NantSA: Billionaire Soon-Shiong and Ramaphosa launch billion-dose vaccine plant

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the newly launched, NantSA vaccine manufacturing facility campus will usher in a new era in healthcare, medicines and vaccines for the African continent.

Ramaphosa spoke at the facility’s launch at Brackengate in Cape Town on Wednesday, January 19, which opened in collaboration with world-renowned technology healthcare scientist, Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong and his company NantWorks LLC.

The facility is aimed mainly at building vaccine manufacturing and pharmaceutical capacity for the African continent, including developing a new Covid-19 vaccine.

Read more on The Citizen

Command council to discuss way forward on National State of Disaster

On Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) would be meeting to consider whether or not the country will continue with the current National State of Disaster.

The National State of Disaster has been in effect for nearly two years now, having been declared by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma in March 2020 in response to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ramaphosa noted several challenges in courts over the utilisation of the State of Disaster, saying he thinks government has managed the process “rather well”.

He added that the decision on whether or not to continue with the National State of Disaster is a collective process and any decision on it must be based on rationality.

“We are government, we’ve got to be very rational in everything that we do so we are examining that. If we do not drop the legislation, we will have a very rational explanation to say why we should continue with the State of Disaster legislation,” a statement read.

In response, opposition leader John Steenhuisen called on Ramaphosa to immediately lift the State of Disaster, along with the remaining lockdown regulations.

“The repeated extension of the National State of Disaster creates a dangerous constitutional convention, and economic recovery will be impossible with the sword of lockdown dangling over the country. Businesses will remain hesitant to invest and take on staff as long as restrictions can be reintroduced with the stroke of a pen,” Steenhuisen’s statement read.

Increase in new Covid-19 cases

This week saw South Africa record a cumulative 16 230 new cases as of January 20. Wednesday saw the highest increase with 4 322 new cases recorded, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD). A total of 122 deaths were recorded. The NICD noted a decline in testing, and reported that the testing rate was highest in the Western Cape (507 per 100 000 persons) and lowest in Limpopo (90 per 100 000 persons).

Covid-19 overview

As of January 20 a total of 3 572 860 positive cases had been recorded in South Africa since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the preceding 24 hours, 3 962 new cases and 31 new deaths were reported. The cumulative death toll was 93 846 while recoveries stood at 3 394 527. The total number of vaccines administered was 29 251 262.