COVID-19 WRAP | Covid-19: SA records 1,366 new cases, 71 deaths in 24 hours

January 31 2022 — 21:46

No symptoms, no isolation and full-time return to school: Govt announces new Covid-19 rules

If you test positive for Covid-19 but are not showing symptoms, you do not need to go into isolation.

This is among a number of new measures put in place on Monday night after a special cabinet meeting earlier in the day.

January 31 2022 — 20:13

Covid-19: SA records 1,366 new cases, 71 deaths in 24 hours

SA recorded 1,366 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the number of infections recorded to date to 3,605,222.

This is according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in its daily statistical reporting.

The NICD, using health department data, said that there were also 71 new Covid-19 related deaths recorded in the past day. With many of these being based on historical data, it was established that 14 of the deaths occurred in the past 24 to 48 hours.

January 31 2022 — 14:48

Germany misses 80% Covid-19 vaccination rate target

The German government has failed to hit its goal of vaccinating 80% of the population against the coronavirus before the end of January, roughly a month before lawmakers are expected to vote on a draft law on mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations.

As of Monday, 75.8% of Germans have received at least one vaccine dose, which places the country behind European peers such as Italy, France and Spain, according to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

German government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit did not name a new target date for the 80% goal but said the aim was to raise the vaccination rate going ahead.

Last week German lawmakers debated mandatory vaccination, which has faced resistance from politicians and the general public.

The three main proposals under consideration include compulsory vaccination for all adults or people above 50, and a requirement for all those who have not had any shots to receive counselling.

The number of Covid-19 cases per 100,000 residents over seven days hit a new high in Germany on Monday, ticking up to 1,176.8 from 1,156.8 the day before as the country struggles with a wave of infections with the Omicron coronavirus variant.

That translates to 78,318 new infections reported in one day, the German Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious disease said. In total, over 9.81 million cases have been confirmed so far.

German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who is set to meet state health ministers later on Monday, has said the daily number of new infections could rise to 400,000 due to Omicron.

Reuters

January 31 2022 — 14:30

Lawmakers urge US Olympic officials to defend outspoken athletes at Beijing Games

 Lawmakers on Monday urged US Olympic officials to prepare to defend American athletes from possible Chinese government retaliation should they choose to speak out about China's rights abuses during next month's Beijing Winter Olympics.

A Chinese official told reporters in January that any behavior against the Olympic spirit, and "especially against Chinese laws and regulations" would be subject to punishment.

Senator Jeff Merkley and Representative James McGovern, both Democrats, cited the remark in a public letter to the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), writing that risks to freedom of expression and data privacy at the Games "demand an urgent effort" to address.

"Chinese authorities have imposed exit bans on U.S. citizens, and even jailed foreign nationals, for political or specious reasons," said the lawmakers, who lead the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China.

The USOPC should "redouble efforts" to engage with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), fellow national Olympic committees, and the U.S. State Department to ensure that plans and procedures are in place to protect athletes should they be punished for free expression, they said.

"We further request that the USOPC communicate to the public that it is taking such steps," they said, adding that the committee should be "prepared to defend any Olympians who speak out."

Rights groups have long criticized the IOC for awarding the Games to China, citing its treatment of Uyghurs and other Muslim minority groups, which the United States has deemed genocide. China denies allegations of human rights abuses.

Some Western countries, worried about information security, have suggested their delegations not bring their own mobile phones to the Feb. 4-20 Olympics.

Researchers have said the Beijing Organizing Committee's MY2022 app, which all attendees must use for Covid-19 monitoring, has flaws that make it vulnerable to privacy breaches.

Several countries, including the United States, Britain, and Australia, have announced diplomatic boycotts of the Games over concerns about human rights in China, though their athletes will still compete. 

Reuters

January 31 2022 — 13:53

Joe Rogan Apologizes Amid Spotify’s Vaccine Controversy

Joe Rogan pledged more balance and better research for his podcast in an apology aimed at quelling growing controversy about misleading coronavirus information that wiped almost $4 billion from Spotify Technology SA’s market value last week.

“If I’ve p----ed you off, I’m sorry,” Rogan said in an Instagram video, while also thanking listeners who have enjoyed his podcast.

He said he would “try harder to get people with differing opinions on right afterward” and “do my best to make sure I have researched these topics, the controversial ones in particular, and have all the pertinent facts at hand before I discuss them.”

The comments come after Spotify published its existing rules governing content, and said it would add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about Covid-19.

The streaming giant has faced mounting pressure from some users and musicians concerned about the veracity of virus information being spread by the platform’s most popular podcaster. 

