Wed 01 October 2023: Government has extended the COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant (SRD Grant) until March 2025 while it considers social security policy reforms and a funding model. The grant was introduced to support low-income individuals affected by the lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Delivering the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) to […]
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Tue 26 September 2023: London’s Gatwick airport said on Monday that it had been forced to cancel more than 160 flights between now and Sunday due to an exceptional shortage of controllers, partly caused by coronavirus infections. In a statement, Gatwick Airport said that until Sunday, flights will be limited to 800 per day, adding […]
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Thu 07 September 2023: J&J, Pfizer charged South Africa between 15 and 33 percent more for COVID vaccine doses, contracts reveal. Johannesburg, South Africa – Big pharmaceutical companies “bullied” South Africa into signing unfair agreements that forced the country to overpay for COVID-19 vaccines compared with Western nations, according to a nonprofit that lobbied for the […]
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Thu 07 September 2023: The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of “concerning” COVID-19 trends in advance of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, calling for increased vaccinations and surveillance. While figures are “limited” because many countries have stopped reporting coronavirus data, the United Nations health agency estimated that hundreds of thousands of people globally were currently […]
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People in masks walk through a crowded street in Rome, Italy. Tue 05 September 2023: New coronavirus variants have raised concern across the world amid a rise in cases in the United States and parts of Europe. The BA.2.86 variant, nicknamed “Pirola”, is a newly designated, highly mutating variant of Omicron which triggered the surge in cases. […]
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Sat 02 September 2023: UK health officials reported a surge in cases of the highly mutable ‘Pirola’ COVID-19 variant. According to Public Health Scotland (PHS), PCR testing on a sample taken on August 16 led to the initial discovery of the BA.2.86 variant. According to British media, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) will soon […]
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Fri 18 August 2023: The National Department of Health on Wednesday confirmed the first case of the new COVID-19 “Eris” variant from a sample taken in Gauteng. The department has since used this opportunity to remind citizens that they can still access life-saving vaccines at public healthcare facilities, although the World Health Organisation (WHO) has […]
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Wed 16 August 2023: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has advised Umrah pilgrims to wear face masks while visiting Grand Mosque in Makkah and Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah. Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday, August 14, the authorities said, “Wearing a mask in the two holy mosques, in Makkah and Madinah […]
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Wed 26 July 2023: Richer countries should be asked to better pull their weight in helping the world cope with pandemics, according to a new draft of a treaty being negotiated at the World Health Organization. Countries with more “capacities and resources” should bear a “commensurate degree” of responsibility for preparing for and responding to global […]
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Tue 13 June 2023: Following a petition by a plaintiff’s lawyer, the first court hearing in Germany on the alleged side effects of BioNTech’s COVID vaccine was postponed on Monday, Anadolu Agency reported. According to a representative for the Hamburg Regional Court, the plaintiff’s counsel requested that the court be heard by a panel of […]
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