COVID-19 LIVE UPDATES | In the past week, the Western Cape reported the highest weekly Covid-19 incidence risk: NICD

July 31 2021 - 16:48

Kenya suspends in-person meetings to curb Covid-19 spread

Kenya's health minister said on Friday the government had suspended all in-person meetings and public gatherings to try to contain Covid-19, whose spread in the country he now attributes to the more infectious Delta variant.

Mutahi Kagwe said in a televised address that the government had asked public and private-sector employers to allow their workers to work from home, unless they were classified as essential services.

"All public gatherings and in-person meetings of whatever nature are suspended countrywide. In this regard, all government, including intergovernmental meetings and conferences, should henceforth be converted to either virtual or postponed in the coming 30 days," he said.

July 31 2021 - 16:47

US lawmakers fail to renew pandemic-related residential eviction ban

The US House of Representatives adjourned on Friday without renewing an 11-month-old pandemic-related federal moratorium on residential evictions set to expire on Saturday after a Republican congressman blocked a bid to extend it until October 18.

The moratorium's expiration could put millions of Americans at risk of being forced out of rented houses and apartments. Landlord groups have opposed the moratorium, which the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention implemented to combat the spread of Covid-19 and prevent homelessness during the pandemic.

President Joe Biden on Thursday had asked Congress to extend the moratorium in line with a Supreme Court opinion last month that suggested legislative approval was required to do so. Biden also made clear that his administration would not extend it again without congressional approval.

July 31 2021 - 09:00

In the past week, the Western Cape reported the highest weekly Covid-19 incidence risk: NICD