| | | 2020/10/16 | | 2020/10/20 09:46 AM | BHEKISISA
Nine months into the pandemic, Europe remains one of the regions worst affected by COVID-19. Ten of the 20 countries with the highest death count per million people are European. The other ten are in the Americas. This includes the US, which has the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths in the world.
Most of Africa and Asia, on the contrary, still seems spared. Of the countries with reported COVID-19 related deaths, the ten with the lowest death count per million are in these parts of the world. But while mistakes and misjudgements have fuelled sustained criticism of the UK’s handling of the pandemic, the success of much of the developing world remains unsung.
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| | | 2020/10/15 | | 2020/10/20 09:44 AM | BUSINESS INSIDER
The head of the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that allowing Covid-19 to spread freely in the hope of achieving herd immunity is "simply unethical."
WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that herd immunity — where a large portion of a community becomes immune to a virus, limiting its spread — must come through a vaccination, and cannot be achieved by allowing people to become infected.
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| | | 2020/10/15 | | 2020/10/20 09:47 AM | NETWERK24
Voorgestelde wysigings aan Suid-Afrika se regulasies vir aanmeldbare mediese toestande sal aan dr. Zweli Mkhize, minister van gesondheid, en die uitvoerende gesag onbeperkte magte gee om Suid-Afrikaners se regte eensydig tydens pandemies in te perk, meen die DA.
Dit is daarom volgens Siviwe Gwarube, DA-LP en woordvoerder oor gesondheid, noodsaaklik dat die hele parlement daaroor moet besluit en dat Mkhize nie toegelaat moet word om dit “deur die agterdeur, in die middel van die nag en net 24 uur voordat die (huidige) nasionale ramptoestand verstryk”, te probeer deurvoer nie.
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| | | 2020/10/15 | | 2020/10/20 09:50 AM | SOWETANLIVE
Health minister Zweli Mkhize has promised an aggressive “catch-up” drive to restore community health services and persuade people to seek health care as the country emerges from the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Speaking at a webinar to mark the start of the seventh annual Rotary Family Health Day outreach programme, Mkhize said it was imperative that SA did not squander any gains made during the pandemic.
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| | | 2020/10/14 | | 2020/10/20 09:39 AM | IOL
Johnson & Johnson halted clinical trials of its Covid-19 vaccine after a participant fell ill, the second time that a front-runner developer has paused testing in the race to create a viable immunization against the virus.
The participant’s illness is being evaluated, the New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company said late Monday, adding that it would share information after further investigation. J&J shares fell 2.4% in trading before U.S. exchanges opened. The vaccine is undergoing tests in as many as 60,000 volunteers from Peru to South Africa.
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| | | 2020/10/14 | | 2020/10/20 09:41 AM | BUSINESSLIVE
The Biovac Institute could produce up to 30-million doses of Covid-19 vaccines a year, CEO Morena Makhoana says
A company partly-owned by the government is in talks with the global Covid-19 vaccine distribution scheme and pharmaceutical companies to produce some of the vaccines SA needs to protect itself against the disease.
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| | | 2020/10/14 | | 2020/10/20 09:48 AM | BUSINESS TECH
The coronavirus pandemic shows how a private-public sector partnership resulting in a collaborative healthcare system can be effective, says Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize.
In a briefing last week, the health minister said that this is important in preparing for a future based on the principles of Universal Health Coverage and the new National Health Insurance (NHI).
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| | | 2020/10/13 | | 2020/10/20 09:38 AM | BUSINESS DAY
If approved, the amended regulations would give Zweli Mkhize the power to implement same stringent restrictions imposed to curb coronavirus pandemic
Health minister Zweli Mkhize on Tuesday evening flighted far-reaching proposals to change the National Health Act’s regulations on notifiable diseases.
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| | | 2020/10/13 | | 2020/10/20 09:40 AM | DAILY MAVERICK
Even if a jab is shown to work, there won’t be enough doses for everyone. Countries such as South Africa would need to make tough decisions about who it would give the vaccine to – and more importantly how to create a system to get it to them.
With hundreds of potential Covid-19 vaccines in development and a handful on the horizon, many companies are optimistic about having a jab ready by the beginning of 2021.
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| | | 2020/10/13 | | 2020/10/20 09:42 AM | BUSINESSLIVE
Such cases are still rare but may point to a reduced capacity to fend off future encounters
The first US case of coronavirus reinfection has been confirmed with genetic sequencing, raising concerns that an initial bout of illness may confer only short-lived protection against the disease.
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| | | 2020/10/13 | | 2020/10/20 09:50 AM | NETWERK24
’n Verslag wat die skriftelike kommentaar oor die Wetsontwerp op Nasionale Gesondheidsversekering (NGV) saamvat, gaan eers teen middel Februarie afgehandel word.
