LIVE | Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 30.35 million, death toll at 951 051

Latest on the worldwide spread of coronavirus

European countries from Denmark to Greece have announced new restrictions to curb surging coronavirus infections in some of their largest cities, while Britain is considering new measures to tackle an "inevitable" second wave of Covid-19.

Britain is likely to need to reintroduce some national coronavirus lockdown measures sooner rather than later, a former senior government health advisor said on Saturday.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that he did not want another national lockdown but that new restrictions may be needed because the country was facing an "inevitable" second wave of Covid-19.

Russia reported 6 065 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the first time the daily tally has been higher than 6 000 in two months. The national tally of infections rose to 1 097 251.

The regional government of the Spanish capital Madrid ordered a lockdown from Monday in some of the poorer areas of the city and its outskirts that are home to about 850 000 people.

The Irish government announced strict new Covid-19 restrictions for the capital Dublin, banning indoor restaurant dining and advising against all non-essential travel.

Victoria, the Australian state at the centre of the country's coronavirus outbreak, on Saturday reported its lowest daily increase of infections in three months, putting it on course to relax a hard lockdown in its capital Melbourne by the end of the month.

India's parliament session that began this week is likely to be cut short after 30 lawmakers were found infected with the coronavirus, two senior parliament officials said, as the number of cases in the country rose to 5.3 million.

The Philippines' health ministry on Saturday reported 3 962 new coronavirus infections and 100 additional deaths, with both numbers the highest in five days. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has decided to retain the 1 metre social distance requirement on public transport to reduce coronavirus infections, rejecting moves to reduce it to 30 centimetres, his spokesperson said.

New leader of Canada's main opposition Conservative Party, Erin O'Toole, tested positive for coronavirus on Friday, the party said in a statement.

President Donald Trump said on Friday he expects to have available enough doses of a coronavirus vaccine for every American by April.

The Trump administration reversed guidance on Covid-19 testing for a second time, urging those exposed to people with the virus to get tested even if they are not displaying symptoms.

Morocco signed a deal with Russia's R-Pharm to buy a Covid-19 vaccine produced under a licence from Britain’s AstraZeneca, the health ministry said, as its total number of cases approached 100 000.

Israel entered a second nationwide lockdown at the onset of the Jewish high-holiday season, forcing residents to stay mostly at home amid a resurgence in new coronavirus cases.

Moderna Inc said it was on track to produce 20 million doses of its experimental coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year, while maintaining its goal of readying 500 million to 1 billion doses in 2021.

Global equity markets slid as investors sought direction after this week's US Federal Reserve meeting and a jump in coronavirus cases in Europe rattled sentiment, while gold rose and safe-haven buying lifted the Japanese yen.

Hungary's economy could grow by 4% to 5% next year if a coronavirus vaccine is available in the second quarter but that was an optimistic scenario, Finance Minister Mihaly Varga said in an interview published on Saturday.

Professional rugby in Ireland could cease to exist if supporters cannot return to stadiums in large numbers amid the Covid-19 pandemic, IRFU chief Philip Browne has said.

A week in Covid-19: infections rise, notably in Europe

After stabilising, the pandemic has strongly picked up pace this week, with 286 000 new cases recorded on average per day throughout the world, an increase of eight percent over the previous seven-day period.

In line with the past few weeks, the rate of infections is increasing the most in Europe, by 16 percent compared to the previous week. The number of new daily cases has tripled in Europe since early July, with 47 300 this week, compared with 15 000.

As of today, the total number of confirmed #COVID19 cases is 657 627, the total number of deaths is 15 857 and the total number of recoveries is 586 844. pic.twitter.com/phhiTGf212

— Dr Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) September 18, 2020

SA could return to tighter restrictions if cases rise, warns Dlamini-Zuma

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has warned that South Africa could go back to tighter lock down restrictions if Covid-19 cases rise, following the relaxation of lockdown to Level 1.

Dlamini-Zuma was briefing media on Covid-19 Level 1 regulations on Friday following president Ramaphosa's speech on Wednesday.

SA could return to tighter restrictions if cases rise, warns Dlamini-Zuma

Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has warned that South Africa could go back to tighter lock down restrictions if Covid-19 cases rise, following the relaxation of lockdown to Level 1.

Dlamini-Zuma was briefing media on Covid-19 Level 1 regulations on Friday following president Ramaphosa's speech on Wednesday.

The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) is set to resume by-elections, and plans to clear the backlog of all outstanding polls on 11 November 2020.

