COVID-19 - The African Mirror

Dec

2020

South Africa’s chief justice unrepentant for linking vaccines to Satanism

SOUTH African Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng on Friday dismissed concerns that he might be endangering people's health by linking coronavirus vaccines to a "Satanic agenda". It was the first time since the outbreak of the pandemic that a senior judge had aired such preoccupations. South Africa has registered more than 22,700 deaths from COVID-19, by far the highest number on the continent. Worries quickly surfaced, in a country where new medical interventions are often controversial, that people might avoid vaccination as a result of the comments. After South Africa began hosting the continent's first coronavirus vaccine trial, anti-vaccine activists protested…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Merkel pushes for tougher German lockdown

WORLD

CHANCELLOR Angela Merkel threw her weight behind calls for a fuller lockdown in Germany that would include closing shops after Christmas, telling legislators that vaccines alone would not majorly alter the pandemic's course in the first quarter. Europe's largest economy has been in partial lockdown for six weeks, with bars and restaurants closed but shops and schools open. That has stopped the coronavirus's exponential growth but infection levels remain at a high level. Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Merkel said regional leaders should follow scientific guidance, which has called for people to further reduce their contact with others. "It would…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

New South African airline Lift takes off as pandemic sinks others

BUSINESS

A new domestic South African airline has launched, betting on low operating costs and oil prices to withstand an industry crisis that has left national flagship SAA struggling to survive and sunk other low-cost carriers. The new carrier, Lift, part-founded by former Uber Africa executive Jonathan Ayache and Gidon Novick, who ran low-cost flyer kulala.com, said it planned to avoid a cash-heavy operational model that hit its rivals. "We're fortunate, operating costs are as low as they've ever been. Obviously that's subject to the exchange rate," said Novick. "Oil prices are pretty low. Aircraft values have almost halved, and people…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Poor countries seen missing out as rich nations hoard COVID-19 vaccines

COVID-19

THIN LEI WIN NINE out of 10 people in dozens of poor nations could miss out on getting vaccinated against COVID-19 next year because rich countries have hoarded far more doses than they need, campaigners have said. Rich nations home to 14% of the global population had bought 53% of the total stock of the most-promising vaccines as of last month, said the People's Vaccine Alliance, a coalition including Oxfam, Amnesty International and Global Justice Now. They said pharmaceutical companies working on COVID-19 vaccines should openly share their technology and intellectual property through the World Health Organisation (WHO) so more…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

In Kenya, COVID-19’s rural spread strains creaky healthcare

COVID-19

JOSEPH AKWIRI and MAGGIE FICK THE recent deaths from COVID-19 in Kenya of a refugee, a member of parliament and a retired civil servant all happened for the same reason: emergency help was hours away. Nearly three quarters of Kenya's intensive care unit (ICU) beds are in the two largest cities, Nairobi and Mombasa. Yet the new coronavirus is spreading into rural areas where the public health system is creaking and scarce ICU units are full and turning patients away, medics round the nation told Reuters. Christmas travel may worsen the problem - and not just in Kenya. "That is…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

England ODI series in S.Africa postponed over mental health fears

SPORT

NICK SAID ENGLAND’S One-Day International series against South Africa has been postponed amid concerns over the mental and physical health of the players, Cricket South Africa (CSA) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said in a joint statement. The announcement comes after the players were subjected to a number of COVID-19 scares with potentially five cases inside the teams' bio-secure environment in Cape Town, with one South Africa player and two hotel staff confirmed as positive. Two members of the England tour party also have "unconfirmed positive results" that require further investigation, the ECB said on Sunday. "The…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Horrible and sad’ – COVID-19 boosts the death business

BUSINESS

JACK GRAHAM MOST startups are struggling to survive let alone thrive in the pandemic - yet 2020 couldn't have gone better for Untangle, a new player in the age-old death business. Launched in January as COVID-19 began circling the globe, Untangle was born from the grief of two women on a mission to help others cope better with death and the big, snap decisions it foists on mourners. “It’s really horrible and sad, but our market and the awareness of the need for the service has grown,” Untangle's co-founder Emily Cummin told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. Cummin came up with…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

South Africa urges quarantine after ‘super-spreader’ student parties

NEWS

SOUTH Africa has urged school students who attended a series of end-of-year "Rage" parties to enter 10 days of quarantine after identifying four such parties as COVID-19 "super-spreader events". South Africa is experiencing a resurgence of new cases in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape, with President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday announcing new restrictions in the Eastern Cape but stopping short of a wider crackdown. Hosted annually, the Rage parties are popular with thousands of school leavers eager to let their hair down at events that can last several days. Minister Zweli Mkhize briefs media on his department's measures on…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Why is COVID-19 pushing up extreme poverty and can it be reversed?

COVID-19

SONIA ELKS COVID-19 could push a billion people - almost one in nine of the earth's inhabitants - into extreme poverty by 2030. The alarming statistic laid out in a United Nations report this week is the latest warning of the generational impact the pandemic is having on the world's most vulnerable. How did the coronavirus unleash an economic storm risking so many livelihoods and what can be done to shield those most at risk? What is extreme poverty? Anyone living on less than $1.90 per day is defined as being in extreme poverty by the World Bank, which says…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Coronavirus claims 1.5 million lives globally with 10,000 dying each day

COVID-19

SHAINA AHLUWALIA and SANGAMESWARAN S OVER 1.5-million people have lost their lives due to COVID-19 with one death reported every nine seconds on a weekly average, as vaccinations are set to begin in December in a handful of developed nations. Half a million deaths occurred in just the last two months, indicating that the severity of the pandemic is far from over. Nearly 65-million people globally have been infected by the disease and the worst affected country, United States, is currently battling a third wave of coronavirus infections. In the last week alone, more than 10,000 people in the world…