COVID-19 WRAP | SA active Covid-19 infections lowest since June 2020

March 07 2021 - 21:23

SA active Covid-19 infections lowest since June 2020

SA's active Covid-19 infections is now 29,516, the first time below 30,000 since June 13 2020 which recorded 27,457 active infections.

31 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours is also the lowest daily total since November 8 2020.

The cumulative number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country is 1,521,068, with 50,678 Covid-related deaths recorded.

March 07 2021 - 18:17

Absa Group deputy CEO Peter Matlare dies of Covid — report

Absa Group deputy CEO Peter Matlare has died, eNCA reported on Sunday.

His family told the broadcaster he died of Covid-19.

Asked to confirm his death, Absa spokesperson Phumza Macanda told TimesLIVE: “We are not in a position to comment on it at this stage”.

March 07 2021 - 16:57

Covid-19 travel insurance becoming a vacation staple

Covid-19 insurance policies are increasingly joining passports and sunscreen as vacation staples, creating opportunities for insurers as more countries require mandatory coverage in case visitors fall ill from the coronavirus.

Airline bookings are on the rise in some regions, driving cautious hopes of a revival in summer traffic, but also raising fears among tourist destinations of getting hit with bills should vacationers become stranded by the virus.

More than a dozen countries from Aruba to Thailand require Covid-19 coverage for visitors, with Jordan the latest to consider such protections, organisers of an emergency services plan told Reuters.

March 07 2021 - 15:31

Ethiopian Airlines says ready to transport Covid-19 vaccines

Ethiopian Airlines is set to take a lead role in ferrying Covid-19 vaccines around the world and expects demand for the service to last for up to three years, its head of cargo services said on Sunday.

Africa's biggest carrier has turned to cargo services to shore up revenue after the onset of the coronavirus crisis last year sent passenger numbers down sharply.

"We have aircrafts converted from passengers by removing their seats, 16 of them, which are very wide aircrafts converted to transport vaccines," Fitsum Abadi, the managing director of Ethiopian Cargo, told Reuters.

Reuters

March 07 2021 - 14:16

Austria suspends AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine batch after death

 Austrian authorities have suspended inoculations with a batch of AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine as a precaution while investigating the death of one person and the illness of another after the shots, a health agency said on Sunday.

"The Federal Office for Safety in Health Care (BASG) has received two reports in a temporal connection with a vaccination from the same batch of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the district clinic of Zwettl" in Lower Austria province, it said.

One 49-year-old woman died as a result of severe coagulation disorders, while a 35-year-old woman developed a pulmonary embolism and is recovering, it said.

Reuters

March 07 2021 - 08:00

Flipside of Covid-19 gloom emerges

Twelve tough months of Covid have left a legacy of innovations and changes to health systems and public behaviour that will deliver life-saving benefits for years.

Professor Ian Sanne - head of Right to Care and a member of the ministerial advisory committee (MAC) on Covid-19 - said a response co-ordinated at national level but rolled out provincially had taught important lessons.

March 07 2021 - 08:00

Disabled lives matter: Covid-19 puts a spotlight on discrimination

The virus has brought to the fore the unacceptable belief that the lives of those with disabilities are less valuable, writes Lauren den Besten

March 07 2021 - 07:30

Covid-19: Virtual tutoring takes off in Western Cape

It is 3pm and the school day has ended for many pupils at Kensington High School in Cape Town. But for Alashia Vlotman, 17, it is not yet time to go home. In the computer lab she joins a handful of other matrics for a physics lesson with a difference.

March 07 2021 - 07:30

SA's vaccine rollout: Queue-jumpers warned as vaccinations climb

The milestone of 100,000 health-care workers vaccinated was reached on Friday and a new shipment of Johnson & Johnson (J&J) Covid-19 vaccines is expected today.

"The teams are magnificent. They are working very hard and we hit the 100,000 mark," said professor Glenda Gray, co-principal investigator of the project through which they are being vaccinated.

March 07 2021 - 07:00

Lessons learnt about our world — and our next pandemic

On Friday, SA marked the passage of one year since the first Covid-19 patient was diagnosed, in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands.

It is difficult to look back on the past 12 months with anything but the heaviest sense of distress and despair. Infections have passed the 1.5-million mark, and death hangs like a cloud over every interaction with friends, family and colleagues as the loss of over 50,000 lives — or  as many as 120,000 according to the South African Medical Research Council, if we include excess mortality numbers — is felt in every community.

March 07 2021 - 07:00

With much to be proud of and much to regret, we mark a Year of Covid

If the Sunday Times had reported in its edition of March 8 2020 that in the coming 12 months one South African in every 40 would contract Covid-19, it would have been judged harshly in the court of public opinion.

March 07 2021 - 06:45

China reports 13 new Covid-19 cases vs 10 a day earlier

Mainland China reported 13 new Covid-19 cases on March 6, up from 10 cases a day earlier, the country's national health authority said on Sunday.

The National Health Commission said in a statement all of the new cases were imported infections. The number of new asymptomatic cases, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, fell to 11 from 23 cases a day earlier.

The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in mainland China stands at 89,975, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,636.

Reuters

March 07 2021 - 06:00

Fault lines and future challenges laid bare

A year after the first case of a Covid-19 infection in SA was reported - leading the country to be locked down along with many other nations around the world - is a good time for all of us to take stock and consider some of the key and valuable lessons learned from the crisis.

March 07 2021 - 06:00

'Her death was a wake-up call': Remembering SA's first Covid victim

Madeleine van Wyk's death a year ago brought the reality of the virus home