Global Covid-19 cases have exceeded 21 million, with more than 13.8 million recoveries and over 750 000 deaths.

South Africa has 572 865 cases, 437 617 recoveries, and 11 270 deaths.

Is there potential for the Russian vaccine to be tested in SA?

Is there a potential for the Russian vaccine to be tested in South Africa? Can we trust it because it’s not among the WHO’s six vaccines that have reached phase three of clinical trials? For more, Thabo Mdluli of Newzroom Afrika speaks to SAMRC Vice President, Professor Jeffery Mphahlele about this | View Now

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• SA experts caution hasty approval of Russia’s ’not fully tested’ Covid-19 vaccine | Read more
• Russia’s coronavirus vaccine hasn’t been fully tested. Doling it out risks side effects and false protection | Read more
• Russia’s fast-track coronavirus vaccine draws outrage over safety | Read more

New coronavirus data shows positive signs for South Africa

South Africa’s coronavirus outbreak appears to be slowing, with health officials indicating that a number of provinces have reached or passed their peak.

Confirmed cases in all of the country’s nine provinces have fallen in recent days, with the country recording an additional 2,810 infections on Wednesday. South Africa has now reported a cumulative total of 568,919 cases, with 11,010 deaths recorded.

Data from the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) Burden of Disease Research Unit also shows positive signs as the country begins its recovery | Read more

Related Articles:

• SA far from safe, but signs of Covid-19 herd immunity are showing | Read more
• Second week of falling deaths fuels hope | Read more

Mediated conversation: Do you believe we are over the COVID-19 peak?

Interview with Dr Jabulani Ncayiyana, an epidemiologist at UCT, Prof Debbie Bradshaw, Chief Specialist Scientist of the SA Medical Research Council and Prof Shabir Madhi, Professor of Vaccinology at the University of the Witwatersrand to discuss whether South Africa is past the peak of the coronavirus pandemic | Listen Now

WHO: Africa to see slower rises in covid-19 cases after reopening economies

Africa will continue to see new coronavirus cases as countries begin to reopen lockdown-devastated economies, but increases will not be exponential, the head of the African branch of the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday.

Africa last week surpassed the figure of one million infections, with the continent’s most developed economy, South Africa, accounting for more than half of those cases | Read more

Healthcare Heroes: Memorial to hospital workers unveiled

A unique memorial to those in the frontlines of an ongoing crisis has been launched at a dialogue organised by the Board of Healthcare Funders to celebrate women healthcare workers as part of Women’s Month.

The Healthcare Workers Heroes Memorial aims to recognise and remember all those “who have fallen in the line of duty”. Yet, unlike soldiers, for whom monuments and memorials were traditionally constructed, the duty of those who fell in the Covid-19 “war” was not to take lives but to save lives. They lost their lives saving others. They could have stayed at home and refused to work. They didn’t. They followed their calling and worked in the line of fire | Read more

Increasing your Covid-19 knowledge may lessen pandemic-related stress

It might feel like ‘switching off’ from Covid-19 news is a good idea, but according to the latest study, it’s quite the opposite.  

A study released by the Pew Research Center at the end of April, revealed that around seven in 10 Americans said they needed to take breaks from news about the pandemic, and four in 10 reported feeling worse emotionally as a result of following the news.

However, a new study debunks the notion that more information about the pandemic is bad for our mental health. Instead, the researchers from North Carolina State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology found that the more people know about Covid-19, the less pandemic-related stress they experience | Read more

Avoid non-essential dental visits until Covid transmission rates drop, WHO urges

As some countries are still experiencing an increase in infection rates, the World Health Organization (WHO) has called for all non-urgent dental appointments to be postponed in order to contain the spread of the virus – at least until more is known about it. “WHO advises that routine non-essential oral health care – which usually includes oral health check-ups, dental cleanings and preventive care – be delayed until there has been sufficient reduction in Covid-19 transmission rates, from community transmission to cluster cases, or according to official recommendations at national, sub-national or local level.

The same applies to aesthetic dental treatments,” the guidelines say  |
Read more

Related Article:

• Guidelines: Considerations for the provision of essential oral health services in the context of COVID-19 | Read study

Success against Covid-19: Temporary Cape Town hospital closes

A total of 241 patients came through its doors, but now the temporary Covid-19 field hospital in Khayelitsha will close. It is yet another sign that the Western Cape, at least for now, is beyond the worst of the pandemic, although it is far from over | Read more

The Covid-19 storm has not passed, but slowed – Gauteng Premier Makhura urges continued compliance

Gauteng needs to continue conducting itself and behaving like it is still in the epicentre of Covid-19 in South Africa- the province must do this even though there is a reduction in the rate of infections, said Premier David Makhura. He was speaking during the provincial command council weekly Covid-19 update today.

The provincial advisory committee revealed at the briefing there was a new modelling and infection trajectory, suggesting that the province was able to handle the surge and that cases were now declining | Read more

A survey shows young women are bearing the brunt of Covid-19 unemployment

Of the three million job losses in South Africa as a result of Covid-19, two million were held by women. While the deck has always been stacked against women, Covid-19 exposes the staggering inequalities and barriers that women face in finding, and keeping, work | Read more

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