coronavirus south africa

In a bid to resume contact classes next year, Rhodes University's council has decided to approve mandatory vaccinations for all its students and staff members. 

SASCO rejects the attempt by some universities in South Africa to implement mandatory vaccinations. The organisation believes the current discussion is an adventurous imposition on self-determination and the freedom of choice.

A study was conducted using UNICEF South Africa’s free U-Report SMS platform which revealed that only 55% of young people in the country are willing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Following the Cabinet’s approval for the vaccination of people aged between 18 and 35 years from 20 August 2021, South Africa’s COVID-19 vaccination programme is expected to increase drastically.

Teacher's unions are unhappy with the new 0.5m social distancing rules for primary schools and are requesting an urgent meeting with the Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga concerning this. 

The Department of Basic Education says it plans to reduce the social distancing requirement to half a metre in schools. This follows reports that some schools in the country are unable to resume at full capacity due to overcrowded classrooms. 

Since Covid-19 led to the disruption of learning for students and the national academic year, many have called for more interventions to bridge the gap.

When the pandemic begun, students had to shift their lives from face to face lectures to remote learning. Challenges like, internet connection, time management and your family constantly distracting you are some of the things students are currently struggling with but, the biggest challenge has been mental health.

South Africa now has over 1,5 million cases as we continue to battle Covid-19 and the changes which arrived along with it. We now bring you the latest Covid updates and statistics in the country.

Coaching is a growth industry and while COVID has caused severe disruptions, practitioners and clients have mostly been able to pivot to online environments and keep going.

NAPTOSA and SADTU are concerned about when teachers will be receiving the vaccine and SADTU has called for marking of the matric exam papers to come to a halt after the death of a matric exam marker in KwaZulu-Natal due to Covid-19. 

South Africa is set to receive the vaccine against Covid-19 in April, however healthcare workers are unhappy with this as hospitals are under immense strain. 

South Africa has reached a new daily peak in Covid-19 cases, as the country faces a second wave of infections. This new peak is the highest daily peak the country has recorded since the first wave of infections.  

The Johannesburg district will be giving out fines to people found guilty of not following the updated level 3 regulations. These updated regulations will be in place until 15 January 2021. 

The number of COVID-19 deaths continue to increase after more than 400 people have died from the virus over the past week, this left Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize concerned. 

The Covid-19 Antibody Blood Tests are laboratory-analysed tests which determine if a person has contracted the coronavirus and in response developed antibodies to fight it. It therefore tests for immunity against the coronavirus.

Now that Level 1 has settled in and we've seen an obvious decrease in numbers, we now wonder about the possible second wave. Western Cape is going above and beyond in trying to prepare for a second wave as seen in many other countries.

While the majority of those who test positive for the virus recover fully, there are a growing number of people who can’t seem to shake unusual symptoms that linger months later. Shakira Choonara, an African Union Youth Advisory Council member, says some of these patients develop what medical health professionals call post-Covid-19 lung disease, which is permanent damage to the lungs. 

By: Tebadi Mmotla

Government has launched the COVID Alert SA app which enables you to be notified if you've been exposed to the virus or not. This is in efforts to go even further with contact tracing while also keeping your identity and infection status private.

Health officials are now looking at whether South Africa will see a second Covid-19 wave and if re-infections are possible as the country sees progress in the battle with Covid-19. The next few days are therefore said to be vital for South Africa and will be able to tell us what to expect now that we are seeing a decline in cases across the country.