COVID-19 WRAP | SA records 19,842 new Covid-19 cases

December 08  2021 - 19:40

Number of new Covid-19 cases climbs towards 20,000 in 24 hours: NICD

There were 19,842 new Covid-19 cases recorded across SA in the past 24 hours, as the fourth wave of infection continues to take hold.

There were also 36 deaths and 384 hospital admissions recorded in the same period, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).

This means that there have been 3,071,064 recorded cases and 90,038 fatalities to date, and there are now 4,252 people admitted to hospital for coronavirus complications.

December 08  2021 - 18:00

Pfizer Covid-19 booster shots get the nod in SA

Pfizer Covid-19 booster shots have been given the go-ahead for people older than 18.

The SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that it had approved the “optional third (booster) dose” of the Covid-19 vaccine after the company applied for approval.

December 08  2021 - 13:40

Fourth-wave cases much milder so far, says optimistic Netcare boss

Symptoms of people infected with the Omicron variant of Covid-19 are far milder than those seen in SA’s first three waves of infections, private hospital group Netcare said on Wednesday. 

CEO Richard Friedland said he had personally seen many patients in Gauteng and about 90% required no oxygen therapy.

“While we fully recognise that it is still early days, if this trend continues it would appear that with a few exceptions of those requiring tertiary care, the fourth wave can be adequately treated at a primary care level,” he said.

December 08  2021 - 13:28

‘We are not ready to see you in here’: Undertakers on vaccination drive in convoy with hearses

Funeral undertakers are entering the stage to encourage people to get vaccinated against Covid-19.  

This week, under the banner of the SA Funeral Practitioners Association (Safpa), undertakers took to the streets of Soweto and went to shopping centres in a convoy of hearses to encourage people to vaccinate. 

“We are not ready to see you in these hearses,” was the message from undertakers.

December 08  2021 - 13:15

R350 grant: ‘Sassa status check’ was the most Googled phrase this year

Google has revealed its list of trending topics for 2021 and “Sassa status check” for the R350 social relief of distress (SRD) grant took the top spot, highlighting the socioeconomic struggles endured by millions of South Africans during the second year of the pandemic.

The grant was originally introduced in April 2020 to assist young people who were unable to look for employment as a result of the lockdown and Covid-19 pandemic.

December 08  2021 - 11:44

Hand sanitisers in and around Tshwane are substandard, study finds

Commercial, off-the-shelf hand sanitisers used by members of the public in and around Tshwane are substandard, do not contain the recommended alcohol content, and are mostly incorrectly labelled, according to local and international standards.

This was the finding of a University of Pretoria (UP) study.

Most products analysed during the study found sanitiser solutions did not contain alcohol compositions for ethanol and isopropanol, as recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO), said the university.

December 08  2021 - 10:50

Up to 1-million Covid-19 vaccines wasted in Nigeria last month

Up to 1 million Covid-19 vaccines are estimated to have expired in Nigeria last month without being used, two sources told Reuters, one of the biggest single losses of doses that shows the difficulty African nations have getting shots in arms.

Governments on the continent of over one billion people have been pushing for more vaccine deliveries as inoculation rates lag richer regions, increasing the risk of new variants such as the Omicron coronavirus now spreading across South Africa.

In Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation and home to more than 200 million people, fewer than 4% of adults have been fully vaccinated, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

A recent surge in supply has caused a new problem , however: many African countries are finding they do not have the capacity to manage the shots, some of which come with a short shelf life.

December 08  2021 - 10:50

Got the sniffles? Get a Covid-19 test even if you think it's only flu, says SA Medical Association

The SA Medical Association (Sama) has urged people to get tested for Covid-19 even if they think they have flu. 

Speaking on eNCA, Sama vice chairperson Mvuyisi Mzukwa said there is a thin line between symptoms of the common flu and the Covid-19 Omicron variant.

