COVID-19 WRAP | SA records 768 new Covid-19 cases

October 05 2021 - 19:53

SA's Covid-19 digital vaccination certificate system 'in testing phase'

The national health department has appealed for patience while it tests a Covid-19 digital vaccination certificate system that is expected to officially launch later in the week.

“The department of health has been inundated with public and media enquiries about challenges they face when trying to download and access Covid-19 digital vaccination certificates,” said spokesperson Foster Mohale. 

October 05 2021 - 16:07

Silently and without fanfare, government launches Covid-19 online vaccination certificate

Less than a week ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa promised that digital vaccination certificates would be available “soon” — and it appears that on Tuesday morning this promise was met.

Without fanfare and with no public or media announcement, the health department launched the “South African Covid-19 Vaccine Certificate System”.

A notice on the website states that only those who are fully Covid-19 vaccinated can receive their digital certificate. A digital QR code will be generated after certain details are provided, and this can be downloaded or printed.

October 05 2021 - 12:45

AstraZeneca seeks US approval for new Covid treatment

AstraZeneca has requested emergency use authorization from U.S. regulators for its new treatment to prevent Covid-19 for people who respond poorly to vaccines because of a weakened immune system.

October 05 2021 - 09:30

Educators comply with, and protest, NYC vaccine mandate

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio defended his Covid-19 vaccine mandate for public school employees and said 95% of all full-time Department of Education employees had at least one shot, while anti-vaccine demonstrators marched in protest of the mandate.

October 05 2021 - 09:00

Delta likely last major US Covid-19 surge, says Gottlieb

The summer spike in cases fueled by the Delta variant of the coronavirus is likely the last big Covid-19 wave in the United States, according to former FDA chief Scott Gottlieb.

October 05 2021 - 08:30

Up to 60% of children have feelings of depression made worse by Covid-19

Covid-19 has worsened depression with on average 50-60% of young people living in Sub-Saharan Africa experiencing negative feelings and poor wellbeing since the pandemic took hold in the region. 

October 05 2021 - 08:00

A year after Covid-19 vaccine waiver proposal, WTO talks are deadlocked

A year after SA and India introduced a novel proposal  to temporarily waive intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines and therapies at the World Trade Organization, negotiations are deadlocked and directionless, trade sources said on Monday after a meeting on the topic.

October 05 2021 - 07:40

Syria faces a common enemy across frontlines: rising Covid-19 cases & malnutrition

October 05 2021 - 07:16

Mboweni describes as ‘a great betrayal’ the looting of Covid-19 funds

Former finance minister Tito Mboweni says it is imperative that perpetrators of corruption are pursued and face the full wrath of the law.

Mboweni, who was delivering an online lecture hosted by Rhodes University, described as a great betrayal the looting of limited resources that the government had pulled together to fight Covid-19, while referring to those who stole the funds as “rats and mice”.

“It is great betrayal that our efforts to save lives and support livelihoods were undermined by shameful and exploitive acts of corruption,” he said. “We put good systems in place to the best of our ability but the rats and mice always found a way to overcome this.

October 05 2021 - 07:00

How do I minimise the risk of getting Covid-19 while eating out?

The weather is warming up and lockdown restrictions have eased, so you may be tempted to hit a restaurant or two and sit with some friends on a sunny terrace while sipping something cool. 

But Covid-19 still looms, so how do you protect yourself from the virus while out and about?

Under lockdown level 1, restaurants and taverns are allowed to operate as normal but must close around 11pm to keep the national curfew of midnight. Alcohol can also only be served until 11pm.

October 05 2021 - 06:15

Italian studies show Covid-19 shots less effective in immunocompromised

Covid-19 vaccines are less effective on people with weakened immune systems, three small Italian studies show, which the studies' researchers say highlight the need to deploy booster shots for this group of vulnerable people.

The studies show that, on average, 30% of immunocompromised patients do not develop immunity to the virus after vaccination.The remaining 70% respond to the vaccine, especially after the second dose, but to a lesser extent than healthy people and with differences from group to group, the Bambino Gesu Hospital in Rome, which conducted the three small studies, said in a statement on Monday.

The studies were conducted among a group of 21 patients with primary immunodeficiency disease, 34 children and young adults undergoing heart and lung transplants, and 45 young people with liver and kidney transplants.

The results indicate the need to increase the level of protection of the most vulnerable with booster doses, the hospital said.