Folk singers Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled their music from Spotify last week in protest of Rogan, who has hosted several outspoken skeptics of the Covid-19 vaccines. The company created rules governing acceptable content on its service years ago and built a hub with coronavirus information early in the pandemic, but hadn’t made them public until Sunday.

“I want to thank Spotify for being so supportive during this time and I’m very sorry that this is happening to them and that they are taking so much heat from it,” Rogan said.

Shares in Spotify rose 1.7% in pre-market trading in New York. 

Bloomberg

January 31 2022 — 12:30

New England Lags Behind as Employees Flee Covid-Facing Jobs

The network of hospitals, prestigious universities and prep schools that has propelled New England’s regional economic growth for decades is dragging the recovery in its labor market and fueling historically high unemployment.

After decades sustaining a jobless rate below that of the country as a whole, New England now stands above the US average. Its rate was 5% in November, the most recent month for which historical comparisons can be made, against 4.2% for the national figure.

Roughly a third of the decline in payrolls in Massachusetts -- the region’s economic engine -- and Rhode Island is accounted for by slumps in the health and education services industries, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For the US as a whole, that ratio is just 20%.

Workers in people-facing roles at locations including hospitals and schools are often too young to retire, and are now looking for positions with less risk toward Covid-19. It’s causing a churn in the labor force that’s forcing employers to boost pay, training and other benefits to lure the wary.

“Those roles felt very dangerous and precarious during the pandemic,” Mandy Townsend, vice president of employer engagement at Jewish Vocational Service Boston, said of positions such as patient-care and pharmacy technician jobs. The problem: “Remote work is really such a small margin of the work available.”

Townsend is seeing a much more demanding approach from those looking for work than was the case prior to Covid-19, with workers less willing to accept conditions they see as risky.

“We have people start jobs, and then ghost their jobs in the first week,” said Townsend, whose nonprofit agency works with about 500 employers and 12,000 to 16,000 job seekers. “It’s frustrating.”

JVS-Boston, which works to match, and coach, job seekers and employers, has responded with what it calls “the Ghostbuster Project,” to find out exactly why there’s so much turnover. That’s involved paying people to be frank about their reasons, she added.

“What we’re hearing from people is, if the work environment on day-one is not supportive and what they were really expecting during their training and during their job-search process, they feel no connection to it, and they’ll just leave,” she said.

Rose Sheehan has seen the upsurge in job leavers first-hand as chief human resources officer for Mass General Brigham -- the biggest private employer in Massachusetts. Her Boston-based nonprofit health system has seen the staff vacancy rate jump to 9.5% from 7% just a year ago, and now has some 8,000 job openings -- up from less than 6,500 on the eve of the pandemic.

The biggest age group that’s leaving: millennials, Sheehan says. “They’re clearly not retiring -- but choosing to do other things.” About 50% of those leaving work say it’s for another job, Sheehan says.

In time, some in the job market will likely be pushed into roles even if they’re not a perfect fit, as pandemic assistance from the government runs down.

Dan Tucker, a 56-year-old from Marblehead, Massachusetts, lost his previous role running the North American operations for a British maker of racing sailboats on the eve of the pandemic. In his search for the ideal role -- a position running a small business -- he’s made use of pandemic-relief assistance provided by the government.

But, with the exception of health insurance, the aid has run out, he said. “Watching the bank balance shrink every month as I pay my rent and buy groceries has been increasingly motivating,” Tucker said.

“I’m questioning whether I need to hang on for what I want to do, or take something that isn’t really what I want to do,” he said. “I need to rebuild my savings, and I need to build my retirement.”

Such determination to keep at it is one reason regional unemployment rates are lingering higher. More people are jobless because more people are looking for work: There’s been less of an exodus in the Massachusetts and Rhode Island workforces than has been the case nationally.

“It is certainly a silver lining,” said Jeffrey Thompson, an economist and director of the New England Public Policy Center at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, earlier this month.

“It’s a little bit of a momentous statement to make, that ‘I have left the labor force.’” But in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, “they’re not giving up, they’re not ready to retire.”

- Bloomberg

January 31 2022 — 09:00

China punishes cold-chain managers for 'obstructing' Covid-19 prevention

Investigations into China's cold-chain sector have led to several managers, officials and business owners being punished for failing to meet Covid-19 prevention standards, the country's corruption watchdog said in a notice.

The Beijing branch of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) accused several people involved in the cold storage business of management and supervisory failures when it came to controlling Covid-19.

It accused one manager in an industrial park in southwest Beijing of “poor leadership and non-standard management that led to the spread of the epidemic”.

January 31 2022 — 08:54

Covid-infected HIV patient developed 21 mutations, SA study shows

A South African woman suffering from inadequately treated HIV, and who harboured Covid-19 for nine months, experienced the respiratory virus develop at least 21 mutations while in her body, according to a study.

