Covid-19 round up: World Bank approves loan for vaccines, exploration of disaster fund and more

Disaster Fund

The South African Government has been urged to explore a possible ‘Disaster Fund’ to ensure adequate resourcing of socio-economic relief packages for future pandemics or disasters.

The recommendation was made by the Public Service Commission (PSC), who said the fund should be managed by an independent multi-sectoral body/structure, with strong participation from civil society as well as business.

PSC commissioner Anele Gxoyiya said the PSC has found that people in rural and peri-urban areas encountered far greater challenges in accessing the special Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant of R350 than those living in urban areas.

The Covid-19 SRD grant provided support to more than 10 million unemployed people who were vulnerable to the impact of the pandemic and assisted in reducing hunger and vulnerability among the poor.

“The grant applications required the use of digital or technological applications, and this made access very difficult for people without access to smart or feature cell phones, computers, data and digital literacy to access the internet,” Gxoyiya said.

He added that the Department of Social Development (DSD) admitted that the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) food parcels had reached only 12% of people who were eligible to receive it.

“Based on the findings and lessons learned it is recommended that a portfolio of social and economic relief packages should be developed and supported by appropriate policy and regulations to ensure that a comprehensive response is initiated from the start of the next pandemic/disaster,” he said.

World Bank approves R7.6bn loan for Covid-19 vaccines

On Tuesday, the World Bank announced that it had approved a R7.6 billion loan to South Africa for its Covid-19 emergency response project.

The loan follows a request by government for assistance in financing vaccine procurement contracts.

In a joint statement by the World Bank and the National Treasury, both said this project will finance the procurement of 47 million Covid-19 vaccine doses.

“South Africa is the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa, with the highest cumulative numbers of infections and deaths. By supporting the country’s Covid-19 vaccination programme, the project will assist the government to better cope with the pandemic,” their statement read.

The country’s vaccination programme has seen 36.4 million doses administered, with about 50.3% of adults and 29.9% of 12 to 17-year-old’s vaccinated, as of June 13.

Sassa to pay R350 grant for new cycle in mid-June

Sassa says payments for the new cycle of the special Covid-19 SRD R350 grant – from April 2022 – will be paid from mid-June 2022.

On Monday, Sassa said it will continue clearing outstanding payments from the previous cycle as and when the bank details are confirmed.

“The payments will not be done together, but will be done month by month. More than one payment may be made in a month,” the agency said.

Sassa said it will do these multiple payments in a month until the backlog has been finalised, where after monthly payments will resume.

Read more here.

Covid-19 overview

As of June 16, a total of 3 983 675 positive cases had been recorded in South Africa. In the preceding 24 hours, 1 936 new cases and 8 new deaths were reported. The cumulative death toll stands 101 584 while recoveries are at 3 866 240. The total number of vaccines administered was 36 565 633.