COVID-19 WRAP | SA records 1,094 new Covid-19 cases

February 14 2022 - 19:39

SA records 1,094 new Covid-19 cases in the past day

SA recorded just shy of 1,100 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Monday.

There were also 257 Covid-19 related deaths recorded in the same period, though the overwhelming majority were as a result of a backlog of mortality cases being reported as part of an ongoing audit. Three of the deaths were in the past 24 to 48 hours, the NICD said.

This means that there have been 3,642,925 total cases and 97,250 total fatalities recorded across SA to date.

February 14 2022 - 13:30

Taiwan says needs to reopen, to look at easing Covid-19 quarantine rules

Taiwan will look at easing it strict Covid-19 quarantine policy as it needs to gradually resume normal life and reopen to the world , Premier Su Tseng-chang said on Monday.

Since the pandemic began two years ago, Taiwan has succeeded in keeping reported cases of Covid-19 below 20,000, having enforced a blanket two-week quarantine for everyone arriving on the island even as large parts of the rest of the world have ditched theirs.

Speaking at a meeting with senior health officials, Su said that even though there could be further domestic infections the government was “quite confident” in its anti-pandemic measures.

February 14 2022 - 13:017

Covid-hit crèches waiting for promised funding

Early childhood development (ECD) centres continue to be severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic while other education sectors return to normalcy, including classes at schools returning to full capacity. 

Nursery schools and crèches, or ECD centres in sector and government speak, accept children from birth to six years and play an important role in their formative years. The effects of having to close because of lockdowns have been worsened by the department of social development’s delay in paying out money from the R496m allocated to the sector as part of an employment stimulus relief fund to help it recover. 

Little Champs nursery school in Thembisa, east of Johannesburg, is one example of the devastation Covid-19 has caused. Beverly Tlharaka, 35, founded it in 2016 to provide a much-needed service to her community. Everything was fine for a while, but then the pandemic hit. 

February 13 2022 - 21:07

Canada police clear Covid-19 protesters from bridge

Canadian police made several arrests on Sunday and cleared protesters and vehicles that had blocked a vital trade route on the border with the United States, but the bridge was not yet open to traffic on Sunday.

The officers moved in after a tense standoff between Canadian police and demonstrators since Friday when a court order and threats of arrest failed to end the six-day-old blockade of the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario.

Windsor Police said in a statement on Sunday they arrested several people on a charge of mischief, without saying how many. Police also seized vehicles within the demonstration area, the statement added.

-Reuters

February 13 2022 - 19:46

Italy reports 51,959 coronavirus cases on Sunday, 191 deaths

Italy reported 51,959 Covid-19 related cases on Sunday, against 62,231 the day before, the health ministry said, while the number of deaths fell to 191 from 269.

Italy has registered 151,015 deaths linked to Covid-19 since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the eighth highest in the world.

The country has reported 12.1 million cases to date.

-Reuters

February 13 2022 - 18:44

UK reports 41,270 new Covid-19 cases, 52 deaths on Sunday

Britain reported 41,270 new Covid-19 cases and 52 deaths within 28 days of a positive test on Sunday, government data showed.

That compared with 46,025 cases and 167 deaths reported a day earlier. 

-Reuters

February 13 2022 - 16:44

Canada police arrest protesters as key bridge to U.S. remains shut

Canadian police said on Sunday they have arrested more protesters opposing Covid-19 restrictions and blocking a key trade route along the border with the United States, more than 24 hours after authorities moved in to impose a court order.

This comes after a tense standoff between Canadian police and demonstrators on Saturday, as the court order and threats of arrest have failed to end the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ontario, which entered its sixth day on Sunday.

-Reuters

February 13 2022 - 14:52

Canada protesters, police deadlocked as tensions simmer at blocked border bridge

A tense standoff between Canadian police and protesters opposing Covid-19 restrictions was set to continue on Sunday, as a court order and threats of arrest have failed to end a blockade of a key Canada-U.S. border crossing.

President Joe Biden has asked Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to use federal powers to end the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge, North America's busiest land border crossing.

Since Monday, protesters in trucks, cars and vans have blocked traffic in both directions, choking the supply chain for Detroit's carmakers.

