366,316,945 doses, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

Those figures are up from the 293,705,050 vaccine doses the CDC said had gone into arms by May 29 out of 366,314,625 doses delivered.

The agency said 167,733,972 people had received at least one dose while 135,087,319 people are fully vaccinated as of Sunday.

The CDC tally includes two-dose vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, as well as Johnson & Johnson's one-shot vaccine as of 6am ET on Sunday.

Reuters

May 30 2021 - 20:52

Almost a million South Africans have received their Covid-19 jabs: Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has confirmed that more than 960,000 South Africans have received Covid-19 vaccinations.

He said more than two thirds of health workers had been vaccinated.

“More than 67% of public health workers have been vaccinated. These health workers received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which only requires a single dose. Since the evidence shows that older people are at a far greater risk of severe Covid-19 illness and death, we have prioritised the elderly for this second phase,” he said.

May 30 2021 - 20:21

May 30 2021 - 19:56

LISTEN | Ramaphosa moves SA to adjusted level 2

May 30 2021 - 19:35

May 30 2021 - 19:17

President Cyril Ramaphosa moves SA to level 2

SA will move to lockdown level 2 from Monday.

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday already confirmed that tighter restrictions were on the cards as SA enters its third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said there have been a sustained average 3,745 daily new infections — a 67% increase on the previous week.

May 30 2021 - 19:11

Bars, restaurants must close by 10pm

Bars and restaurants will have to close by 10pm. Gatherings are limited to 100 people indoors and 250 outdoors.

Funerals will not be allowed to have more than 100 attendees. 

May 30 2021 - 19:08

SA to be moved to level 2

Cabinet has decided SA should be placed on adjusted level 2 with effect from Monday. 

Curfew will now be from 11pm to 4am. 

May 30 2021 - 19:07

Ramaphosa says South Africans have become complacent

President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africans have become complacent, with some not wearing masks or practising social distancing. 

As a result, he says, SA has seen rising number of Covid-19 cases. 

May 30 2021 - 17:57

Malaysia doctors may have to decide who lives amid record cases

Malaysia’s worsening outbreak may force doctors to allot intensive care beds to patients with higher chances of recovery amid a record surge in new cases, health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said.

“The number of ICU beds at Covid hospitals, quarantine and treatment centres is declining and may be inadequate,” he said in a statement.

The health ministry “has warned of possible situations where doctors will have to make difficult choices to prioritise ICU beds for patients with higher recovery potential than those with lower recovery potential (poor prognosis).”

The grim outlook comes ahead of a two-week nationwide lockdown aimed at controlling an outbreak that has caused a record 1,144 deaths from Covid in May. New cases topped 9,000 on Saturday, a fifth day of record highs that has stretched the nation’s health services to a breaking point.

Bloomberg

May 30 2021 - 17:08

Italy reports 44 deaths on Sunday, 2,949 new cases

Italy reported 44 coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday, down from 83 the day before, and the daily tally of new infections fell to 2,949 from 3,351, the health ministry said.

Italy has registered 126,046 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world.

The country has reported 4.216 million cases to date.

Reuters

May 30 2021 - 16:39

Taiwan signs local deals for up to 20 million Covid shots

Taiwan's government has signed deals with two local companies to provide up to 20 million doses of their Covid-19 vaccines, the official Central News Agency said on Sunday, in a boost to the island's pandemic fight.

The news comes days after the Chinese-claimed island blamed Beijing week for blocking a deal earlier this year for BioNTech SE vaccines, which China denies.

After recording just a handful of daily infections for months, Taiwan is dealing with relatively large numbers of community transmissions, though infection rates are starting to fall.

It has only vaccinated around 1% of its more than 23 million people but has almost 30 million shots on order, from AstraZeneca Plc, Moderna Inc and two domestic firms.

The Central News Agency said the government had on Friday signed deals with Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp and United Biomedical Inc for five million doses each, and had oral agreements for another five million each, for a total of 20 million shots.

Reuters

May 30 2021 - 15:33

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called a family meeting on Sunday evening

President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Sunday night address the nation about the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement on Sunday, presidential spokesperson Tyrone Seale confirmed that Ramaphosa will address the nation at 7pm.

This comes amid a rise in the number of infections with fears of a third wave of Covid-19 infections.

May 30 2021 - 15:15

Kenya extends Covid-19 curfew by 60 days

Kenya has extended its nightly curfew by 60 days to slow the spread of Covid-19, the interior ministry said on Sunday.

The move followed a decision by President Uhuru Kenyatta in late March to extend the 10pm to 4am curfew.

A ban on political gatherings and processions that could turn into super spreader events was also extended for 60 days, as was a prohibition on overnight events and vigils, the ministry said.

When the first coronavirus cases were confirmed in Kenya in March 2020, the government closed schools, imposed a curfew, banned public gatherings and on multiple occasions restricted movement in and out of the most-affected regions.

Some restrictions, such as on schools, were eventually relaxed. The ban on public gatherings and processions and overnight meetings will stay in force, the ministry said.

Kenya has recorded 170,485 cases and 3,141 deaths, ministry of health data showed on Saturday, with a positivity rate of 8.9%. Covid-19 vaccinations began on March 5 and so far 968,733 people have received their first dose. 

