COVID-19 WRAP | SA records 789 new Covid-19 cases

November 19 2021 - 20:31

500 Covid-19 infections in Gauteng in 24 hours, 789 cases across SA

There were more than 500 new Covid-19 cases recorded in Gauteng in the past 24 hours, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said on Friday.

The province accounted for 509 of the 789 new cases across SA in the past day — or 65% of the national cases.

The next worst-hit provinces were the Northern Cape (59), and the North West and the Western Cape (both 46).

November 19 2021 - 16:45

Several programmes put on ice due to Covid-19, health department tells MPs

The national health department on Friday told parliament’s health portfolio committee that several of its programmes had to take a back seat to focus on Covid-19.

“There were a whole lot of targets that were not reached and there is a lot of catch-up that has been started,” said acting director-general Dr Nicholas Crisp.

Crisp, health minister Dr Joe Phaahla and other health officials were briefing the committee on the department’s annual report for the 2020/2021 financial year. The department conceded that this was the most difficult financial year it had encountered.

November 19 2021 - 16:30

‘Don’t become complacent’: Gauteng sees slight increase in Covid-19 cases

The Gauteng health department on Friday warned that citizens should not become complacent as the province has seen a slight increase in the number of Covid-19 cases over the past two weeks.

In the past week, Gauteng has accounted for significantly more of the daily Covid-19 cases than any other province.

November 19 2021 - 06:13

Funding platform wants to revive wildlife sector devastated by Covid-19

A newly launched platform aims to revive the nature-based tourism industry in Africa — a sector that was devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The seven-month-old African Nature-Based Tourism Platform facilitates Covid-19 relief and recovery funding to communities and small and medium enterprises involved in the sector in 11 African countries.

“The Covid-19 crisis has crippled economies and industries all over the world, and nature-based tourism has been one of the leading economic casualties. For many African countries, this means a significant loss of funding for their conservation operations, local community livelihoods, and tourism enterprises,” said Dr Nikhil Advani, the platform's project manager.

November 19 2021 - 05:30

Are you in your 50s, would a R100 grocery voucher offer entice you enough to vaccinate?