Dennis Bandi, die parlement se bestuurder van die eenheid vir maatskaplike dienste, het in ’n voorlegging aan die portefeuljekomitee oor gesondheid gesê die eksterne diensverskaffer wat die skriftelike voorleggings moet ontleed en ’n verslag moet saamstel, moet teen 20 Januarie ’n konsepverslag verskaf en teen 24 Februarie die finale verslag.
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| | | 2020/10/11 | | 2020/10/20 09:43 AM | CITY PRESS - PAGE 11
Unexpected side-effect of confinement has been a saving in medical costs, writes Maya Fisher-French
Despite fears that the outbreak of the Covid-19 coronavirus would result in high claims from medical scheme members, driving up the cost of healthcare, the opposite has proven to be true. Since the outbreak of the pandemic locally, schemes have built up surpluses due to fewer claims as elective procedures were deferred to make way for hospitalisation related to Covid-19.
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| | | 2020/10/09 | | 2020/10/13 10:57 AM | IOL
A total of 160 more Covid-19-related deaths have been recorded since the last report, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Thursday, who admitted that there has been an investigation into the ’’noticeable increase in the number of deaths recently’’.
A total of 105 deaths were recorded in KwaZulu-Natal, 18 in the Eastern Cape, 6 in the Free State, 13 in Gauteng, 6 in Limpopo, 4 in Mpumalanga and 8 in the Western Cape.
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| | | 2020/10/09 | | 2020/10/13 11:07 AM | BUSINESSLIVE
SA’s Salim Abdool Karim says differences among scientists are not personal.
The public needs to understand that the advice from scientists guiding governments’ response to the coronavirus pandemic is continuously changing in response to evolving knowledge about the disease, the leading epidemiologists advising Sweden and SA agreed on Thursday.
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| | | 2020/10/09 | | 2020/10/13 11:07 AM | BUSINESSLIVE
The study provides confirmation that the HFNO therapy pioneered in two Western Cape hospitals early in SA’s Covid-19 epidemic, does indeed help
Providing severely ill coronavirus patients with a steady supply of oxygen-enriched air instead of putting them on mechanical ventilators boosts their chances of pulling through, local researchers have confirmed in a paper published earlier this week in The Lancet’s journal, EClinical Medicine.
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| | | 2020/10/09 | | 2020/10/13 11:08 AM | DAILY MAVERICK
A recent global online survey suggests that more than a third of South Africans would not want a Covid-19 vaccine if and when it becomes available.
Less than two-thirds or 64% of South Africans would accept a Covid-19 vaccine when and if it becomes available, a recent Ipsos survey has found. Of that 64%, only 29% “strongly agreed” to a vaccine while the rest “somewhat agreed”.
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| | | 2020/10/08 | | 2020/10/13 10:53 AM | BUSINESSLIVE
Mayoral committee member Zahid Badroodien says some residents are no longer wearing masks in public and many businesses are ignoring social distancing protocols.
Cape Town’s health department has expressed concern over an increase in nonadherence to safety protocols‚ saying it could lead to a second wave of Covid-19 infections
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| | | 2020/10/08 | | 2020/10/13 10:55 AM | THE SOUTH AFRICAN
As South Africa continues recording less than 2 000 cases of the coronavirus in a single day, the minister of health, Zweli Mkhize has cautioned that a second wave of infections was still very much a reality in the fight to end the global pandemic.
Mkhize spoke during a webinar hosted by the South African Medical Association (Sama) on Tuesday, 6 September 2020.
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| | | 2020/10/08 | | 2020/10/13 11:10 AM | DAILY MAVERICK
Better regulation of pricing in the private sector could potentially result in consumers of private healthcare services paying less and receiving more value for their money.
A year after the Competition Commission released its Health Market Inquiry (HMI) report, there has been very little action in addressing the report’s findings. Now, a notice the Competition Commission sent to stakeholders in September suggests there may finally be some movement.
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| | | 2020/10/07 | | 2020/10/13 10:52 AM | BUSINESSLIVE
A recent survey in the Western Cape, found 40% of people at government clinics for other care had SARS-Cov-2 antibodies, suggesting there has already been extensive spread of the disease
A second wave of coronavirus infections in SA is likely to be less deadly than the first, according to the expert co-ordinating the Actuarial Society of SA’s (Assa) modelling work on Covid-19.
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| | | 2020/10/07 | | 2020/10/13 10:54 AM | DAILY MAVERICK
The Western Cape can be assumed to have near 60% immunity, which approaches herd immunity levels – and what is true for the Western Cape should also be true for the rest of South Africa.
