Covid-19 and Local News & Updates

Tests Conducted – 761534  |  Positive Cases – 35812  |  Recoveries – 18313  |  Deaths – 755

LOCAL:  

Covid-19 Update 36 – Dredging Notice  – We note queries in regard to the sand washed into Ski Canal by the recent storm, and advise that dredgers are currently being deployed to clear the sand.

Essential Services (Kev’s Team) have not stopped since lockdown  –  Kevern is sometimes referred to the man who doesn’t sleep. It’s not uncommon for him to be sipping a coffee at 5am after he has toured the perimeter fence 

PORT ELIZABETH, EASTERN CAPE & SOUTHERN COAST:

Eastern Cape premier tests negative for Covid-19, warns of booze crackdown  –  Mabuyane said he was concerned about the snaking queues at liquor stores, which he feared may thwart the province’s fight against the virus.

NMBM to hold first ever virtual meeting  –  The Nelson Mandela Bay Council will hold its first-ever virtual meeting on Friday following a lengthy break due to the coronavirus pandemic.

COVID-19:

Covid-19 cases shoot up by huge record 3,267 to 40,792  –  The total number of deaths is now 848, after 56 more people died.

Use of high-flow oxygen in Western Cape ‘game changing Covid-19 alternative to ventilator’  –  The Western Cape has turned to the use of high-flow oxygen to treat patients in place of ventilators, after teams at Tygerberg Hospital recorded encouraging results,

NATIONAL COMMAND COUNCIL & LOCKDOWN:

State of disaster to be extended by a month, with court judgment to be appealed  –  The current state of disaster will be extended by one month, while government launches an appeal against a court ruling which found lockdown regulations unconstitutional.

TOBACCO BAN:

Illicit trade in cigarettes and alcohol has thrived during lockdown  –  Government has under-estimated how much the banning of alcohol and cigarettes boosted illicit trade. 

Smoking ban a sign of a ‘responsible government’, says Dlamini-Zuma  –  The overarching rationale for prohibiting the sale of tobacco products was to protect human life and health, and to reduce the potential strain on the health-care system.

SOUTH AFRICA & AFRICAN CONTINENT:

In these pandemic times, Covid-419 scams abound  –  Fraudsters are using the coronavirus pandemic to target unsuspecting and desperate people online.

George Floyd killing triggers ANC, SACP and Cosatu to start Black Friday  –  George Floyd’s death at the hands of the police has sparked protests across the US and beyond. It has also inspired the ANC-led tripartite alliance

You can renew your car licence at the Post Office again – but avoid these dates  –  The South African Post Office says that motor vehicle licensing is once again available at all Post Office branches that offer the service.

GOVERNMENT & POLITICS: 

Charge those accused of stealing cable with economic sabotage: Mbalula  –  Transport minister Fikile Mbalula has called for cable theft suspects to be charged with economic sabotage.

CORRUPTION:

The Big Sweep: pre-dawn raid nets rotten cops in clampdown on corruption – cases “watertight”  –  Eight SAPS members, including a former Lieutenant-General, as well as six “citizens”, have been arrested in a dramatic pre-dawn raid in Gauteng.

COURTS:

A recent court ruling could see many dark apartheid-era secrets coming to light  –  Good news and glimmers of hope are in short supply these days. This is perhaps all the more reason to take note of a recent precedent-setting court judgement.

BUSINESS, MONEY & ECONOMY:

Mango, FlySafair, Airlink and CemAir to take flight in Level 3  –   But Comair and SAA remain grounded. Businesspeople who are now allowed to undertake essential travel between South Africa’s ‘golden triangle’ hub cities of Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban,

Khaya Sithole | SAA’s revival budget – a gross miscalculation  –  This week, as the country moved to Level 3 lockdowns with the economy gradually opening up, two documents surfaced that intrigued me.

TECHNOLOGY:

INTERNATIONAL NEWS:

Madeleine McCann ‘assumed dead’ by German prosecutors  –  Madeleine McCann is “assumed” to be dead, say German prosecutors, who are investigating the disappearance of the British girl in 2007.

This & That:

A cluster of islands: How Shetland locked down early and stopped the virus in its tracks  –  Early in the Covid-19 outbreak, the Shetland Islands were one of the worst-hit areas of the UK by head of population. Now, no new cases have been detected there for six weeks. 

SPORT:.

Conor O’Shea urges rugby chiefs to seize ‘moment’ for change  –  The Rugby Football Union’s (RFU) performance director Conor O’Shea on Thursday urged the sport’s bosses to use the enforced coronavirus break to sort out the global calendar “once and for all”.

Collo’s Blog:

Showing their love for the community pets  –  Never did I imagine that when Stephanie Ernstein and I joined forces to form a small animal outreach on the Sea Vista playing fields some five or so years ago that it would ever grow into what it is today.