Latin America and Caribbean surpass 300 000 Covid-19 deaths - AFP

Montevideo – Latin America and the Caribbean on Tuesday surpassed 300 000 deaths from Covid-19, with hard-hit Peru alone adding more than 30 000 new virus deaths, according to an AFP count of official data.

Brazil continues to be the most-affected country in the region. It also has the third-highest caseload in the world, with 4 162 073 reported cases, and the second-highest death toll, with 127 464.

But Peru, with 93.28 deaths per 100 000 inhabitants, has the highest mortality rate in the region, according to a ranking published by Johns Hopkins University.

 - AFP

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Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 27.57 million, death toll at 895 990

More than 27.57 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 895 990 have died, according to a Reuters tally.

Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

 - REUTERS

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Latest Covid-19 numbers: 15 086 deaths, 640 441 cases and an 88.6% recovery rate

South Africa has recorded 82 more Covid-19-related deaths since Monday, bringing the death toll to 15 086. 

The fatalities have been reported in the following provinces: 27 in KwaZulu-Natal, 15 in Gauteng, nine in the Eastern Cape, six in the Free State, five in the Northern Cape and 20 in the Western Cape.

Oxford's Covid-19 vaccine trial halted after unexplained illness

Trials of one of the most promising, frontrunner vaccines against Covid-19 have been halted after one of its participants developed a “potentially unexplained illness” .

Coronavirus morning update: WHO backs SA's Covid fight, but Mkhize warns 'not over the worst yet'

SA is doing its best, we know it's very complicated but it is doing its best, WHO says; and the health minister says we are over the surge - but we are not over the worst yet.

SA COVID-19 DAILY STATS

The Covid-19 death toll has hit 15 086, while the number of cases now sits at 640 441.

The total number of recoveries is now 567 729 - a recovery rate of 88.6%.

As of today, the total number of confirmed #COVID19 cases is 640 441, the total number of deaths is 15 086 and the total number of recoveries is 567 729. pic.twitter.com/DIweTdvAt6

— Dr Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) September 8, 2020

ICYMI: South Africa reached out to us, not through weakness, but strength - WHO commends SA

World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus has commended South Africa for the significant reduction in the number of Covid-19 cases and deaths in the country.

In a briefing on Monday, Ghebreyesus said: "South Africa is doing its best. We know it is very complicated but it is doing its best and we are very glad to partner and send our colleagues there to work with [the country] and it's an honour for us to support any country.

"With the current trend, we hope to further push it to a decline and further control the pandemic."

"I would like to thank the leadership of President, [Cyril] Ramaphosa, not only in South Africa but in the whole continent, by helping to develop the continental strategy; one continental strategy and helping the continent to move as one," he added.

The organisation said South Africa reached out to it through strength - not weakness.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Covid-19 wrap | Nigerian doctors strike again over benefits, China hails virus success

Nigerian resident doctors began their second strike of the year over pay and working conditions amid the spread of the new coronavirus, the doctors' union told Reuters on Tuesday.

The strike began on Monday, and includes 16 000 resident doctors out of a total of 42 000 doctors in the country, Dr Aliyu Sokomba, President of the National Association of Resident Doctors, told Reuters."It is an indefinite strike until issues are resolved," he said.

"All resident doctors at the Covid-19 centres have joined the strike."Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, has a total of 55 160 confirmed coronavirus infections and 1 061 deaths. Resident doctors are medical school graduates training as specialists.

They are pivotal to frontline healthcare in Nigeria as they dominate the emergency wards in its hospitals.The group last went on strike in June, demanding better benefits and more protective equipment for battling the coronavirus.

They are still demanding, among other things, life insurance and hazard allowance.

Mkhize says SA is over its Covid-19 surge, but warns against early celebrations - reports

According to TimesLive and BusinessTech on Monday, Mkhize, in interviews with media, was optimistic about South Africa's Covid-19 trajectory, saying the number of people testing positive everyday had declined from 11 000 to about 2 000.

He added that South Africa was over its Covid-19 surge, but warned against an early celebration.

"We never actually knew what to expect and the reality is that we can now safely say we are over the surge. We are not over the worst yet. We are worried about what may happen in terms of a resurgence in the country," Mkhize said.

He added that while an increase in numbers was expected with a relaxation of restrictions under lockdown Levels 3 and 2, this did not happen.

Nine Covid-19 vaccine developers pledge to uphold scientific integrity

The CEOs of nine companies developing vaccines against Covid-19 on Tuesday pledged to "uphold the integrity of the scientific process" amid concern Donald Trump will pressure regulators to approve a vaccine ahead of the presidential election in November.

