COVID-19 WRAP | Hong Kong to let some Covid-positive children stay home amid separation fears

February 26 2022 - 12:24

Work under way to ‘cautiously’ lift the national state of disaster: Ayanda Dlodlo

Public works minister Ayanda Dlodlo says the government is working towards the implementation of measures that will ensure a safe withdrawal of the national state of disaster, two years after it was introduced. 

Dlodlo was speaking at a governance, state capacity and institutional development cluster media briefing on Monday.

The minister said the state of disaster was instrumental in mitigating the impact of the pandemic which has claimed the lives of over 98,000 people in SA since March 2020. 

February 26 2022 - 10:47

SA has spent R6bn so far on Covid-19 vaccines, health minister reveals

SA has spent R6bn on Covid-19 vaccines, health minister Joe Phaahla has revealed.

Non-disclosure agreements with vaccine manufacturers meant he could not disclose the price of each vaccine, Phaahla told EFF MP Floyd Shivambu in a written parliamentary answer.

But he said the 62.4-million doses of Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer vaccines procured so far had cost about R6bn. This suggests each dose has cost about R96.

February 26 2022 - 09:00

Hong Kong to let some Covid-positive children stay home amid separation fears

Hong Kong authorities said they would allow some children testing positive for Covid-19 to remain at home, rather than being separated from their parents and hospitalised, after a public outcry from families across the city.

Some Hong Kong families had despaired over strict Covid rules that saw even toddlers in some cases taken away from their parents and isolated, prompting some families to leave the city.

Hong Kong long had an enviable record in suppressing the coronavirus with a "dynamic zero" Covid policy, in line with that on mainland China, but as an Omicron wave now overwhelms the city, the steps that saved lives are making life unbearable for many of its 7.4 million people.

-Reuters