Mkhize to present new ‘scientific developments’ on Covid-19

Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize, along with co-chair of the Covid-19 Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) Minister of Social Development Lindiwe Zulu, and other scientists will hold a media briefing to inform the public about “new scientific developments and evidence that have been discovered on Covid-19”.

The virtual briefing will take place on Friday evening at 6pm.

The briefing comes as the country battles the second wave of coronavirus infections, which has seen South Africa breach the 10,000 daily positives cases mark.

ALSO READ: Africa confronts a second wave of Covid-19

As of Thursday, South Africa had recorded a total of 892,813 positive cases of Covid-19, with 9126 new cases identified since the last report.

#COVID19 Statistics in SA as at 17 December.

Use the COVID Alert SA app to protect yourself, your loved ones and your community. Start using this privacy preserving app today. Add your phone to the fight! Download the Covid Alert SA app now! https://t.co/8YKEqaiiRF pic.twitter.com/LYHhQ58zHa

— Dr Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) December 17, 2020

Thursday’s report also included 184 new deaths: 103 from Eastern Cape, four from Free state, 11 from Gauteng, eight from KwaZulu-Natal and 58 from Western Cape. This brings the total deaths to 24,011.

The country’s total number of recoveries now stands at 780,313.

This week reports emerged that South Africa had missed the deadline to make a payment for the Covax mechanism, but these have not yet been confirmed.

On Friday afternoon, the World Health Organisation (WHO) hosted a briefing on Covax where Dr Richard Hatchett of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) said they had secured nearly two billion individual doses of the vaccine for distribution in 2021 and 2022.

He also announced that the first right of refusal for more than a billion doses of other potential vaccines had also been secured, dependent on regulatory success.

He emphasised the need for equitable access to a Covid-19 vaccine.

“What we see today with Covax, which is the only global solution to this pandemic, is all the elements coming together to enable us to defeat this pandemic,” he said.