"We, the undersigned biopharmaceutical companies, want to make clear our ongoing commitment to developing and testing potential vaccines for Covid-19 in accordance with high ethical standards and sound scientific principles," said the CEOs.

The statement was signed by AstraZeneca, BioNTech, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Moderna, Novavax, Pfizer and Sanofi. Specifically, the companies said they would only seek emergency authorizations for vaccines "after demonstrating safety and efficacy through a Phase 3 clinical study that is designed and conducted to meet requirements of expert regulatory authorities such as FDA," the Food and Drug Administration.

Some experts and former officials of this agency worry it has become politicised after it issued emergency use authorisations for two Covid-19 treatments without sufficient proof. Both hydroxychloroquine, whose authorisation was later revoked over safety fears, and blood plasma from recovered Covid-19 patients, were touted by Trump.

Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate for president, has accused Trump of "undermining public confidence" by regularly raising the possibility a vaccine will be ready ahead of the election on 3 November.

Stephen Hahn, the head of the FDA, has also guaranteed that only science will decide when a vaccine is ready. In theory, the FDA has to rely on independent expert committees that oversee clinical trials before they give their green light.

The makers themselves must also apply for authorisation. Among the companies, Moderna and Pfizer are in the most advanced stages of their trials, and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has asked states to have distribution networks ready by 1 November.

The widely-respected Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, has said the results of clinical trials aren't expected to be known until the final two months of the year.

"I think it's extremely unlikely but not impossible," that the trials will have results to show before the election, Moncef Slaoui, the scientific head of the White House program tasked with producing and delivering vaccine doses, told NPR.

-AFP

Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 27.42 million, death toll at 892 454

More than 27.42 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 892 454 have died, according to a Reuters tally.

Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

 - REUTERS

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Covid-19 wrap | Bali surge blamed on inaccurate rapid tests, Hong Kong eases some coronavirus curbs

 - A spike in infections in Indonesia's holiday island of Bali and Thailand's first locally transmitted case in 100 days have dealt further blows to Southeast Asian hopes of reviving vital tourism industries.

 - The Australian state at the centre of the country's second wave coronavirus outbreak is deepening its contact tracing programme to try to maintain a steady decline in daily new cases.

 - Thousands of trainee doctors in South Korea returned to work after ending a more than two-week strike as the country continued to post three-digit rises in new daily infections.

Egypt coronavirus cases top 100 000 - ministry

Cairo – Egypt has detected more than 100 000 Covid-19 infections and reported 5 541 deaths from the virus disease, the health ministry said on Tuesday.

The North African country of more than 100 million people had imposed a night-time curfew from March to June to curb the spread of the illness, but since eased restrictions.

Daily life has since returned in the largest Arab country, with cafes, restaurants and tourist sites again open to the public.

Prayers in mosques and churches have also resumed, with social distancing and mask-wearing enforced.

The new school year is set to start in October with a mix of classroom and online teaching.

The total number of reported cases reached 100 041 on Tuesday, including 79 008 recoveries, the ministry said.

 - AFP

Japan official says Olympic Games must be held next year 'at any cost'

TOKYO – The rearranged Tokyo Games must be held "at any cost" in 2021, Japan's Olympic Minister Seiko Hashimoto said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a news conference, Hashimoto said the Games should be held for the benefit of the athletes, regardless of the challenges posed by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The Japanese government and the International Olympic Committee took the unprecedented decision in March to postpone the Games, originally scheduled to begin in July, until 2021 because of the virus.

"Everyone involved with the Games is working together to prepare, and the athletes are also making considerable efforts towards next year," Hashimoto said during a news conference.

"I think we have to hold the Games at any cost," she added. "I want to concentrate all our efforts on measures against the coronavirus."

 - REUTERS

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A blood enzyme might be the link between Covid-19 severity and comorbidities

Increased levels of plasmin might be making the coronavirus more infectious and deadly in people with underlying conditions.

Scientists might have found a new link between chronic disease and Covid-19 that could explain why patients with comorbidities are so susceptible to the virus.

They think the answer may lie with plasmin, a type of enzyme in the blood that degrades plasma proteins. Its levels are normally elevated in those with underlying medical conditions like hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, and kidney disease.

One of these plasma proteins is fibrin, which appears when the blood is clotting and impedes the flow of blood. When the fibrin is broken down through fibrinolysis, protein fragments remain behind called D-dimer.

The effect of Covid-19 on the food system: 'The cost of feeding a child increased by 5%'

In South Africa, more than nine million children live in food-insecure households, and according to findings of a local survey, South Africans count the fear of food shortages and loss of income a close second to the fear of contracting the coronavirus.

"The novel coronavirus does not discriminate but still does not treat us equally. Individuals with weaker immune systems and limited resources are left more vulnerable in the fight against this invisible killer," says Professor Hettie Schönfeldt, director of the University of Pretoria-based African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Centre of Excellence for Food Security. 

