LIVE | Covid-19 in SA: Death toll hits 20 314 as cases rise to 752 269

Germany's confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 14 419 to 815 746 - RKI

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 14 419 to 815 746, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Tuesday.

The reported death toll rose by 267 to 12 814, the tally showed.

- Reuters

The race for a vaccine: What you need to know

Drugmakers and research centers around the world are working on Covid-19 vaccines, with large global trials of several of the candidates involving tens of thousands of participants well underway.

Who is furthest along? Moderna Inc is the second US pharmaceutical company to release interim data showing that its vaccine worked in a large, late-stage clinical trial. The biotech firm said its vaccine was 94.5% effective.

One week ago, US drugmaker Pfizer Inc and German partner BioNTech SE released interim data and said their shot was more than 90% effective at stopping Covid-19.Interim late-stage trial results for Russia's Sputnik V vaccine published on 11 November showed the shot is 92% effective.

The next data release will likely be from AstraZeneca Plc with the University of Oxford in November or December. Johnson & Johnson says it is on track to deliver data this year.

What happens in these trials? The companies are testing their vaccines against a placebo - typically saline solution - in healthy volunteers to see if the rate of Covid-19 infection among those who got the vaccine is significantly lower than in those who received the dummy shot.

How well are the vaccines supposed to work? The World Health Organisation ideally wants to see at least 70% efficacy in trials. The US Food and Drug Administration wants at least 50% - which means there must be at least twice as many infections among volunteers who received a placebo as among those in the vaccine group. The European Medicines Agency has said it may accept a lower efficacy level.

- Reuters

Indonesia reports 3 535 new coronavirus infections, 85 deaths

Indonesia reported 3 535 new coronavirus infections on Monday, taking the total number to 470 648, data from the country's health ministry website showed.

The data showed 85 new deaths, bringing the total to 15 296.

Indonesia has the highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths from Covid-19 in Southeast Asia.

- Reuters

Germany: We have wiggle room to provide more coronavirus aid

The German government has the means to provide additional aid to cushion the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy should this be needed, deputy finance minister Joerg Kukies said on Monday.

- Reuters

Australia races to contain Adelaide virus outbreak

A sudden coronavirus cluster emerged in the Australian city of Adelaide on Monday after seven months without a significant outbreak there, with the virus again escaping from the country's hotel quarantine system.

South Australia state reported four cases had been detected in the city on Sunday, before the cluster grew sharply overnight to 17 people on Monday - the largest there since April.

All but two of the 17 were members of the same large family, including one who was working in a hotel used to quarantine travellers returning from overseas.

Fearful of case numbers spiralling, authorities snapped back a swathe of coronavirus restrictions and suspended international flights into Adelaide.

- AFP

FACTBOX | Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 54.22 million, death toll at 1 315 628

More than 54.22 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 1 315 628 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

eSwatini Prime Minister Ambrose Dlamini has tested positive for Covid-19 and is self-isolating at home, he said in a government statement on Sunday.

Dlamini is asymptomatic and feeling well, he added.

-Reuters

We still don't know why Africa had lower rates of infections.

We can say for a fact that we tested as much as we could.

Anybody who goes for surgery or is admitted to hospital must be tested for Covid-19.

We are also discussing says Mkhize where vaccine will be made available to more countries and does not exclude poorer countries.

There are trial going on for a Covid-19 vaccine says Mkhize.

One initiative involves Pfizer, says Mkhize.

Mkhize says no decision has been taken to ban any events.

Alcohol sales contributed to the filling of hospitals and made it difficult for health workers to attend the sick. 

We have to try and balance situations, says Mkhize.

"We had to court to prove that there were scientific basis on restrictions," says Mkhize.

We hope that we won't need to put up restrictions, he says.

The Eastern Cape has invested in infrastructure projects and made more beds available.

Doctors Without Borders will give support to doctors, Cuban doctors from quieter districts will also be deployed to the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality. 

Mkhize says he will look into the issues health workers are facing when he is in the Eastern Cape during the week.

We can't say the second wave has arrived says Mkhize.

Activities can still be contained he says.

There will always be risk if we open borders, the question is how do we begin to go to normality, says Mkhize about opening borders.

We will continue to be cautious, says Mkhize.

Tests will be done to see if there is an active virus, says Mkhize.

We have developed a social behaviour campaign that takes the realities of festive season into account, say Mkhize.

Cluster outbreaks don't mean that the country will go into a resurgence immediately.

If it is managed well and put under control, it can be contained, says Mkhize.

Mkhize reminds that washing hands, sanitising hands, wearing masks and keeping distance is still very important.

He says there is fatigue among people and are not adhering to social distancing. 

Some areas with a higher number of coronavirus have seen a decrease in the Eastern Cape, while there has been more cases in other districts in the province.

If there is a 20% increase of cases in 7 days this indicates a resurgence.

35 490 healthcare workers have been infected. 

338 healthcare workers have died.

There is more testing being done in the Eastern Cape, Free State, Northern Cape and Western Cape.

Mkhize shows a graph of different countries who are experiencing a second wave.

Countries like Peru, France, Spain and the UK who are experiencing a second wave, higher than the first wave.

This is something we need to note, says Mkhize.

Other countries are already experiencing a second wave. It's important to remember that the pandemic keeps changing.

South Africa is now ranked at 15th in the world in terms of the number of coronavirus cases, compared to 5th during the peak.

The peak was at around 13 000 positive tests, say Mkhize.

"We were able to cope," say Mkhize.

We have started moving back to around 2 000 positive cases per day, says Mkhize.