Reuters

May 30 2021 - 11:43

Decision on lifting England's lockdown will be driven by data, minister says

The decision to lift final lockdown measures in England on June 21 will be made after data on infection, hospitalisation, vaccination and new variants are assessed, vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said on Sunday.

"We will share the evidence with the country on the 14th of June to basically explain exactly where we are on infection rates, on hospitalisation, and of course, sadly, on deaths," he told the BBC's Andrew Marr.

"We have to be cautious; we have to look at the data and share it with the country."

Reuters

May 30 2021 - 10:57

SAM MKOKELI | While the vultures circled, both my parents passed away

I cannot hide my conflict and my anger. Both my parents died in December last year due to Covid. The image of my mother's body at the morgue haunts me every single day. It inspires me too, as though to send a message: Carry on, my son.

We spoke two days before she died when she called from a hospital in the Eastern Cape, where she was in high care. She was in good spirits and wanted to know how I was doing. She also asked about my father, who had tested positive and was isolated at home with me. She was getting better, the doctor said. She needed to speak less, so we minimised phone calls.

Two days later, a call from my sister wakes me up. It's around 5am. "She's gone."

My mother waited a week in high care. She needed to be moved to an intensive care unit. No ICU beds were available in any of the hospitals nearby, private or public.

The availability of ICU beds is a big part of the story about our response to the pandemic. SA had 3,200 when the first case of Covid was confirmed.

We went into a draconian level 5 lockdown in March last year. The plan was to buy time, limit its spread while the public health infrastructure was being prepared.

A month later, I inquire while serving as a government spin doctor: how many beds now? About 3,300, I am told. OK, a whole level 5 lockdown later and only 100 more beds? This is tough and inefficient.

May 30 2021 - 10:34

PETER BRUCE | Our leaders don’t do efficiency, so open up the rollout

It is all very technical, epidemiology. While we are manifestly in our third wave of the pandemic in SA already, we are not officially there yet. We will be when our rolling seven-day average of new Covid cases reaches 30% of what they were at the peak of the second wave.

We topped out the second wave with a rolling average of 19,042 new cases on January 11. On January 14, deaths attributed to Covid reached a staggering 578, probably a sizeable undercount. On Thursday the National Institute for Communicable Diseases counted 4,424 new cases. When the seven-day new-case rolling average gets past 5,700 we’re officially in the wave. Just a few more days then. Does it even matter?

It should draw us closer together as citizens and to an extent it has. Broadcaster Redi Thlabi has been magnificent in herding the unregistered and aged and poor into every queue she can find. But with an often dishonest and profoundly opaque government insisting on running the show she can make only the smallest of differences. In the distant hills and hidden villages of this vast country, people are sick already. There is pain and anguish everywhere. Many experts say the third wave will be worse than the second. Let’s assume it will just be equally bad.

May 30 2021 - 10:12

RAY MCCAULEY | State has been slow on vaccinations, but others are also to blame

On May 17 SA started its national mass vaccination rollout. This was after delays because of a vaccine shortage. While we welcome the start, the snail’s pace is worrying. There are reports of people waiting for confirmation of when and where to go, and others not knowing what to do, particularly elderly people unfamiliar with the technology.

Whatever methods our government has used to mobilise and communicate, it has not reached the targeted people. Why did it opt for a modern way of communicating, knowing SA’s levels of poverty; many people don’t have smartphones or laptops. The government also failed to communicate clearly about people with underlying conditions and disabilities. When dealing with the magnitude of Covid, bad planning and communication cannot be accepted; people’s lives are at risk with every minute that passes.

We are not oblivious of the enormity of the task, but it seems the government was not fully prepared.

May 30 2021 - 09:28

SA records 4,515 new Covid-19 cases

SA recorded 4,515 Covid-19 cases in the past 24-hour cycle and 70 deaths.

Health minister Zweli Mkhize said the total number of those vaccinated under the Sisonke Programme stood at 479,768 and those vaccinated under Phase two was 418,187.

The number of South Africans who received the Pfizer vaccine first dose is 898,955.

May 30 2021 - 06:55

WHO fumes over 'toxic politics' in search for source of Covid-19

The World Health Organisation's top emergency expert says the search for the origin of the coronavirus is being "poisoned by politics", days after US President Joe Biden ordered aides to find answers.

Since the virus outbreak that emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019, scientists have been trying to solve the puzzle of how the virus originated.

"We would like for everyone out there to separate, if they can, the politics of this issue from the science. This whole process is being poisoned by politics," Mike Ryan told reporters.

May 30 2021 - 06:23

Race to vaccinate as third wave of Covid infections takes hold

The third wave of Covid-19 has taken hold and could be significantly worse than the second, experts told the Sunday Times.

Vaccinations started too late to protect most South Africans from this wave.

"I'm concerned we are sitting on a potential third wave which is 25% higher than the second wave," said Covid-19 ministerial advisory committee member professor Ian Sanne, an infectious diseases specialist who heads Right to Care, a health organisation at the Covid frontline.

May 30 2021 - 06:00

'WHO stands with India and all countries in confronting Covid-19': Ghebreyesus