“Zimbabwean Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Sibusiso Moyo succumbed to COVID-19 on Wednesday as the country battles to contain a spike in cases. Moyo, known for announcing the military intervention in 2017 that ended Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule, dies in a Harare clinic after contracting the virus that has killed hundreds of people in Zimbabwe.”
“South Africa had a record 10,907 excess deaths from natural causes in the week of 30 December to 5 January… By comparison, in the worst years of the AIDS epidemic (in the 2000s), there were at most about 6,000 excess deaths due to the disease each week.”
“Astonishingly, even now, in the full knowledge of what we face and with dozens of countries worldwide, including African nations, embarking on mass vaccination programmes against COVID-19, it is distressing to hear senior officials increasingly talking down the prospects for the availability and usefulness of COVID-19 vaccines in South Africa.”
“As the continent witnesses new spikes in COVID-19 cases and deaths, the commission calls on member states to prioritise rollout of rapid antigen testing as part of an urgent effort to increase national COVID-19 testing capacity and better manage the pandemic, towards achieving test positivity rates of less than 5%.”
“Experts weigh in on what measures the government should take to curb the second wave of COVID-19 infections. This comes as President Cyril Ramaphosa prepares to address the nation on the potential tightening of regulations while South Africa heads into the end-of-year break.”
“The principal of Heathfield High School in Cape Town, Wesley Neumann, faces a disciplinary hearing from today. He is charged by the Western Cape education department with misconduct after he refused to open the school during the COVID-19 infection peak.”
“Before any COVID-19 vaccines can be made available in South Africa, they must be authorised by South Africa’s medicines regulator – the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA).”
“Zambia’s debt crisis is part of a much bigger affliction facing many sub-Saharan African countries which have been sinking in sovereign debt since the financial crisis of 2008. Persistent systemic governance and economic challenges accompanied by external shocks have led to a rise in the continent’s indebtedness.”
“Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize will visit the Eastern Cape this week, warning that the government is under pressure to get an outbreak of coronavirus infections in the province, and specifically in Nelson Mandela Bay, under control before it spreads to the rest of the country.”
“A new surge in COVID-19 cases is overwhelming Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and Despatch: close to 642 patients needing hospitalisation, a slow response from the Eastern Cape Department of Health, three overflowing hospitals and an R11-million state-of-the-art ward lying dormant because there are no nurses to work there.”
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