Once the 22-year-old adhered to the anti-retroviral medication used to treat HIV and her immune system strengthened, she was able overcome the Covid-19 infection within six to nine weeks, the study led by scientists from Stellenbosch University and the University the University of KwaZulu-Natal showed. The research has not been peer reviewed..

January 31 2022 — 08:30

Taiwan tries hand at Covid-19 diplomacy again with Somaliland vaccine gift

Taiwan's gift of 150,000 doses of its domestically developed Medigen Covid-19 vaccine has arrived in Somalia's breakaway Somaliland region, the Taiwanese foreign ministry said on Monday, part of the island's renewed pandemic diplomacy push.

Taiwan has donated millions of face masks and other goods around the world in what the government has called the “Taiwan can help, Taiwan is helping” programme to show the island is a responsible member of the international community, despite being locked out of most global bodies because of China's objections.

January 31 2022 — 08:00

What you said: People should be able to choose not to get vaccinated without losing their jobs

TimesLIVE readers have weighed in on the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration’s (CCMA) decision to uphold a Johannesburg woman’s dismissal for refusing to get vaccinated.

January 31 2022 — 07:08

Should I ‘sanitise’ my pets?

It is not advised to “santise” your pet with any potentially harmful substance to prevent Covid-19.

While some well-meaning pet owners may want to protect their fur babies from the coronavirus, veterinarian Charlotte Piquet told France Bleu Pays de Savoie using sanitisers, wipes and other disinfectants on your pet may do harm.

“People are asking; ‘How do I disinfect my dog after taking it for a walk? What should I put on his tongue because he licked the ground? What should I put on his paws? What can I clean him with?’

January 31 2022 — 06:20

New Zealand PM Ardern's Covid-19 test returns negative result

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern returned a negative Covid-19 test result on Monday, but she will remain in self isolation until the end of Tuesday as per health guidelines, a government spokesperson said.

Ardern took a coronavirus test on Sunday after being exposed to an infected person on a flight to Auckland from the town of Kerikeri.

“The Prime Minister has returned a negative Covid-19 test. In line with Ministry of Health guidance she is required to continue isolating until the end of Tuesday, February 1, or as otherwise advised by Public Health,” a spokesperson to the Prime Minister said.

The governor-general and other members of Ardern's staff who were on board the flight, have also been in self-isolation.

Reuters

January 31 2022 — 06:15

China reports 37 new Covid-19 cases among Olympic personnel

China detected 37 new cases of Covid-19 among people linked to the Olympic Games on Sunday, up from 34 a day earlier, the organising committee of the Beijing 2022 Winter Games said.

Twenty-eight of the new cases were people who tested positive after arriving at the airport, including eight athletes or team officials due to take part in the Feb. 4-21 Games, organisers said on Monday in a notice on the Games' website.

Authorities are imposing strict health measures for the Games with participants, staff and media operating in a “closed loop” bubble separating them from the public.

The loop allows participants to move freely between their accommodation and Olympic venues on official transport but they are not allowed out to move freely in public.

In contrast to many countries seeking to live with Covid-19, China has isolated itself with a zero-tolerance policy, cancelling nearly all international flights.

Olympic athletes and others must fly directly into the city on charter flights. Everyone involved in the Games, including media and staff, is also being tested daily.

The world's leading women's ski jumper, Marita Kramer of Austria, tested positive ahead of her flight to Beijing and will now delay her departure as she attempts to get fit in time for her competition.

Kramer, who leads the women's overall World Cup standings ahead of Germany's Katharina Althaus and topped the podium in eight of her last 11 competitions, tested positive in Willingen, Germany, the last competition ahead of the Games.”

Officials are at the moment working on a time plan to make it possible for the World Cup leader to take part in the Olympic Games in Beijing,” the Austrian ski federation said.

Kramer has no symptoms and no other team member tested positive.

There was also good news for the Australian curling team after one of its athletes returned two negative tests following an initial positive in the Chinese capital on Sunday.

Curler Tahli Gill and teammate Dean Hewitt had been in isolation for two days after Tahli tested positive at Beijing airport.

“We are greatly relieved as a team, that goes without saying. But importantly for us both as a team, this experience is not going to define our Olympic campaign.

We have treated this time as a rest day and a time to really focus on our Olympic goals,” the two said in a statement. 

Reuters

January 31 2022 — 06:07

UK begins Covid-19 vaccinations for vulnerable children

Britain will begin offering vaccinations to children aged between five and 11 who are most at risk from coronavirus, the state-run National Health Service said

January 31 2022 — 05:55