COVID-19 WRAP | SA records 10,139 new cases and 272 deaths

August 15 2021 - 22:07

Main Cuban oxygen plant fails amid Covid-19 surge

Cuba’s public health minister said on Sunday efforts were under way to restart the country’s main oxygen factory which had broken down even as the death toll from Covid-19 on Saturday reached 98, equal to the pandemic record.

Minister Jose Angel Portal’s appearance on the state’s midday news broadcast came as a Delta-driven surge in coronavirus cases and deaths swamped some provincial health services.

August 15 2021 - 20:56

SA records 10,139 new cases and 272 deaths

There were 10,139 new Covid-19 cases and 272 deaths recorded in SA on Sunday. 

This brings the cumulative number of cases in the country to 2,605,586 and the total number of deaths to 77,141.

The number of vaccinations administed in SA is 9,387,129.

August 15 2021 - 17:54

KZN officially in its third Covid-19 wave, largely driven by riots - Sihle Zikalala

KwaZulu-Natal is in its third wave of Covid-19 infections, premier Sihle Zikalala confirmed on Sunday.

The province has recorded 3,000 cases daily and has more than 40,000 active Covid-19 cases, he said, adding that transmission rates were very high.

Zikalala said the increase in infections was partly because of large gatherings by people engaging in looting and the destruction of property.

August 15 2021 - 17:23

Italy reports 19 coronavirus deaths on Sunday, 5,664 new cases

Italy reported 19 coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday against 34 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections declined to 5,664 from 7,188.

Italy has registered 128,432 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eighth-highest in the world. The country has reported 4.44-million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with Covid-19 - not including those in intensive care - stood at 3,162 on Sunday, up from 3,101 a day earlier.

Reuters

August 15 2021 - 14:37

All 16-, 17-year-olds in England to be offered first Covid-19 vaccine dose by August 23

All 16- and 17-year-olds in England will be offered their first Covid-19 vaccine dose by August 23, according to a target set by British health secretary Sajid Javid.

Javid said on Sunday that offering young people the vaccine by that date will allow the teenagers in that age bracket the two weeks necessary to build maximum immunity before returning to school in September.

August 15 2021 - 12:55

Australia purchases Pfizer vaccines from Poland as Covid-19 infections spike

Australia has purchased about 1 million doses of Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine from Poland to add to its inoculation efforts in Sydney and its home state, which on Saturday entered a snap lockdown amid record new infections.

August 15 2021 - 11:30

'What I have is just borrowed': Accordion-playing husband pays tribute to wife who loses battle to Covid-19

A Western Cape husband who captured the hearts of South Africans when he played his accordion in the cold outside the hospital where his wife was being treated for Covid-19 says he is devastated after her death.  

“It is with the deepest sadness and a spirit of despair that my three children and I had to say goodbye ... to a beloved wife and mother who was in every way the best person we have ever known,” Lukas du Preez said after the death of his wife Marinda on Saturday.

“She lived her life first and foremost for her family and fellow human beings, was steadfast in her Christian faith and the rock in our and many other people's lives.

August 15 2021 - 11:00

August 15 2021 - 10:20

Russia reports 21,624 new Covid-19 cases, 816 deaths

Russia reported 21,624 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, including 1,954 in Moscow, taking the official national tally since the pandemic began to 6,600,836.

The government coronavirus task force said 816 people had died of coronavirus-related causes in the past 24 hours, pushing the national death toll to 170,499.

On Saturday, Russia's daily Covid-19 deaths hit a new record of 819, a day after Moscow's health department reported the highest number of monthly deaths in the city since the start of the pandemic.

Russia's daily coronavirus deaths were on the rise after infections peaked in July. Authorities blame the infectious Delta variant and a slow vaccination rate. 

Reuters

August 15 2021 - 09:30

Covid gives Cyril a bad case of Achilles heel

If Lindiwe Sisulu, recently demoted to the ministry of tourism in President Cyril Ramaphosa's reshuffle, wants to make trouble for him, I have an idea for her.

Sisulu is an ANC grandee. I don't remember her not being a cabinet minister but in her previous job of housing and water she had way too much budget and too much travel for Ramaphosa's comfort.

We hear she is going to make a run for the ANC leadership at the end of next year and that he needed to starve her of money, people and opportunity. But tourism! There is no tourism at the moment because of the pandemic and because SA is regarded by almost everyone as a very dangerous destination.

August 15 2021 - 09:00

US appeals court sets quick schedule to consider Covid-19 eviction ban

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia late Saturday set a quick schedule to consider whether to allow a new Biden administration Covid-19 residential eviction ban to remain in place. 

Earlier on Saturday, lawyers for Alabama and Georgia realtors filed an emergency request seeking to overturn the new 60-day eviction ban that was ordered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on August 3.

On Friday, a US district court judge in Washington said he would have blocked the new ruling but said her hands were tied by an earlier appeals court ruling.

August 15 2021 - 08:30

Children hospitalised with Covid-19 in US hits record number

The number of children hospitalised with Covid-19 in the US hit a record high of just over 1,900 on Saturday, as hospitals across the South were stretched to capacity fighting outbreaks caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant.

August 15 2021 - 07:30

Covid-19 third wave sees more under-59s hospitalised

Patients younger than 59 have been admitted to hospital in greater numbers during the Delta-driven third wave, according to clinicians on the frontline of the war against Covid-19.

The 50-59 age group has been at increased risk from Covid-19 during the third wave compared to the second wave, with a higher proportion of hospitalisations and deaths in the Western Cape, an analysis of admissions and deaths has found.

August 15 2021 - 07:00

Campaigns, mandates, incentives: what SA needs to get the vaccinating done

Thursday's vaccine registration tally of just over 53,000 was "a pretty poor show", health department deputy director-general Nicholas Crisp said the following day, and who would argue? But while Crisp's disgruntlement was aimed at those eligible for Covid-19 jabs but reluctant to sign up, a bit of navel-gazing wouldn't go amiss.

It is the health department, after all, that allowed vaccine supplies to fall so low a couple of weeks ago that the rollout lost the slight momentum it had begun to gain. And it is the health department that continues to expect South Africans simply to turn up and bare their arms for vaccinators in spite of mounting evidence that much more effort will be needed.

August 15 2021 - 06:30

'It's a national emergency': Alarm over SA's Covid-19 jabs drop

SA is facing a national emergency on top of the Covid-19 state of disaster as the pace of vaccinations slumps, says an expert in infectious diseases.

But the health department says it has no money for a mass communications campaign aimed at turning the tide.

Friday's total of 153,999 jabs administered was more than 43% lower than the daily record of 273,011 set on July 21. This week's total was the lowest since the end of June.

August 15 2021 - 06:10

US warns of violent Covid-19-related attacks

The US Department of Homeland Security said violent extremists could view the reimposition of Covid-19-related restrictions following the spread of coronavirus variants as a rationale to conduct attacks.

August 15 2021 - 06:00

Number of US kids hospitalized with Covid hits record

The number of children hospitalized with Covid-19 in the U.S. hit a record high of just over 1,900 as hospitals across the South were stretched to capacity fighting outbreaks caused by the highly transmissible Delta variant.