COVID-19 WRAP | SA records 2,800 new Covid-19 cases

February 18 2022 - 13:30

SA records 2,800 new Covid-19 cases

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has reported 2,800 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours.

This brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to date to 3,654,824, which represents an 8.4% positivity rate.

There were 343 deaths reported, four of which occurred in the past 24 to 48 hours, bringing the total number of recorded fatalities to date to 98,298.

February 18 2022 - 13:30

R200 voucher incentive resulted in 15% increase in vaccinations for people over 50: Health department

The department of health says Covid-19 vaccination increased by 15% in the over 50 cohort after its R200 Vooma voucher incentive was offered.

On Friday spokesperson Foster Mohale told TimesLIVE more than 112,000 people had claimed the vouchers by Thursday. 

“The number of over-50s getting vaccinated was declining quickly and these vouchers have stopped further decline. We don’t have the full analysis but we estimate the vouchers led to a 15% higher uptake than previous trends had projected,” he said.

February 18 2022 - 12:31

WHO says six African countries will get mRNA tech transfer with SA as hub

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday announced the first six African countries to be part of the “hub and spoke” approach to empowering countries to make their own mRNA vaccines for diseases.

These are SA — where a hub already exists — Tunisia, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya and Senegal.

WHO head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he visited the hub last week, met President Cyril Ramaphosa and was assured the hub is in good hands.

February 18 2022 - 07:30

Relax, Cape Town tap water is safe to drink and won't give you typhoid fever

The City of Cape Town on Thursday dismissed messages circulating via WhatsApp, warning residents against drinking municipal water and linking the “risk” to typhoid fever.

The city said water from its taps was safe to drink and met the standards of the SA National Drinking Water Standard (SANS241).

Water tested this week complied with the SA National Drinking Water Standard on Acute Health requirements and posed no public health risk. 

February 18 2022 - 07:00

How can I tell if I have Covid-19 or typhoid fever?

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has raised alarm on typhoid fever, also called enteric fever, after outbreak cases were detected in the Western Cape, North West and Gauteng.  

Dr Juno Thomas, head of the centre for enteric diseases at the NICD, said the institute was investigating the outbreaks after 64 cases were detected in the Cape Town metro health district, the Cape Winelands and the Garden Route.

Eighteen cases in the North West's Dr Kenneth Kaunda district and 45 cases spread throughout Gauteng were reported. 

February 18 2022 - 06:29

ANALYSIS | Why some South Africans who are willing to be vaccinated still haven’t had the jab

President Cyril Ramaphosa set a target to get 70% of the country’s adults vaccinated by the end of 2021. However, by the end of that year only 39% of adults had been fully vaccinated. 

Yet, despite this shortfall, across three rounds of surveying conducted during 2021 by the University of Johannesburg and the Human Sciences Research Council, we found that more than two-thirds of adults indicated a willingness to vaccinate or had been vaccinated. These findings are similar to those found by other surveys, including by IPSOS and NIDS-CRAM.

February 18 2022 - 06:23

Moderna patent application raises fears for Africa Covid-19 vaccine hub

Moderna spokesperson Colleen Hussey confirmed it had filed for patents “related to both the Covid-19 vaccine and Moderna's platform technology” in SA and elsewhere, after a group of 60 African-based charities raised concerns about them, but said the move would not block vaccine distribution in Africa.

She reiterated Moderna's October 2020 pledge not to enforce its Covid-19 related patents during the coronavirus pandemic.

But SA's Afrigen Biologics, which used the publicly available sequence of Moderna's vaccine to make its own version of the vaccine, said it had received no communication from the company about the patent filings.

It plans to start making and distributing across Africa in November.

February 18 2022 - 06:00

Covid drug molnupiravir gets interim approval as regulator continues testing

The medicine regulator has given the go-ahead for emergency use of Merck’s Covid-19 drug, molnupiravir.

The SA arm of the US pharmaceutical giant has been given permission to import a limited quantity of 200mg capsules of the oral antiviral for six months for “compassionate use”, the SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) said on Thursday.

The medication, under the brand name Lagevrio, is for use in adults only and will be available on prescription to patients with mild to moderate Covid-19 who do not require supplemental oxygen but are at risk of their disease becoming severe.