In a statement issued on Friday, the commission said the scheduling of by-elections follows consultations with Cogta Minister Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as well as represented political parties via a special National Party Liaison Committee meeting held on Thursday.

"By-elections have not been held since March 2020 following the declaration of a National State of Disaster and the imposition of the lockdown restrictions intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus," it said.

Russia approves first Covid-19 prescription drug for sale in pharmacies

Russia has approved R-Pharm's Coronavir treatment for outpatients with mild to moderate Covid-19 infections and the antiviral drug could be rolled out to pharmacies in the country as soon as next week, the company said on Friday.

Coronavir's approval as a prescription drug follows the green light for another Russian Covid-19 drug, Avifavir, in May. Both are based on favipiravir, which was developed in Japan and is widely used there as the basis for viral treatments.

The briefing concludes.

Dlamini-Zuma responds on the "logic of a curfew". 

Dlamini-Zuma: "One, as I said, we still have 2 000 or more new cases a day. And we know that if people have been sitting in a tavern, or even in a restaurant, you don't want people to sit there for hours and hours and hours. People, once they start drinking, getting drunk, they forget the mask, they forget social distancing - it becomes chaos. So you don't want that chaos to continue right into the morning."

"So we want, at least, people to have a time frame where they know now they have to leave that venue and go home." 

"If there was no longer high numbers - 2 000 is actually a high number - some of the countries that we see now which have gone back to 10 000, they were down to a few hundreds. And they thought everything was okay, they opened wide, and now they are up. Some of them, they had their maximum at eight-something, now they are beyond 10 000 in the next phase."

Dlamini-Zuma emphasises that people need to understand "we are not out of the woods".

Dlamini-Zuma on the questions around liquor stores: "You'll recall that at some stage when the liquor was opened 24 hours and there were no restrictions, the numbers went up and the hospitals were under pressure."

"Now the hospitals are not so much under pressure. So, you can see that even the liquor is being opened gradually. You saw at Level 2 it was Monday to Thursday, but now it's Monday to Friday, because the government is trying to just be cautious as it moves forward."

"Before, the curfew was 10pm, which means places, restaurants and taverns and so on, could not be opened longer, because they had to be home by 10. But now, it has increased. They have to be home by midnight."

"So you can see, it's a gradual opening, so that we don't do it in a bang and find that there are unforeseen problems like we have learnt in the past."

Dlamini-Zuma says the relevant ministers have yet to meet and discuss exactly which countries will excluded from international travel. "It is not a static list, it is a list which will be changing all the time," says Dlamini-Zuma. These countries will however be determined before international travel is officially allowed again.

Questions are now being fielded. A number of the questions revolve around the restrictions on alcohol sales which still remain in place, and the question is asked whether we are ready to transition to Level 1 or not, and if so, then why do these restrictions around alcohol sales still persist? 

Currently, liquor stores are only allowed to trade during the week, and not over weekends.

Dlamini-Zuma wraps up, and now repeats everything she said about the lockdown regulations in isiZulu.

Sports spectators are still not allowed. International sport is still not allowed, says Dlamini-Zuma.

Dlamini-Zuma recalls the progress made that led the country to transition from Level 3 to Level 2 lockdown. 

Dlamini-Zuma: "As of yesterday, we were at 655 572 total cases. Now you can see that we are moving slowly, not as fast as we were before."

Dlamini-Zuma sends her condolences to those who have lost their lives as a result of Covid-19. 

Dlamini-Zuma: "We have recorded a consistent decline of infections for the past six weeks, and this means, slowly we are departing from the eye of the storm of Covid-19. As the president announced, we have to ease a lot of restrictions and increase economic activity."

The briefing has now been handed over to Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to unpack the regulations related to Level 1 lockdown.

The National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), led by Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, is expected to hold a briefing on the Covid-19 Level 1 lockdown restrictions.

The briefing is scheduled to start at 14:00.

Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 30.02 million, death toll at 941 817

More than 30.02 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 941 817 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

Latest Covid-19 numbers: 15 772 deaths, 655 572 cases, 89.3% recovery rate

A cumulative total of 655 572 confirmed Covid-19 cases in South Africa has been recorded, with 585 303 recoveries, which brings South Africa's recovery rate to 89.3%.

South Africa has recorded 67 more Covid-19-related fatalities since Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 15 772.

The fatalities have been reported in the following provinces: three in the Eastern Cape, 20 in KwaZulu-Natal, 13 in Gauteng, 12 in the Western Cape and 19 in Limpopo.

The total number of tests conducted to date is 3 983 533, with 22 354 new tests conducted since the last report.

