Daily news update: Level 4 lockdown extended, 62 people arrested and cold front incoming

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Ramaphosa extends Level 4 lockdown for another 14 days

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the extension of South Africa’s adjusted Alert Level 4 lockdown for another 14 days, with some changes to the current restrictions.

With more than 2.1 million Covid-19 cases reported in the country to date and over 64,000 deaths, the President has indicated that Level 4 would remain in place as it was too early to see the impact of the two-week lockdown on the infection numbers while the healthcare sector battles with the Delta variant.

Govt plans on bringing Sinovac vaccine to South Africa

With the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) having approved the use of the Chinese-produced vaccine Sinovac earlier this month, President Cyril Ramaphosa says government is working to bring the Covid-19 vaccine into the country’s vaccination programme.

Ramaphosa addressed the nation on Sunday night, where he announced the extension of South Africa’s adjusted Alert Level 4 lockdown for another 14 days.

The President indicated that as things stood to date, Covid-19 infections in the country remains “extremely high”.

Covid-19 Ters scheme extended, Ramaphosa announces

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the extension of the Covid-19 Temporary Employer-Employee Relief Scheme (Ters) in effort to support people who have been affected by lockdown restrictions.

The President said following negotiations between the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) and social partners, it was decided to extend the Ters scheme for sectors affected by the lockdown measures.

Weather warning: ‘Wet, windy and very cold’ conditions for the week ahead

The South African Weather Service (Saws) warns another cold front will make landfall in the southern part of the country on Monday 12 July, before passing to the central and eastern half of SA on Tuesday.

“Very cold temperatures can be expected throughout the week”.

The Saws said the cold front will make landfall on Monday, and will result in gale force winds and “significant wave heights” between Cape Columbine and Cape Agulhas from a south-westerly direction.

Security guard shot dead: JMPD can’t confirm protest link

While authorities in Gauteng have joined forces to keep motorists and residents safe on the province’s freeways, an investigation is underway to determine the circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting of a security guard.

The gunshot victim’s body was found on the corner of Hanau Street and Ford Steet in Jeppestown. He has since been identified as 27-year-old Sphelane Ndanode, whose brother Mhlonipheni Ndanode spoke The Citizen’s Bernadette Wicks on Sunday.

He said Sphelane was killed shortly after 6am as he was returning from work. Mhlonipheni, who had no words to describe the loss of his brother, said he was alerted to Sphelane’s death by protesters in the area.

62 people arrested in Gauteng, KZN as protests intensify

As of 1pm on Sunday, a total of 62 suspects have been arrested in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal following protests against former President Jacob Zuma’s imprisonment.

In a statement, the South African Police Service (Saps) said police officers in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal are working closely with metro police. Officers have been deployed and remain on high alert in response to incidents of violent protests that have impacted the two provinces over the weekend.

Johannesburg mayor Geoff Makhubo funeral service set for Wednesday

The ANC in the Greater Johannesburg region has confirmed that the funeral service of Geoff Makhubo will take place on Wednesday.

A time for the virtual service will be announced at a later stage, the regional party said in a statement.

There will be a virtual prayer session taking place at 3pm on Sunday, while ANC virtual memorial services is set for Monday and Tuesday before the funeral service a day later.

Makhubo, who was the mayor of the City of Johannesburg, passed away in hospital on Friday after contracting Covid-19.

Manyi bemoans Zondo’s ‘conflict of interest’ ahead of Zuma’s hearing

With the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) set to hear former president Jacob Zuma’s rescission application on Monday, the spokesperson of his foundation, Mzwanele Manyi, says he believes that the hearings will be compromised.

Zuma was slapped with a 15-month jail sentence when he was found guilty of contempt of court by the Constitutional Court last week Tuesday for failing to comply with the court’s ruling forcing him to appear before the Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture.

He is currently serving his prison sentence at the Estcourt Correctional Centre in KwaZulu-Natal after he decided to hand himself over to the authorities on Wednesday evening.

Covid-19 update: 459 hospital admissions reported in the past 24 hours

As of Sunday, 11 July, the cumulative number of detected Covid-19 cases in South Africa is 2,195,599 with 16,302 new cases identified, the Department of Health confirmed.

This represented a 30.4% positivity rate.

151 more Covid-19 related deaths were reported, bringing the total number of deaths to 64,289. The total number of recoveries stood at 1,922,601 with a recovery rate of 87,6%.

The total number of vaccines administered in the country so far was 4,236,718. A further 459 hospital admissions were reported in the past 24 hours.

Springbok squad cleared to return to training

The Springboks were set to resume training on Sunday, SA Rugby confirmed, after six rounds of Covid-19 testing and a six-day preventative self-isolation period cleared a large group of players to return to the field.

All the players and management who had Covid tests on Saturday returned negative results, which paved the way for the players to train on Sunday.

Four rounds of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing in the last week had delivered new positive cases among the players and three among the team management.