There is a frequently expressed view that South Africa and, more generally, African countries have been substantially less affected by Covid-19 than northern hemisphere developed countries. For South Africa, this is despite expectations to the contrary, because of our higher prevalence of HIV, TB, diabetes and other chronic morbidities. Is this really true? Did we in South Africa get off lightly with the Covid-19 epidemic from a health perspective in terms of severity of Covid-19 disease and mortality?
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| | | 2020/10/07 | | 2020/10/13 11:10 AM | BUSINESSLIVE
Most state clinics offer services on weekdays between 7am and 4pm, and the National Health Act does not stipulate operating hours
The EFF put its case to parliament on Wednesday for government-funded clinics to be open around the clock, arguing that anything less infringed on people’s constitutional rights to dignity and access to healthcare.
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| | | 2020/10/07 | | 2020/10/13 11:15 AM | BHEKISISA
COVID-19 brought the public and private health sectors together. But while the estranged bedfellows were making amends in the Western Cape, looting of COVID-19 relief money may have further eroded the trust of a vital third party — the public — in the government’s ability to protect the National Health Insurance Fund.
National Healthcare’s shareholders include Patrice Motsepe’s ARC Health – a private investment company, majority- owned by African Rainbow Capital and managed by African Rainbow Capital Health Managers – and Growth Grid Venture Capital Partners.
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| | | 2020/10/06 | | 2020/10/13 11:12 AM | BUSINESSTECH
South Africa has done extremely well to fight against the Covid-19 surge and if South Africans continue to stay vigilant and adhere to non-pharmaceutical interventions, the country can mitigate a potentially devastating second wave, says Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize.
In a media address on Tuesday (6 October), Mkhize said that it is now important for the country to turn its attention back towards other programmes – the most important of which is the implementation of the National Health Insurance.
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| | | 2020/10/06 | | 2020/10/13 11:16 AM | CAPE TOWN ETC
The Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) has recommended that medical aid companies limit contribution increases to 3.9% in 2021, or freeze them. In July 2020, the inflation rate of medical aids was measured at 3.2%.
Previously, the CMS made the recommendation that medical aids accommodate price inflation plus an additional 3%, as this would provide medical aid users with much-needed relief.
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| | | 2020/10/02 | | 2020/10/07 09:22 AM | THE STAR - PAGE 2
Data produced by a group of health experts, including Health Minister Zweli Mkhize and SA Medical Research Council president Glenda Gray, has revealed that 96% of individuals killed in SA by Covid-19 had comorbidities.
The 11 experts analysed data from 99 days since South Africa’s first death. This was the period between March 28 to July 3. A total of 3 088 individuals had died of coronavirus in the country at that time. The experts analysed clinical information on 2 457 fatalities provided by provinces. They said their empirical study, published by the SA Medical Journal, “provides important epidemiological information … (that) can be used by the government to identify high-risk individuals”.
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| | | 2020/10/02 | | 2020/10/07 09:23 AM | NEWS24
The country remains at significant risk of a second wave of Covid-19 cases, according to Western Cape head of health Dr Keith Cloete
On Thursday, Western Cape Premier Alan Winde held a digital press conference with his MECs and Cloete following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement of the easing of lockdown restrictions.
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| | | 2020/10/02 | | 2020/10/07 09:35 AM | FIN24
The global trend towards cleaning up public health systems coupled with pressure directed at the ruling party by the populace has thrust the debate on National Health Insurance (NHI) to the forefront again, but analysts are divided on whether this will finally accelerate the implementation of the scheme in South Africa.
During the annual Morningstar investment conference yesterday, political analyst Justice Malala said because there was pressure coming from all directions for the ANC and President Cyril Ramaphosa to deliver changes, one of the policies that could benefit was universal healthcare coverage.
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| | | 2020/10/01 | | 2020/10/07 09:32 AM | DAILY MAVERICK
A resurgence in Covid-19 infections would be dire for Gauteng’s economy as it seeks to rebuild after losing over 660,000 jobs during the second quarter of the year, said Premier David Makhura on Thursday, 1 October.
“In going forward, the key emphasis is going to be on the economy, I want to emphasise we can’t afford a surge in Covid-19 infections. We must focus on keeping the infection rate lower and lower and lower,” he said during a briefing by the Covid-19 provincial command council.
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| | | 2020/09/30 | | 2020/10/07 09:16 AM | BUSINESSTECH
Medical companies Pfizer and BioNTech have announced the enrolment of South Africa for phase 3 of their Covid-19 vaccine trial.
The recently expanded study will include approximately 44,000 global participants, allowing a further increase in trial population diversity, and include people with chronic, stable HIV (human immunodeficiency viruses), Hepatitis C, or Hepatitis B infection.
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