Sunday, July 4, 2021

SA Covid-19: Cases surge in Gauteng and the Western Cape

The number of daily Covid-19 cases in South Africa climbed to a record 26,485 on Saturday, with a total of 96,896 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, representing a 27.3% positivity rate.

According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a further 175 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported, taking total fatalities to 61,507 to date.

Gauteng remains the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic, with 16,091 new cases, while the Western Cape saw cases climb to nearly 3,000 over a 24 hour period.

The NICD said that the percentage testing positive in week 25 – up to 26 June 2021, was highest in Gauteng (36.8%), Limpopo (35.5%), North West (30.6%) and Mpumalanga (26.0%) provinces.

The percentage of people testing positive was between 10% and 20% in the Free State, Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal provinces, it said.

In week 25, compared to the previous week, the percentage of people testing positive remained the same in the Free State, decreased in the Northern Cape, and increased in all other provinces.

Acting health minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane warned on Friday (2 July), that many provinces in the country are almost at red alert as infections continue to increase.

“The trends are clearly showing that other provinces which are currently lagging are going to experience the trend we are seeing in Gauteng, most notably in the Western and the Eastern Cape. What worries us as well, is the positivity rate. If you look at Limpopo, it has almost 42% of positivity rate, which is leading in terms of positivity rates,” Kubayi-Ngubane said.

“We remain very worried about the rise in hospitalizations, which is putting a lot of strain on the health facilities in Gauteng. The private health hospitals are currently operating at more than 100% capacity and public health hospitals are edging closer to full capacity,” the minister said.

She said nationally the third wave numbers have surpassed the first wave peak and are likely to surpass the second wave peak.

The new variant, called the Delta variant, is quickly becoming the dominant variant in the country, replacing both the Alpha variant experienced in the first wave and the Beta variant experienced in the second wave.

However, the minister reminded the public that the Beta variant is still prevalent and spreading.

“An important characteristic of the Delta variant is … those who were previously infected by Beta were immune from reinfection by both the Alpha and Beta variant – it is not the case with the Delta variant.

“This means that those who have had Covid-19 are at a risk of reinfection by the Delta variant,” Kubayi-Ngubane said.

Vaccines

South African regulators meanwhile have approved Sinovac Biotech Ltd’s coronavirus vaccine, the first shot developed for the disease by a Chinese company to be sanctioned locally, Bloomberg reported.

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) backed the double-dose CoronaVac candidate made by Sinovac’s Life Sciences unit – with conditions, according to a statement on Saturday.

These conditions include satisfactory results of ongoing studies and periodic safety updates, SAHPRA said.

The acceptance, which has similar terms to those given to other vaccine manufacturers such as Johnson & Johnson, comes as South Africa this week opened its immunization roll-out to people aged 50 and older.

Only around 6% of the national population has been vaccinated. CoronaVac is indicated for people between the ages of 18 and 59 years and has a provisional shelf life of two years when stored at 2–8 degrees Celsius (35.6-46.4 degrees Fahrenheit) and protected from light, the regulator said.

SAHPRA also took into account the World Health Organisation’s emergency use listing report on the vaccine in giving its approval, according to the statement.

Earlier this week SAHPRA chief executive officer Boitumelo Semete-Makokotlela said the regulator is moving faster on the emergency-use application for the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine after the producer submitted data, Bloomberg said. The agency has also received an application for the Sinopharm vaccine developed by China.

Kubayi-Ngubane said almost 2.1 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine are expected to arrive in July.

She said Pfizer has delivered nearly 4.5 million doses in quarter two and they have committed just over 15.5 million doses in quarter three, of which “we are expecting nearly 2.1 million doses in July”.

“Johnson and Johnson have so far delivered 500,000 early access doses used for Sisonke, 300 000 market doses two weeks ago and 1.2 million doses landed last week. These doses all need to be used by 11 August.

“We are awaiting confirmation for delivery of 500,000 doses – these expire later than the previous doses mentioned – and this makes up the two million to replace those that were lost to the contamination incident.

“We make a clarion call to all those who qualify, to register and vaccinate,” Kubayi-Ngubane said.

-BusinessTech

In other news – Pretty (Lerato Marabe) from Skeem Saam sets the record straight – Denies being married

Skeem Saam’s Lerato Marabe refutes claims she’s married on Sports At 10. She says she was attending a friend’s wedding. Actress Lerato Marabe, who is known for her role as Pretty Seakamela on Skeem Saam, has put cold water to rumours that she is married.

Lerato Marabe

Marabe, who appeared on SABC1’s show Sport At 10 with Thomas Mlambo. However, she said that she was a guest at a friend’s wedding and was not getting married as reported by the media. Learn More

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