Already thwarted by high rates of stunting ("from 21% in 2008 to 27% in 2016") - a result of protracted food insecurity - Professor Schönfeldt believes SA's youngest face the harshest impact of hunger and malnutrition during the pandemic.

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Egypt tries plasma treatment to fight pandemic

Mohamed Fathi, an Egyptian man who has recovered from Covid-19, winced as he watched tubes running down his arm to donate blood plasma, but insisted: "if I can help just one person, that's a very good thing".

The 25-year-old land surveyor from Cairo caught the disease in May, on the eve of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival, becoming one of the almost 100 000 reported cases in Egypt, where more than 5 000 people have died of the novel coronavirus.

"Losing the sense of taste was a terrible experience," he told AFP at Egypt's National Blood Transfusion headquarters in Cairo, describing just one of his symptoms. "You feel like you're eating for the sake of it."

Things got worse for the family when his elderly father was also infected, making Egypt's blistering hot summer months a hellish period of fretting over his recovery from a loud, dry cough and constant fevers.

 - AFP

Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 27.34 million, death toll at 891 227

More than 27.34 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 891 227 have died, according to a Reuters tally.

Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

 - REUTERS

Coronavirus morning update: Bans created new criminal networks, and global economies take strain 

Alcohol and tobacco sales bans created new criminal networks, and global economies are "several quarters" away from returning to pre-Covid levels - except for China.

Latest news:

South Africa could take years to dismantle the criminal networks that sprung up and benefited from a ban on the sale of alcohol and tobacco products during the country’s coronavirus lockdown, according to the head of the SA Revenue Service.

The ban, aimed at managing the health impact of the pandemic, has allowed illegal operators to gain a foothold in the market, SARS Commissioner Edward Kieswetter said Monday in an online address to tax practitioners.

Many illegal and criminal operators have now "marketed themselves to previously honest smokers and drinkers," he said. "They are now embedded in the supply chain and it will take us years to reverse the impact."

Tobacco and liquor remained readily available through the black market from when the ban first kicked in with the nation's coronavirus lockdown on March 27. Producers and retailers complained the restrictions have resulted in thousands of job losses and encouraged illegal trade.

Mindful or Mind full? Tips for the female leader on using mindfulness during Covid-19

Dr Daphne Pillay is a Lecturer in the Department of Human Resource Management at the University of Pretoria, and a registered Industrial Psychologist. Here she offers mindfulness tips for women in top positions. 

So last week I found myself standing in the grocery aisle of my local supermarket.

Surprisingly, this turned out to be a very enriching experience for me, not because I couldn’t for the life of me figure out which brand of pasta to cook for dinner, but because I witnessed an incident that got me thinking about the importance of mindfulness.

Let me start by saying that I wasn’t eavesdropping, the lady was standing right next to me and she did not seem to care about being discreet.

Lower emissions, more plastic: Double-edged sword of Covid-19 on the environment

We may be travelling less, but recycling and anti-plastic efforts have been almost completely sidelined by Covid-19 prevention measures.

The Covid-19 pandemic has shone a bright spotlight on the many previously ignored cracks in our society.

Just before the virus upended our fragile systems, climate change was one of the main topics dominating headlines, and big moves were being made to change global behaviour regarding single-use plastic and air-travel pollution.

As the pandemic hit and borders closed, bringing travel to a near standstill, many saw it as a chance for Mother Nature to take a breath. And indeed she did. A study published in Science of The Total Environment confirmed that greenhouse gas emissions had dropped to pre-World War II levels. 

No one was flying or driving due to strict lockdown regulations, and factories had to close. According to Nasa and the European Space Agency, airborne nitrogen dioxide levels dropped drastically in China in January and February this year, and similar reductions were observed in Rome, Madrid and Paris.

Covid death toll has hit 15 004, while the number of cases now sits at 639 362.

The total number of recoveries is now 566 555 - a recovery rate of 88,6%.

 

Covid-19 wrap: Spain hits 500 000 cases, more than 200 UN staff in Syria positive

Spain's total coronavirus cases have crossed half a million, government data showed Monday, as the government struggles to contain a recent surge of infections in one of Europe's hardest-hit countries.

The country of around 47 million people has 525 549 confirmed cases of Covid-19, and 29 516 related deaths, according to the health ministry

No 'pass one, pass all' for North West pupils, despite Covid-19

Performance will be the only measure when it comes to progressing to the next grade at North West schools next year, according to Education MEC Mmaphefo Matsemela.