“Early data on Omicron shows symptoms may be mild. This is why it's important to test,” said Mzukwa. 

No matter how mild the symptoms may be, people need to get tested to make sure it's not Covid-19. 

“We are in the middle of a pandemic and need to make sure we don't have Covid-19. There are cheaper tests now and government institutions if you don't have medical aid. It's important that you test, because you don't know how that condition is going to progress.”

December 08  2021 - 10:37

Omicron threat may be countered with additional dose of Covid-19 vaccine

The earliest studies on Omicron are in and the glimpse they’re providing is cautiously optimistic: while vaccines like the one made by Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE may be less powerful against the new variant, protection can be fortified with boosters.

Studies from SA and Sweden are showing Omicron does, as feared, cause a loss of immune protection, but not a complete one. In a study of blood plasma from people given two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, there was a 41-fold drop in levels of virus-blocking antibodies compared with the strain circulating at the start of the pandemic. 

December 08  2021 - 10:30

US judge blocks last remaining Biden admin Covid-19 vaccine rule

A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the last of the Biden administration's Covid-19 vaccine mandates for businesses, saying the government exceeded it authority with a requirement that millions of employees of federal contractors be inoculated.

December 08  2021 - 10:27

Three is Gauteng’s unlucky number as Covid-19 reproduction rate rockets

The exponential increase in Covid-19 cases driven by the Omicron variant means the number of confirmed active infections has doubled in five days and stood at 96,572 by close of business on Tuesday.

At the peak of the third wave on July 10, there were 211,052 active cases countrywide.

December 08  2021 - 10:15

Study suggests Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine may only partially protect against Omicron

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus can partially evade the protection from two doses of Pfizer Inc and partner BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine, the research head of a laboratory at the Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa said on Tuesday.

Still, the study showed that blood from people who had received two doses of the vaccine and had a prior infection were mostly able to neutralise the variant, suggesting that booster doses of the vaccine could help to fend off infection.

Alex Sigal, a professor at the Africa Health Research Institute, said on Twitter there was "a very large drop" in neutralisation of the Omicron variant relative to an earlier strain of Covid-19.

December 08  2021 - 10:00

Britain suffers record rise in alcohol deaths during Covid-19 pandemic

The United Kingdom saw a record rise in the number of deaths caused by alcohol misuse last year, which public health officials said was linked to the wider social impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Some 8,974 people died of alcohol-specific causes in 2020, 18.6% more than in 2019 and the largest increase since records began in 2001, Britain's Office for National Statistics said.

Previous data from health authorities in England had shown a 21% rise in deaths from alcoholic liver disease last year, when Covid-19 lockdowns closed pubs but led to many heavy drinkers consuming more alcohol at home.

Between 2012 and 2019, alcohol death rates in the United Kingdom had been stable, the ONS said.

"The fact that mortality rates from key causes of death related to alcohol increased in 2020 suggests that an increase in alcohol harm was a wider impact of the pandemic," a public-sector body, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, said.

December 08  2021 - 09:33

More than 50% of adults in Western Cape have had the jab — here’s how other provinces are doing

More than half the adult population in the Western Cape has received at least a single dose of their Covid-19 vaccinations, the provincial health department said on Tuesday. 

The department said while this means protection for a significant part of the adult population, it was nowhere near its target of administering vaccines to 70% of the population in the province by the end of the year. 

It said this was a concern as the province entered the fourth wave of infections.

“With the new Omicron variant rapidly spreading, vaccination is more important than ever to protect against severe illness and death. We again appeal to those who have not yet been vaccinated to take up any of the many opportunities we are providing within their communities,” said the department. 

December 08  2021 - 07:31

Bolsonaro dismisses vaccination requirement for entry into Brazil

Brazil will require that unvaccinated travellers entering the country go on a five-day quarantine followed by a Covid-19 test, its health minister said on Tuesday, after its president said he opposed the use of a vaccine passport.