We are in week 45 since 5 March when the first person in South Africa was diagnosed with Covid-19.

The surge was experienced between June and July, during Level 3, says Mkhize.

The country has never run out of hospital beds, oxygen and ventilators.

Mkhize says we have crossed the three quarter of a million mark of positive cases in the country.

The numbers continue to grow with the highest numbers of cases in Gauteng the KwaZulu-Natal.

There are 20 241 deaths.

Recoveries are at 92%, active cases are 37 000.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize is expected to hold a media briefing on Sunday to outline the country's health response to the Covid-19 pandemic and our readiness to deal with a possible resurgence.

Covid-19 Wrap: Virus curbs tighten in Europe as global deaths top 1.3 million

- New restrictions to curtail a second wave of coronavirus infections have been announced around the world.

- The pandemic cast a shadow over Diwali celebrations for hundreds of millions in India.

- Elon Musk has said he "most likely" has a moderate case of Covid-19.

On the 9 November, pharmaceutical developer Pfizer announced the most promising results from a Covid-19 vaccine trial to date, claiming that their vaccine appears to be over 90% effective in preventing viral infection.

This release is based on the preliminary results of trials taking place in over 40 000 people across six countries, including in South Africa.

With many countries across the world currently experiencing their second waves of Covid-19 cases, and governments cracking down with tighter restrictions amid growing resistance, this milestone breakthrough appears to be some light at the end of the tunnel.

However, access to vaccines is not a panacea.

In a country where only 82% of people believe vaccines are safe, government needs to work harder in the coming months to help citizens overcome any fears they have around vaccines, writes @crumpledboats.https://t.co/y22UwvlXDH

— News24 (@News24) November 14, 2020

Trust in vaccines vital to halting pandemic - WHO

As the world celebrates advances in vaccines against the novel coronavirus, a top WHO expert warned in an interview with AFP that public distrust risked rendering even the most effective treatments useless against the pandemic.

"A vaccine that sits in a freezer or in a refrigerator or on a shelf and doesn't get used is doing nothing to help shorten this pandemic," said Kate O'Brien, director of the World Health Organization's immunisation department.

US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech announced Monday that their prospective vaccine had proven 90% effective in preventing Covid-19 infections in ongoing final phase trials involving more than 40 000 people.

O'Brien hailed the interim results as "extremely important", and voiced hope that preliminary data from a handful of other candidate vaccines in similarly advanced trials would come through soon.

Coronavirus global update | New York shuts schools, Lebanon locks down

The novel coronavirus has killed at least 1 305 039 people since emerging in China late last year, according to a tally compiled by AFP from official sources at 11:00 GMT Saturday.

At least 53 438 640 cases have been registered. Of these, at least 34 324 500 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.

New York shuts schools

The US city worst hit by the first wave of the pandemic is closing schools from Monday after the infection rate spiked.

Bars and restaurants in "the city that never sleeps" have also been forced to close at 22:00. More than 23 000 New Yorkers died in the first wave.

Recently, Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu said, the "Cabinet is concerned that some South Africans are behaving recklessly as if Covid-19 no longer exists". I have absolutely no doubt of the truthfulness of this statement. However, we need to consider the reasons for this.

In my opinion, South Africans have bigger concerns plaguing them. Two of those that are uppermost on the minds of South Africans are crime and unemployment.

There may be other more pressing reasons why South Africans aren't that concerned about Covid-19, writes @wainwright_alan.https://t.co/HnjTaZBUtT

— News24 (@News24) November 14, 2020

Greece shuts down all schools as hospitals are overwhelmed

Greece announced on Saturday the closure of its primary schools, kindergartens and daycare centres amid a surge in coronavirus cases that has saturated the national health system.

"The Greek government decided the suspension of the functioning of schools until November 30," said a statement from Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias.

"Closing elementary schools was the last thing we wanted to do. This is a measure of how serious the situation is," he added.

- AFP

Covid-19-positive matrics in Gauteng to write exams under quarantine at Nasrec

Gauteng matrics who have tested positive for Covid-19 will now write their exams at Nasrec.

Czech Republic reports 7 357 new coronavirus cases, deaths rise by 171

The Czech Republic reported 7 357 new coronavirus cases for 13 November as daily infections continued to hold below recent peaks after weeks of tightened measures to combat the spread, Health Ministry data showed on Saturday.

The country of 10.7 million has faced one of Europe's highest infection rates of Covid-19.

Hospitals have been under heavy strain.

The ministry on Saturday reported 171 new deaths, including 104 on Friday and revisions to previous days, to bring the total to 5 926 - a 25% increase in the last week and a tenfold rise since 25 September.

- Reuters

South Africa has reported 2 213 new coronavirus cases bringing the total to 746 945.

With 77 more deaths the number of fatalities is now 20 153.

There are 692 177 which translates to a recovery rate of 92,7%.

Cold truth: South Africa won't be able to store Pfizer's Covid vaccine. Here's why

Making sure a potential Covid-19 vaccine gets to people who need it – and is effective once they get it - is a feat for which South Africa is ill-equipped, experts say.

Coronavirus morning recap: 'Hidden gene', SA's tracing app, and black market for Covid tests

"Hidden" gene discovered in Covid-19 virus; legal and ethical aspects of SA’s Covid-19 tracing app; and there's a global black market for negative Covid test results.

A total of 2 338 new coronavirus cases have been reported bringing the total infections to 744 732.

The total number of deaths are 20 076 after 65 fatalities have been reported.

"Our recoveries now stand at 690 903 which translates to a recovery rate of 92,7%" Zweli Mkize said in statement.