“The results of our studies show that it is essential to protect the most fragile categories by administering the third dose of vaccine, calibrating the dosages or resorting to new adjuvanted vaccine formulations able to enhance the immune response to the virus and maintain it over time,” said Professor Paolo Palma, head of clinical immunology and vaccinology at the Bambino Gesu.

The findings come as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is expected to announce later on Monday its decision on whether to recommend a third dose of the vaccine.

There is no consensus among scientists on how widely boosters should be deployed. The US, Britain and Israel have launched booster programmes, but only Israel is administering extra shots to the whole population.

The serological response to the vaccine, indicating the amount of antibodies present in the blood, and the cellular response - the presence of Sars-CoV-2-specific T-lymphocytes - were both analysed in all three studies.

Data was then compared with those of control groups of healthy people, who received the Covid vaccination during the same period. 

Reuters

October 05 2021 - 06:10

New Zealand to use vaccine certificates as Delta persists

 New Zealand said on Tuesday that it will start using Covid-19 vaccine certificates as proof of inoculation at large events and other high-risk settings from next month, as the country battles the spread of the Delta variant.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who on Monday abandoned a long-standing strategy of eliminating coronavirus in the face of a persistent Delta outbreak, said the certificates would help ensure large gatherings such as music festivals did not become superspreader events.

“We will use them (vaccine certificates) as a tool to lessen risks at what are currently considered as high risk settings, including large scale events,” Ardern said at a news conference, urging people to bring forward their vaccination plans.

“These are now common overseas and they make good sense,” she said, adding that they were unlikely to be needed in places like health services and supermarkets.

New Zealand was among just a handful of countries to bring Covid-19 cases down to zero last year and largely stayed virus-free until an outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant in mid-August frustrated efforts to stamp out transmission.

The country will now use vaccinations and testing to control the spread of the virus, with experts warning the change will lead to a rise in cases.

New Zealand recorded 24 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, taking the total number of infections in the current outbreak to 1,381. About 48% of the adult population is currently fully vaccinated.

The largest city of Auckland, which has been in lockdown for nearly 50 days, will remain on a high alert level, although its 1.7 million people will be allowed some extra freedoms from Wednesday.

Reuters

October 05 2021 - 06:00 

Australia to buy Merck's Covid-19 pill, Victoria cases hit record

Australia will buy 300,000 courses of Merck & Co's experimental antiviral pill, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Tuesday, as Victoria logged the highest number of daily Covid-19 infections of any state in the country since the pandemic began.

Molnupiravir, which would be the first oral antiviral medication for Covid-19 if it gets regulatory approval, could halve the chances of dying or being hospitalised for people most at risk of contracting severe COVID-19, according to experts.

“These treatments mean that we are going to be able to live with the virus,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Nine News on Tuesday as Australia aims to reopen its borders next month for fully vaccinated citizens and permanent residents.

Molnupiravir capsules have to be taken twice a day for five days by adult patients for a course of 10, Morrison said.

The drug is expected to be available in Australia by early next year if approved by the country's drug regulator, Morrison said. Merck expects to produce 10 million courses of the treatment by the end of 2021.

South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan and Malaysia have all said they are in talks to buy the potential treatment, while the Philippines is running a trial on the pill.

Australia, meanwhile, is stepping up its vaccination rate, with Sydney and Melbourne, its largest cities, and the capital Canberra enduring a weeks-long lockdown to combat the highly infectious Delta variant. The national first-dose rate in the adult population topped 80% on Tuesday morning.

A total of 1,763 new infections were reported in Victoria, exceeding the previous daily high of 1,488 on Saturday, with the state looking to start reopening once full vaccination levels in its adult population reaches 70%, expected around the end of October, from 53% now.

Dominic Perrottet, who was elected as the new premier of New South Wales on Tuesday, said the state was on track to exit lockdown on Oct. 11, the first Monday after it expects 70% of its population over 16 to be fully vaccinated.

Daily infections in the state fell to the lowest in seven weeks on Tuesday at 608 new cases, the majority in state capital Sydney, down from 623 on Monday. Seven new deaths were recorded.

Even with the Delta outbreaks, Australia still has relatively low coronavirus numbers, with around 115,800 cases. Total deaths stood at 1,357, with the mortality rate from the current Delta outbreak lower than during last year due to higher inoculation among the vulnerable population

Reuters