COVID-19 WRAP | SA records 809 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours

October 03 2021 - 20:00

SA records 809 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours

SA recorded just 809 new Covid-19 cases in 24 hours, bringing the cumulative number of cases in the country to 2,906,422. 

After 27 daily deaths were recorded, the country has a total of 87,780 Covid-19 related deaths.

The number of vaccines administered is 17,875,187 with 2,779,906 recoveries.

October 03 2021 - 18:20

Philippines pets receive blessings in drive-through ceremony

Hundreds of animal lovers in the Philippines had their pets blessed via a drive-through ceremony on Sunday to mark World Animal Day and the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, forgoing the usual fanfare due to Covid-19.

This was the second straight year that organisers had to hold a drive-through ceremony to mark World Animal day - celebrated worldwide to recognise animal rights and welfare - to ensure the safety of the animals and owners.

The Philippines has recorded more than 2.5 million Covid-19 cases and more than 38,000 deaths and is one of Asia's worst-affected countries in terms of casualties and economic losses.

October 03 2021 - 13:30

A few sceptical US hospital workers choose dismissal over vaccine

Jennifer Bridges loved her job as a nurse at Houston Methodist Hospital, where she worked for eight years, but she chose to get fired rather than inoculated against Covid-19, believing that the vaccine was more of a threat than the deadly virus.

Bridges was among about 150 employees who were fired or resigned rather than comply with the requirement at Methodist, which was the country's first large health system to mandate vaccinations. About 25,000 other employees at the hospital system complied.

"I have never felt so strong about anything," said Bridges, 39, who lives in Houston. She was terminated from her $70,000 per year post on June 21, the deadline for employees to get a jab. "I did not feel there was proper research in this shot. It had been developed very quickly."

October 03 2021 - 11:58

Suspension of health officials 'must not' impede vaccine rollout: Parliament

The recent suspension of several high-ranking health officials implicated in the Digital Vibes fraud scandal should not impact on the stability of SA’s vaccine rollout programme.

Parliament’s portfolio committee on health has called on the Department of Health to put contingency measures in place to ensure that the suspensions will not negatively influence the management of processes to ensure that the entire population is vaccinated.

During the week the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) was authorised by President Cyril Ramaphosa to make public its scathing report on the breach of procurement procedures and National Treasury’s note regarding the awarding of the Department of Health’s Covid-19 communications contract.

October 03 2021 - 05:24

Last day for health department to meet 500,000 vaccination target for the weekend