COVID-19 WRAP | SA records 163 Covid-19 related deaths in 24 hours

August 23 2021 — 19:30

SA records 7,600 new Covid-19 cases, with a third of them in KZN

A third of all new Covid-19 cases recorded in SA in the past 24 hours were identified in KwaZulu-Natal.

This is according to latest data from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).

This comes as the country stands on the threshold of another Covid-19 vaccine milestone. Barring a major disruption to the rollout, on Tuesday the 5-millionth South African will be fully vaccinated, either with the single-dose Johnson & Johnson jab or their second shot of the two-dose Pfizer vaccine.

August 23 2021 — 17:18

US FDA grants full approval to Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine

The US drug regulator on Monday granted full approval to the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE Covid-19 vaccine that earned emergency-use authorization in December, making it the first to secure such Food and Drug Administration validation as health authorities struggle to win over vaccine skeptics.

The FDA approved the two-dose vaccine for use in people over the age of 16. More than 204 million people in the United States have received the vaccine since it was given emergency authorization, based on data from Sunday.

None of the three Covid-19 vaccines given emergency-use authorization by the FDA - also including those made by Moderna Inc and Johnson & Johnson - had previously received full FDA approval.

August 23 2021 — 16:56

Nurse in court as City of Joburg tries to trace buyers of fake Covid-19 certificates

The City of Johannesburg on Monday said it was trying to verify how many Covid-19 certificates were allegedly fraudulently issued by their employee, Skhumbuzo Sdumo Manana.

Manana was employed at the Parkhurst Clinic, where he was a professional nurse and an acting facilitator. He appeared in the Booysens magistrate's court at about 4pm on Monday, where he faced charges of fraud, corruption and possession of suspected stolen goods.

Manana was nabbed at the weekend after a sting operation that saw him allegedly sell a “negative” Covid-19 certificate for R500 to a person he had not even tested. A legitimate test, conducted at a laboratory, usually costs about R850.

August 23 2021 — 15:11

WATCH | 'Partying health MEC' throws Covid-19 safety out the window

KwaZulu-Natal health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu may have landed herself in hot water after it emerged on Monday that she allegedly hosted a party on Sunday, in breach of Covid-19 protocols.

Simelane-Zulu seemingly hosted the party where there was loud music, singing and dancing with no mask wearing or social distancing just moments after publicly warning against Covid-19 complacency as the infection rate in the province began to surge.

Videos and pictures of Simelane-Zulu entertaining guests, including dancing and hugging many of them while not wearing masks, were leaked to TimesLIVE — calling into question her ability to practise what she preached to curb the spread of the killer respiratory disease.

August 23 2021 — 14:53

AstraZeneca's new antibody therapy 'reduces Covid-19 risk by 77%': study

Trial data from AstraZeneca on Friday raised the prospect of a new treatment to prevent Covid-19 beyond vaccines, giving hope in particular for people who respond poorly to immunisation shots.

The British drugmaker said its new antibody therapy reduced the risk of people developing Covid-19 symptoms by 77% in a late-stage trial.

While vaccines rely on an intact immune system to develop an arsenal of targeted antibodies and infection-fighting cells, AstraZeneca's AZD7442 therapy consists of lab-made antibodies that are designed to linger in the body for months to stifle the coronavirus in case of an infection.

August 23 2021 — 13:23

Australia PM says pandemic focus must shift to reopening

Australia must start to learn to live with Covid-19 when higher vaccination targets are reached, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday, despite concerns in some states about the impact of a surge in cases in Sydney.

August 23 2021 — 12:30

Approved for the R350 grant? Here's when you can collect your money at the post office

The SA Post Office will be paying out the Covid-19 R350 grants this week to all applicants who were approved by the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa). 

The social relief of distress (SRD) grant was reintroduced last month to provide assistance to “people in dire material need that are unable to meet their families’ most basic needs”, including those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic and unrest in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. 

SA Post Office spokesperson Johan Kruger told TimesLIVE on Monday that all Post Office branches will pay out the SRD grants.

August 23 2021 — 11:17

Russia's daily Covid-19 cases below 20,000 for first time since June 23

Russia reported 19,454 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, the first time the daily tally has dipped below 20,000 since June 23 as authorities blamed a case surge on the infectious Delta variant.

The government coronavirus task force also reported 776 coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours nationwide.

Reuters

August 23 2021 — 11:15

Ramaphosa applauds youth's enthusiasm in getting their Covid-19 vaccines

President Cyril Ramaphosa says young people have been an integral part of the national effort to battle the coronavirus and he is impressed with their enthusiasm in taking their Covid-19 jabs.

August 23 2021 — 11:00

SA crosses the 10 million Covid-19 vaccinations mark & here's how many 18-34s have got the jab so far

SA has surpassed the 10-million Covid-19 vaccination mark. 

This comes after those over the age of 18 were given the green light to receive their Covid-19 vaccinations from last Friday. 

Cabinet approved the move as part of the country’s measures to increase the vaccine rollout and curb Covid-19 infections. 

It led to a flurry of vaccinations, with more than half a million 18-34 year olds getting the jab over the weekend.