-Reuters

February 13 2022 - 12:19

Hong Kong reports 1,347 Covid cases as healthcare system overwhelmed

Hong Kong reported 1,347 new daily Covid-19 infections on Sunday, down from the previous day's record, but the spread, with 2,000 more suspected cases, threatens the city's overstretched healthcare system, authorities said.

The surge in coronavirus cases, the biggest test yet for Hong Kong's "dynamic zero-Covid" strategy, comes a day after the government said China would help the city with testing, treatment and quarantine capacity.

Authorities warned food supplies into the city may be disrupted, after some cross-border truck drivers tested positive for coronavirus, but said they were doing everything to get the situation back to normal "as soon as possible.

-Reuters

February 13 2022 - 10:48

Vietnam to end Covid curbs on international flights from February 15

Vietnam will remove its Covid-19 restrictions on international passenger flights with all markets starting February 15, with no limitation on the number of flights, the state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported on Sunday.

The Southeast Asian country imposed tight border controls at the start of the pandemic to keep out Covid-19, with some initial success, but that dealt a blow to its burgeoning tourism sector which accounted for about 10% of gross domestic product.

"Vietnam will lift restrictions on international flights starting February 15. The frequency of flights will be restored to pre-pandemic level," Tuoi Tre said, citing Dinh Viet Son, deputy director of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam

-Reuters

February 13 2022 - 10:22

Germans pin hopes on Novavax moving the needle among anti-vaxxers

Benedikt Richter, a 40-year-old teacher in the southwest German city of Kaiserslautern, long held out against getting vaccinated against Covid-19.

He felt uneasy about the novelty of the mRNA technology used in two of the most commonly administered shots.

It did not help that his sister-in-law was hospitalised with heart muscle inflammation a day after receiving her second shot, which doctors officially linked to her vaccine, Richter said.

Regulators have acknowledged such conditions as a rare and mostly mild side-effect.But when the European Union in December approved the use of the Novavax vaccine Nuxavoxid, which deploys a long-established protein-based technology, he became interested.

"I have done my research and I have a slightly better feeling about it," said the father of two. Data unearthed by Reuters suggests the new two-dose vaccine, recommended in Germany for basic immunisation for people over 18, is already going some way to convince more of the as-yet unvaccinated to get a shot.

-Reuters

February 13 2022 - 10:13

We’ve got the money for R350 grant extension: Lindiwe Sisulu

Social development minister Lindiwe Zulu is adamant SA has enough money to fulfil President Cyril Ramaphosa’s pledge to extend the R350 social relief of distress (SRD) grant until the end of March 2023.

“When the president announces ‘I have so many millions for such and such a thing’, it’s because it has been budgeted for already ... So it is not that the Treasury still needs to find the money,” Zulu told Sunday Times Daily.

During his state of the nation address this week, Ramaphosa allayed the fears of millions of South Africans who are deeply dependent on the grant, when he said it would be extended for a further year.

February 13 2022 - 08:25

Cook Islands braces for first community Covid-19 cases

Cook Islands, a small South Pacific nation that has not experienced Covid-19 in its community, is readying for its first coronavirus infections after an infected traveller visited, Prime minister Mark Brown said on Sunday.

The traveller from New Zealand spent eight days in the community and tested positive for Omicron upon returning home last week, Brown said in a video posted on the government's Facebook page.

“It is likely that the person ... was infectious while here and further likely that the virus is in our community,” he said.

February 13 2022 - 06:20

Nearly 300,000 dead from Covid-19 in SA — and the threat is not over

The true burden of death in SA caused by Covid is approaching the 300,000 mark — three times the official figure of 97,000, experts say.

The daily number of deaths has been far lower during the pandemic's fourth wave but even so the official death toll is growing by more than 130 a day. With “excess deaths” included, the number is probably close to 400.

Debbie Bradshaw, a professor of biomathematics at the South African Medical Research Council (MRC), who has been part of the team calculating excess deaths, said: “The total number of excess deaths is approaching 300,000. It was 296,000 by February 5. We consider 85%-95% are Covid-19.”

February 13 2022 - 06:15

State of disaster may soon be lifted, but don't put away your masks just yet

South Africans will have to continue observing measures put in place during the pandemic after the Covid state of disaster is lifted, says health minister Joe Phaahla.

They will have to carry on wearing masks, sanitising, social distancing and limiting the size of gatherings.

Phaahla said on Friday that the government has its work cut out after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the state of disaster will end as soon as alternative measures to contain the pandemic are finalised.