'Long Covid': Clinics could be our future as recovered patients struggle with after effects

For some, the effects of Covid-19 linger long after recovery.

Colloquially called "long Covid", some people who have recovered from Covid-19 are suffering from health issues like chronic fatigue, heart difficulties, breathing problems, and even a decline in mental health. Basically, the longer-term effects of Covid-19 are unknown, as we're still in the throes of the pandemic.

Even children – who generally have mild reactions to the virus – might face long-term health effects indirectly linked to the disease.

Organ damage

Research from Austria showed lung and heart damage weeks after recovery, although there appeared to be some self-recovery after a longer period of time, highlighting the importance of pulmonary rehabilitation for hospitalised patients.

According to a Nature article, research yet to be published arrived at similar findings, seeing scarring on lungs more than a month later in a third of a 33-patient cohort. While these were severe cases, the overall rate of this kind of lung damage is expected to be 10% of total infections. On a global scale, that's, however, still hundreds of thousands of people that have to deal with new health issues and disabilities.

Coronavirus cases top 30 million worldwide - AFP tally

Paris – The number of coronavirus cases registered worldwide topped 30 million on Thursday, according to an AFP tally based on official sources.

The grim landmark came as the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned of "alarming rates of transmission" of Covid-19 across Europe.

The tallies, using data collected by AFP from national authorities and information from the WHO, probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections. Many countries are testing only symptomatic or the most serious cases.

The coronavirus death toll is now at 943 086 since it surfaced in China late last year, and the number of cases has ballooned to 30 000 062, according to figures available at 19:45 (GMT).

The United States has the highest national figures with 6 650 570 cases and 197 364 deaths, followed by India at 5 118 253 infections and 83 198 fatalities and Brazil with 4 419 083 cases and 134 106 deaths.

The rhythm of the pandemic seems to have stabilised globally since the middle of July, with a million new cases surfacing every four days.

It took 94 days to hit a million infections and then another 86 days for the number of cases to cross 10 million on 28 June.

The number of infections has tripled since then.

 - AFP

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Coronavirus morning update: WC awaits new travel regulations; and Covid-19 testing to increase

The Western Cape government awaits new travel regulations ahead of the tourist season; and Covid-19 testing will be increased to contain outbreaks.

Cases update: 

The latest number of confirmed cases is 655 572.

According to the latest update, 15 772 deaths have been recorded in the country.

There have been 585 303 recoveries.

So far, more than 3.9 million tests have been conducted, with 22 354 new tests reported.

Latest news:

Business 4 South Africa’s co-chair Martin Kingston joined President Cyril Ramaphosa's calls for the country to remain vigilant against Covid-19, as well as corruption within state procurement aimed at responding to the pandemic, as South Africa further lifts restrictions.

Ramaphosa announced on Wednesday evening that as from 20 September, South Africa would shift to alert Level 1 of its national lockdown aimed at slowing the spread of the virus.

Under this level of lockdown, more service-based industries will have restrictions lifted and limited international travel will be permitted.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has commended South Africa for its declining confirmed Covid-19 cases.

In a statement on Thursday, the WHO said it was greatly encouraged by the ongoing measures to suppress the spread of SARs-COV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19.

It added South Africa had taken decisive steps such as "instituting response co-ordination mechanisms at all levels, setting up control interventions for all critical pillars of response and imposing public health and social measures, including movement restrictions, curfews, closure of businesses, schools and places of worship".

More than 100 die as Covid-19 storm rips through SA's prisons

The number of Covid-19 cases exploded in South Africa's prisons as more than 4 000 officials and over 2 000 inmates tested positive for the virus.

By 23 August, a total of 4 136 officials and 2 336 inmates had been infected with Covid-19.

The virus also claimed the lives of 60 officials and 43 inmates.

The Western Cape government is eagerly waiting for the regulations on international travel to be announced so that it can find out which countries will be able to fly to South Africa during Level 1.

Level 1 starts at midnight on Sunday, and international flights would resume from three major airports from October 1 after a massive global flight shut down to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Indonesia punishes people who don't wear masks by forcing them to dig graves for Covid-19 dead

Residents of a village Indonesia caught flouting the country's mask requirement put in place to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus are being put to work digging graves for Covid-19 victims.

Authorities in the Cerme district of Gresik Regency, East Java, told CNN that they are forcing anti-maskers to dig graves in an attempt to convince others to wear protective face coverings.

