COVID-19 WRAP | SA records 21,099 new cases, 99 deaths in past 24 hours

December 22 2021 — 20:05

SA records 21,099 new Covid-19 cases, 99 deaths in past 24 hours

SA recorded 21,099 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, with KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape overtaking Gauteng as the two coronavirus epicentres.

KZN recorded 5,411 and the Western Cape 4,609 of the new cases — compared with 3,807 in Gauteng. Only Limpopo, with 811 cases, and the Northern Cape, with 502, did not breach the 1,000-mark for new infections in the past 24 hours.

The NICD said on Wednesday that the new cases take the total number of confirmed infections since the outbreak of Covid-19 in SA to 3,353,106.

December 22 2021 — 12:50

Omicron dashes expat Zimbabweans' hopes of Christmas at home

This close to Christmas, the undercarriage of Augustin Chibaya's bus would normally be packed with the belongings of Zimbabweans heading home from SA to see their families. Instead, it's empty — and he and his missing passengers are struggling.

When SA became the second country to identify the Omicron coronavirus variant in November, after Hong Kong, Zimbabwe imposed 10-day quarantine in government-approved facilities on arrivals from SA, at their own cost.

That ruled out travel for poorer Zimbabweans, who cross the border in large numbers in search of work, and dashed the hopes of bus drivers like Chibaya for a bumper festive season after the Covid-19 pandemic shut the borders for much of 2020.

December 22 2021 — 12:41

Which kind of non-vaxxer are you?

A new study by the University of Cape Town (UCT) has found that about 52% of South Africans indicated that they know someone who got very sick of Covid-19 complications and died.

The team of researchers released the preliminary findings of the first Covid-19 vaccine survey (Covacs) on Tuesday. According to the Covacs team leader, Dr Brendan Maughan-Brown, researchers conducted interviews with 1,940 respondents across the country’s nine provinces.

“We hope that [the] data will help inform campaigns to increase Covid-19 vaccine coverage in SA through the holiday period,” he said.

December 22 2021 — 12:21

WATCH LIVE | NICD gives update on fourth wave of Covid-19

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) is on Wednesday briefing the country on the latest Covid-19 developments, amid a steady rise in cases due to the Omicron variant.

December 22 2021 — 09:11

KZN government says children as young as 14 are getting infected

KwaZulu-Natal health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu on Tuesday urged parents to encourage vaccination of their children following an increase in positive Covid-19 tests among children as young as 14 years old. 

Simelane-Zulu briefed the media on the province’s response to Covid-19, which she said affected all age groups from four months upwards. 

The MEC said the vaccination of children aged 12 to 17 was in their best interest and that of public health in the province.

December 22 2021 — 08:18

Mom uses inventive flair to create sanitiser wristbands

An easy-to-use wristband that dispenses sanitiser on-the-go. This was the simple solution a South African mom came up with after noticing that her children’s sanitiser bottles remained full and unused after school.

SQ-Easy founder Jolene de Sousa said she always had a passion for branding and believed that her entrepreneurial flair would pay off one day.

“My family also used to say that I drive them crazy, but I’ve always known there was something I was going to do, but I just didn’t know what it would be.”

December 22 2021 — 07:37 

‘No curfew on New Year’s Eve’ — Users take to social media streets in lockdown protest

Thousands of social media users have flooded Twitter to protest lockdown restrictions, calling for President Cyril Ramaphosa to ease the curfew for New Year’s Eve.

SA is on lockdown alert level 1, which means the curfew is from midnight to 4am.

No more than 750 people may gather indoors and no more than 2,000 people may gather outdoors.

December 22 2021 – 07:07

I am vaccinated against Covid-19, how likely am I to recover if I'm infected?

People who are vaccinated against Covid-19 have a greater chance of recovering should they contract the coronavirus, says the health department.

On Tuesday the department urged unvaccinated South Africans to get jabbed to ensure their protection and those around them during the festive season. It said vaccination reduces severe illness and chances of hospitalisation. 

“Evidence to date shows those who are not vaccinated are 10 times more likely to die from Covid-19 if they contract the virus, especially those over 50. By vaccinating you increase your chance of recovering by 99%, guaranteed,” it said.

December 22 2021 – 06:40

Singapore to halt ticket sales for quarantine-free travel lanes

Singapore will freeze ticket sales for flights and bus trips under its vaccinated travel lanes for entry from Thursday to January 20 as it tries to stem the importation of the Omicron variant that is tearing around the globe. 

The move applies to all 24 countries with which Singapore has agreements for quarantine-free air travel, as well as overland bus services with Malaysia, the government said on  Wednesday. People who already have tickets will be able to travel.

Singapore will also temporarily reduce quotas and ticket sales for travel after January 20, the ministry of health said.

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