COVID-19 WRAP | SA recorded 344 Covid-19 cases in the last 24-hour cycle

November 03 2021 - 22:58

SA recorded 344 Covid-19 cases in the last 24-hour cycle

November 03 2021 - 14:07

Hugs out, wet wipes in: how COP26 is fighting Covid-19, climate change

The rubber-gloved bathroom attendants at the COP26 climate talks venue may have the event’s least enviable job — wiping down the portable toilet cubicles after every use to help fight Covid-19.

More than 25,000 delegates are attending the UN talks — one of the first major global gatherings to be held during the pandemic — and organisers have implemented a raft of antivirus measures, including daily testing and mask wearing requirements.

November 03 2021 - 13:38

Lockdowns fuelled bad driver behaviour on SA roads, insurer says

The Covid-19 lockdowns worsened SA motorists’ bad driving habits, including non-adherence to rules of the road, leading to an increased risk of accidents.

A study by Dialdirect Insurance compared driving behaviour data from thousands of motorists, obtained through its telematics app, from 2019 to 2021.

It found that for every kilometre driven in 2021, motorists were 40% more likely to be in an accident than in 2019.

One of the driving behaviours examined was speed, which, according to the company, is a major contributing factor to most road accidents in the country. 

November 03 2021 - 12:10

Covid-19 pandemic could lead to HIV surge in West & Central Africa, says UNAIDS chief

West and Central Africa could see a rise in HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths in a few years due to disruptions in health services because of the coronavirus pandemic, the executive director of the U.N. AIDS agency said.

Although human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection rates, and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related deaths have been on a steady decline over the past decade, the region accounted for 22% of AIDS-related deaths in 2020.

Around 200,000 people in West & Central Africa became newly infected with HIV last year out of a global total of 1.5 million, the United Nations AIDS agency's (UNAIDS) data shows.

November 03 2021 - 11:46

Damages of R458,742 awarded to SABS for unlawful use of its trademark

The Gauteng High Court has instructed sanitiser and disinfectant manufacturer Vex Hygiene to stop using the SA Bureau of Standards (SABS) approved trademark and remove it from all its products and packaging.

The court found the company had been making use of the logo illegally.

The judgment, handed down on October 21, awarded damages of R458,742 in favour of the SABS for the unlawful use of the trademark on Vex sanitisers and disinfectants at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

November 03 2021 - 06:57

What are some of the things I need to know about long Covid in children?

Concerns about long Covid-19 in children continue to grow following the vaccine rollout for children between 12 and 17 years old.

November 03 2021 - 06:15

US CDC director backs Covid-19 vaccine for children ages 5 to 11

The director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday backed broad use of Pfizer's and BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine in children ages 5 to 11, clearing the way for shots to go into young arms as soon as Wednesday.

The announcement comes hours after the advisers to the U.S. CDC unanimously supported the move, saying the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks. Much of their discussion stemmed from rare cases of heart inflammation that have been linked to the vaccine, particularly in young men.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted emergency use authorization of the vaccine in 5- to 11-year-olds on Friday.

The FDA authorized a 10-microgram dose of Pfizer's vaccine in young children. The original shot given to those age 12 and older is 30 micrograms.

"We know millions of parents are eager to get their children vaccinated and with this decision, we now have recommended that about 28 million children receive a COVID-19 vaccine," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in the statement.

At the outset of the meeting, Walensky said that pediatric hospitalizations had surged during the recent wave driven by the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

The risk from covid-19 "is too high and too devastating to our children and far higher than for many other diseases for which we vaccinate children," she said.

Walensky said school closures have had detrimental social and mental health impacts on children.

"Pediatric vaccination has the power to help us change all of that," she said.

US President Joe Biden described the authorization as a turning point in the battle against covid-19.

“The program will ramp up over the coming days, and fully up and running during the week of November 8.

Reuters

November 03 2021 - 06:00

Covid bumps up matric intake by biggest margin in more than a decade

A DBE report says this is likely due to more pupils than usual being given a second chance after 2020’s difficulties