President Jair Bolsonaro criticised Brazil's health regulator Anvisa for proposing the vaccination passport be required for arriving travellers to help prevent the spread of new coronavirus variants.

“Anvisa wants to close the country's airspace now. Not again, damn it,” Bolsonaro, a vaccine sceptic, said at a business event in Brasilia.

Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga, speaking after a Cabinet meeting later on Tuesday, said Brazil would not discriminate against people who are not vaccinated by adopting the passport.

December 08  2021 - 07:00

Can I catch Covid-19 from drinking water?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says there is little to no chance of contracting Covid-19 from drinking water. 

The organisation said the virus has not been found in water supplies, and water treatment destroys the virus.

“The risk coronaviruses pose to drinking water is considered to be low and the Sars-CoV-2 virus has not been detected in drinking water supplies.

“Drinking water treatment methods neutralise infectious pathogens present in the water. Sars-CoV-2 is an enveloped virus, which means it has a fragile fatty envelope that is easily destroyed by the treatment process. Therefore, treated drinking water does not pose a risk for Covid-19.”

December 08  2021 - 06:25

Study suggests Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine only partially protects against Omicron

The Omicron variant of the coronavirus can partially evade the protection from Pfizer Inc and partner BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine, the research head of a laboratory at Africa Health Research Institute in South Africa said on Tuesday.

Alex Sigal, a professor at the Africa Health Research Institute, said on Twitter there was "a very large drop" in neutralization of the Omicron variant relative to an earlier strain of Covid.

The lab tested blood from 12 people who had been vaccinated with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, according to a manuscript posted on the website for his lab. The preliminary data in the manuscript has not yet been peer reviewed.

Blood from five out of six people who had been vaccinated as well as previously infected with Covid-19 still neutralized the Omicron variant, the manuscript said.

According to the manuscript, they observed a 41-fold decline in levels of neutralizing antibodies against the Omicron variant.

Sigal said on Twitter that figure is likely to be adjusted after his lab does more experiments.

The Omicron variant, first detected in southern Africa last month, has triggered alarms globally of another surge in infections, with more than two dozen countries from Japan to the United States reporting cases.

The World Health Organization on November 26 classified it as a "variant of concern" but said there was no evidence to support the need for new vaccines specifically designed to tackle the Omicron variant with its many mutations.

Sigal did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. 

Reuters

December 08  2021 - 06:20

EU agencies OK vaccine mix-and-match

EU health agencies endorsed mixing and matching different Covid-19 vaccines after studies showed a first dose of AstraZeneca or Pfizer-BioNTech, followed by Moderna nine weeks later, induced a better immune response.

December 08  2021 - 06:15

Where to mandate jabs and why public interest overrides the individual

The debate about mandatory vaccines has reached fever pitch as efforts to contain Covid-19 accelerate.

Compelling scientific, ethical and legal arguments have been advanced around whether people should be forced to be vaccinated. Some countries have already introduced mandates which require people to produce proof of vaccination to access certain public places.

The debates are based on a realistic fear about the continuing emergence of new variants against the backdrop of large numbers of unvaccinated people — in high-, low- and middle-income countries.

December 08  2021 - 06:00

‘Start with empathy’: how to shift the vaccine-hesitant, by UCT psychiatrists

Anti-vaxxers are a lost cause, but the vaccine-hesitant can be shifted with an empathetic approach that protects health workers’ mental health.

Writing in the SA Medical Journal, a University of Cape Town psychiatry professor said “motivational interviewing”, which focuses on listening rather than convincing, is ultimately more effective but also heads off stress in medical practitioners.

Jackie Hoare, head of consultation-liaison psychiatry at Groote Schuur Hospital, has previously written in The Lancet about how she and colleague Louise Frenkel worked alongside doctors in the Covid-19 high-care unit at Groote Schuur Hospital, to understand and empathise with their mental health needs during the pandemic.