NORTH KOREA REGISTERS 50 CORONAVIRUS DEATHS; LEADER KIM DEPLOYS ARMY

Mon 16 May 2022: North Korea said the death toll has risen to 19 days after it initially identified a coronavirus epidemic. According to official media on Monday, the number of patients with fever symptoms had grown to almost 1.2 million by Sunday evening, citing the emergency center for epidemic prevention. Over half of them […]

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NEW ZEALAND LEADER JACINDA ARDERN TESTS POSITIVE, AHEAD OF US TRIP

Sat 14 May 2022: Despite testing positive for COVID-19, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she still planned to visit the United States later this month for a trade trip and to deliver the commencement speech at Harvard University. Ardern said she was disappointed to miss several significant political announcements during the coming week, […]

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GLOBAL AGENCIES CALLED TO SUPPORT VACCINE MANUFACTURING IN AFRICA

Fri 13 May 2022:  President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on global agencies to assist in boosting the local manufacturing and production of COVID-19 vaccines by procuring vaccines and boosters from African manufacturers. The President was speaking in his capacity as the AU Champion for COVID-19 Response on Thursday at the second Global Summit on COVID-19. […]

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COVID SURVIVORS SHOW ONE SYMPTOM EVEN TWO YEARS AFTER INFECTION: LANCET STUDY

Thu 12 May 2022:  More than half of people hospitalised with COVID-19 still have at least one symptom two years after they were first infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to the longest follow-up study published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal. The research followed 1,192 participants in China infected with SARS-CoV-2 during the first […]

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SA RECORDS OVER 10 000 NEW COVID-19 CASES

Thu 12 May 2022:  South Africa has recorded 10 017 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 862165.  The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said that this increase represents a 25.3% positivity rate. “The proportion of positive new cases/total tested today is 25.3%, and is higher than […]

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EUROPEAN AGENCIES ADVISE DROPPING AIR TRAVEL FACE MASK RULES

Wed 11 May 2022: From next week, EU officials proposed dropping laws requiring passengers to wear face masks when flying. “The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) issued an update to the health safety measures for air travel, paving the way for a relaxation of the […]

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VACCINATION REMAINS BEST DEFENSE AGAINST COVID-19: SA HEALTH MINISTER PHAAHLA

Tue 10 May 2022: Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, says while 70% of the population has come into contact with COVID-19 – and have some form of immunity – the best form of defense against the disease remains vaccination. Phaahla said this when he tabled the department’s budget vote before a mini-plenary of the National […]

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PODCAST: MASS TESTING AND LOCKDOWNS: INSIDE CHINA’S ‘ZERO COVID’ POLICY

Mon 09 May 2022: Why is the country keeping itself isolated from the world? While the rest of the world is trying to manage how to live with the coronavirus, China continues with its ‘zero COVID’ policy, forcing people into strict lockdowns. But why is the country keeping itself isolated from the world, and how […]

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PAKISTAN JOINS INDIA IN QUESTIONING WHO’S COVID DEATH COUNT

Sun 08 May 2022:  The Pakistani government has rejected the World Health Organization’s (WHO) report on number of COVID-19 deaths in the country, questioning the United Nations body’s methodology to collect data and supposing an error in the software used to collate the numbers. In a recent report, the WHO estimated there were 260,000 COVID-19 […]

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