Coronavirus research recap: Superspreader on a bus, who's most at risk, and damage to the heart 

Recap of the latest coronavirus research and science: A superspreader infected more than 20 people on a bus; the risks if you're older and male; and what happens to the heart.

On 19 January 2020, early in the Covid-19 outbreak, 67 Buddhist passengers and a driver boarded a bus in Ningbo, China, unaware of the risk of getting ill. Since Covid-19 was so new, no-one was wearing a mask.

But days later, 24 people who had been on the bus fell ill. A new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine shows that it took only one person infected with coronavirus to spread the virus to more than a third of the passengers during a trip that took one hour and 40 minutes.

According to the study, the infected person boarding the bus was not showing any symptoms, but had been in contact with four people from the Hubei province, where the virus had been spreading rapidly.

ICYMI: 

What Covid-19 is doing to the heart, even after recovery 

Experts are concerned that there may be individuals who get through the initial Covid-19 infection, but are left with cardiovascular damage and complications.

A growing number of studies suggest many Covid-19 survivors experience some type of heart damage, even if they didn't have underlying heart disease and weren't sick enough to be hospitalised. This latest twist has health care experts worried about a potential increase in heart failure.

"Very early into the pandemic, it was clear that many patients who were hospitalised were showing evidence of cardiac injury," said Dr Gregg Fonarow, chief of the division of cardiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. "More recently, there is recognition that even some of those Covid-19 patients not hospitalised are experiencing cardiac injury. This raises concerns that there may be individuals who get through the initial infection, but are left with cardiovascular damage and complications."

Fonarow said these complications, such as myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, could lead to an increase in heart failure down the road. He's also concerned about people with pre-existing heart disease who don't have Covid-19 but who avoid coming into the hospital with heart problems out of fear of being exposed to the virus.

Covid-19 death toll hits 14 889

There have been 110 more Covid-19 deaths, the health department says, taking the death toll to 14 889.

There have been 1 633 more confirmed cases. The number of cases currently stands at 638 517.

There have been 563 891 recoveries - equating to a recovery rate of 88%.

Global Covid-19 news roundup

Melbourne lockdown extended

Australian officials extend a strict lockdown of the country's second-biggest city by two weeks, saying new cases have not dropped enough to prevent another spike.

Melbourne residents had been due to exit a harsh six-week lockdown next weekend but they now face continued restrictions, with Victoria state premier Daniel Andrews saying the lockdown will remain in place until 28 September.

More than 880 000

The pandemic has killed at least 880 396 people worldwide since surfacing in China late last year.

More than 26.9 million cases have been registered worldwide.

France's high alert spreads

French authorities placed seven more departments covering major cities such as Lille, Strasbourg and Dijon on high alert as infections accelerate. Of France's 101 mainland and overseas departments, 28 are now considered "red zones".

Berlusconi 'responding well'

Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is responding well to treatment after he was taken to hospital with coronavirus, his doctor says, but warns the 83-year-old's condition is "delicate".

Transparent masks

The French government says pre-school teachers as well as those with deaf students will soon be given transparent masks to facilitate comprehension at a key education stage for children.

"More than 100,000 of these masks will be produced by the end of this month," the state secretary in charge of people with disabilities, Sophie Cluzel, tells the Journal du Dimanche.

Live football for Wuhan

Chinese Super League football fans of Wuhan Zall, the team from ground zero of the pandemic, travel to Suzhou, near Shanghai, to attend their first match since lockdown.

A US woman's body caught alight after she used an off-brand hand sanitiser and lit a candle in her home

A Texas woman's body ignited after she put on "off-brand" hand sanitiser before lighting a candle in her home on Sunday, KHOU reported.

Coronavirus science | Week in review: Life without a vaccine, face shields, and genetics

Recap of the latest coronavirus research and science: What if a vaccine isn't found; are face shields enough; and what's the role of genetics in the success of treatments?

What Covid-19 is doing to the heart, even after recovery

Experts are concerned that there may be individuals who get through the initial Covid-19 infection, but are left with cardiovascular damage and complications.

Covid-19: Leading US drug makers to issue joint pledge to put safety before speed in vaccine race

The race to develop a coronavirus vaccine has already shattered records.

As of today, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in SA is 636 884, the total number of deaths is 14 779 and the total number of recoveries is 561 204.

101 new deaths have been recorded and 1 806 new cases have been identified.

The recovery rate is 88%.

 India passes four million cases

India becomes the world's third country to pass four million coronavirus infections, setting a new record daily surge in cases as the crisis shows no sign of peaking.

The 86,432 new cases take India to 4,023,179 infections, third behind the United States which has more than 6.3 million and just trailing Brazil on 4.1 million.

India now has the world's fastest growing number of cases at more than 80,000 a day and the highest daily death toll at more than 1,000.