August 23 2021 — 10:45

Vietnam deploys troops to enforce lockdown in largest city

Vietnamese soldiers on Monday were deployed on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City to help enforce a lockdown in the country's business hub, which has become the epicentre of its worst coronavirus outbreak so far during the pandemic.

August 23 2021 — 10:30

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson 'responding positively' to Covid-19 treatment

Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson and his wife are “responding positively” to treatments after catching Covid-19, their son said in a statement on Sunday. 

Physicians at the Northwestern University Memorial Hospital in Chicago are carefully monitoring Jackson, 79, and his wife, Jacqueline, 77, because of their ages, a day after the two were hospitalised, their son Jonathan said in a statement issued by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a group founded by his father.

August 23 2021 — 09:30

Ex-Indonesian minister jailed for 12 years in Covid-19 graft scandal

Former Indonesian social affairs minister Juliari Batubara has been sentenced to 12 years in prison over a multi-million dollar Covid-19 graft scandal, the Jakarta Corruption Court ruled on Monday.

A judge said the former politician was found “convincingly guilty of corruption” after receiving 32.4 billion rupiah ($2.25 million) in kickbacks in relation to the procurement of goods intended for Covid-19 social assistance packages.

The politician, who the court found had intervened in the tender process, was also fined 500 million rupiah, and ordered to pay back 14.5 billion rupiah in embezzled funds used for personal expenses.

In the streamed ruling, the judges said Juliari would also be banned from public office for four years after serving his prison term.

Juliari had denied wrong doing. His lawyer Maqdir Ismail on Monday described the sentence, which was one year longer than investigators had demanded, as too harsh and said they were considering whether to appeal.

Indonesia’s anti-graft commission (KPK) named Juliari as a suspect in the case last December along with four others.

At the time, anti-corruption investigators discovered more than $1 million in cash stuffed into suitcases and other containers, a day before the former minister turned himself in.

President Joko Widodo was elected in 2014 on a pledge to fight graft and some prominent politicians have been jailed for corruption during his administration, but there are concerns the anti-graft agency’s clout has weakened.

According to the global watchdog Transparency International (TI), worsening graft saw Indonesia drop three points on its corruption perception index last year to rank 102 out of 180 countries. 

Reuters

August 23 2021 — 09:00

What you said: No vaccine, no entry at events

Many TimesLIVE readers agree that vaccines should be mandatory for entry at events during the festive season.  

Last week the popular year-end student festival Rage announced plans for Plett Rage in December were still on the cards, but warned that partygoers would have to be vaccinated to attend. 

This year’s festival is set to take place from December 3 to 6 and 8 to 11. ​

South Africans over the age of 18 were given the green light to receive their Covid-19 vaccinations from last Friday.

August 23 2021 — 08:00

Vaccine hesitancy is less about avoiding the jab and more about getting access to it, experts say

Vaccine hesitancy is less about avoiding the jab and more about getting access to it. 

This is according to Business for SA’s (B4SA) Timothy Schultz who said the country needed to reduce the barriers to access if it wanted more people to get vaccinated. 

“There are very few barriers for the middle classes, but if you are living on a R350 grant and your taxi fare to a vaccine site is R30 then that’s a problem that can’t be solved with advertising and posters.

August 23 2021 — 07:00

What is a Covid-19 rapid test?

An announcement that SA will soon manufacture its own Covid-19 rapid-test kits in a partnership between the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and a local biotechnology company, CapeBio, has sparked interest among the public about what they are and their significance in the fight against Covid-19.

August 23 2021 — 06:10

New Zealand lockdown to be extended until at least Friday 

New Zealand is set to stay in Covid-19 lockdown until at least midnight Friday, New Zealand Herald reported without giving the source of the information.

Auckland, which is the epicentre of the latest Delta variant outbreak, may be in lockdown for longer, the report said.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is expected to announce a decision shortly on whether she will extend or end the lockdown.

Currently, the country of 5.1 million is under lockdown until midnight on Tuesday. 

Reuters

August 23 2021 — 06:00

China reports no new local Covid-19 cases for first time since July

China's health authority reported on Monday that there were no new locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 for the first time since July, offering more signs that the current outbreak which began late last month may be tapering off soon.

The latest outbreak was driven mainly by infections first detected among a few airport workers in the eastern city of Nanjing on July 20. Since then, more than 1,200 people in China have been confirmed to be infected.

The outbreak has spurred local authorities across the country to impose tough counter-epidemic measures including mass testing for millions of people to identify and isolate carriers, as well as treat the infected.

No-one has died in the current outbreak, which has largely focused on the cities of Nanjing and Yangzhou in the province of Jiangsu, near the financial hub of Shanghai.

Across China, new local cases fell to the single-digits last week, after peaking in early August.

But over the weekend, Shanghai placed hundreds of people under quarantine after infections were found in cargo workers at one of its two airports, sparking concerns of a fresh outbreak in the city.

Shanghai has reported no new local infections since then.

Including new infections detected among travellers arriving in mainland China, the National Health Commission reported on Monday a total of 21 new confirmed cases for August 22, down from 32 a day earlier.

Reuters