Coronavirus toll at 11:00 GMT Thursday

Paris – The novel coronavirus has killed at least 941 473 people since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 11:00 (GMT) on Thursday.

At least 29 914 290 cases of coronavirus have been registered. Of these, at least 20 131 400 are now considered recovered.

The tallies, using data collected by AFP from national authorities and information from the World Health Organisation (WHO), probably reflect only a fraction of the actual number of infections. Many countries are testing only symptomatic or the most serious cases.

On Wednesday, 5 954 new deaths and 282 592 new cases were recorded worldwide. Based on latest reports, the countries with the most new deaths were India with 1 132 new deaths, followed by Brazil with 987 and United States with 968.

The United States is the worst-hit country with 196 831 deaths from 6 631 561 cases. At least 2 525 573 people have been declared recovered.

After the US, the hardest-hit countries are Brazil with 134 106 deaths from 4 419 083 cases, India with 83 198 deaths from 5 118 253 cases, Mexico with 71 978 deaths from 680 931 cases, and United Kingdom with 41 684 deaths from 378 219 cases.

The country with the highest number of deaths compared to its population is Peru with 94 fatalities per 100 000 inhabitants, followed by Belgium with 86, Spain (65), Bolivia (64), and Brazil at 63.

 - AFP

Healthcare workers and Covid-19: Researchers looked at risk of transmission in a hospital setting

Among healthcare workers, infection rates are far higher than in the general population, adding another layer of risk to an already stressful job.

Healthcare workers have been at the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic, fighting day and night against the onslaught of the Covid-19 virus.

It's no secret that, among these professionals, infection rates are far higher than in the general population, adding another layer of risk to an already stressful job.

New research published in Thorax aims to add to the growing body of research on Covid-19 and healthcare workers by looking at asymptomatic spread in a hospital setting, and which type of worker is most susceptible to infection.

Flights out of SA are popping up fast – and going pretty cheap. Even from Cape Town.

 - Foreign airlines are rapidly listing flights to and from South Africa again, after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the opening of SA's borders from 1 October.

 - Airlines such as KLM and Air France are now taking bookings for flights directly from Cape Town to Amsterdam and Paris.

 - If you fancy spending December in London, you can get a return flight with BA for under R10,000.

 - More airlines are expected to reinstate commercial flights soon.

Data on Russia’s Covid-19 vaccine trial results ‘questionable’, say international researchers

Calls for access to the underlying data of the vaccine have been made in an open letter, signed by more than 30 scientists from several countries.

Russia registered the world's first Covid-19 vaccine in August, with President Vladimir Putin claiming that it is effective, forms a stable immunity and has gone through all necessary tests. 

Later that month, a registration certificate for the vaccine, named Sputnik V, stated that it can only be used in certain small groups of people as large clinical trials had not yet begun (late-phase clinical trials only began on 26 August).

Scientists across the globe voiced their concerns about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine as very few details about the research had been made public. 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Covid-19 wrap: Global cases cross 29.94m, 'alarming' transmissions in Europe, England cases up by 167%

Keeping you up to date on the latest novel coronavirus (Covid-19) news from around the world.

Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 29.94 million, death toll at 938 291

More than 29.94 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 938 291 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.

WHO Europe warns of 'alarming' virus transmission rates

Copenhagen – The World Health Organisation (WHO) warned on Thursday of "alarming rates of transmission" of Covid-19 across Europe and cautioned countries against shortening quarantine periods.

The WHO's regional director for Europe Hans Kluge said the number of coronavirus cases seen in September "should serve as a wake-up call for all of us".

"Although these numbers reflect more comprehensive testing, it also shows alarming rates of transmission across the region," he told an online press conference from Danish capital Copenhagen.

The health body also said it would not change its guidance calling for a 14-day quarantine period for anyone exposed to the novel coronavirus.

"Our quarantine recommendation of 14 days has been based on our understanding of the incubation period and transmission of the disease. We would only revise that on the basis of a change of our understanding of the science," WHO Europe's senior emergency officer Catherine Smallwood said.

In France for instance, the recommended length for self-isolation in case of exposure has been reduced to seven days.

It is 10 days in the UK and Ireland, and several more European countries, such as Portugal and Croatia, are currently considering reducing their recommendations.

 - AFP

Positive Covid-19 cases up 167% in England since end of August - tracing scheme

LONDON – There has been a 167% increase in the number of new people testing positive for Covid-19 in England, the National Health Service's test and trace scheme said on Thursday.

The scheme said positive cases have been rising since the start of July and are now double the number recorded when Test and Trace launched in May.

 - REUTERS