Author: Agency

Gauteng Premier David Makhura says more than a million people in Gauteng have not gone back to receive their second jab of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. He was speaking during a visit to the newly opened pop-up vaccine site at Khutsong in the Merafong municipality in the province’s West Rand on Wednesday. Makhura highlighted that receiving the second jab of the vaccine gives you even more protection from getting severely ill if you contract COVID-19. “We have over a million people who have taken their first dose of Pfizer whose days have come and passed for their second dose and they…

Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe says the mining industry is playing a critical role in “saving” the economy during the country’s ongoing COVID-19 induced lockdown. Mantashe was speaking during the opening of the two-day Mining Investment Conference held in Limpopo. The Minister said the decision to allow mining to continue during different phases of the COVID-19 induced lockdown is proving to be decisive in the recovery from the devastating impact the virus has had on the economy. “Mining is doing well…and has played a very important role in saving the economy. The commodity prices are expected to do…

South Africa has administered 16 999 722 doses of COVID-19 jabs as of Monday evening, the Department of Health said. The tally includes the two-dose Pfizer vaccine as well as the single shot of the Johnson & Johnson jab. According to the latest data, 159 732 vaccines were distributed in the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, the number of fully vaccinated adults has now gone up to 8 501 712, while 12 268 451 people had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 shot. In addition, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) logged 578 new COVID-19 infections. The dashboard shows that the majority of…

President Cyril Ramaphosa will later today attend an announcement by Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, founder of the multinational conglomerate, NantWorks LLC, of an ambitious initiative to build capacity for advanced health care in Africa. The initiative will entail collaboration between NantAfrica, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation (CERI), the Universities of Cape Town, Witwatersrand, Stellenbosch and KwaZulu-Natal. NantWorks is a multinational, California-based conglomerate that is leading the digital revolution in healthcare, technology and media through the harnessing of science, digital infrastructure, supercomputing and communication. NantWorks…

South Africa on Tuesday crossed the eight million mark for adults who are fully vaccinated. According to the Department of Health, the country administered 178 685 COVID-19 jabs in the past 24 hours, of which 100 853 people were fully jabbed. This brings the total number of administered doses to 16 358 076, while those who have received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson or the second shot of the Pfizer vaccine stands at 8 108 520. The latest data shows that there are now 11 848 356 citizens who have been vaccinated out of the 39 798 201 individuals that government is targeting before the end of December. Meanwhile, the…

The Justice and Constitutional Development Department has clarified a media report that hackers demanded a R33 million ransom, following a ransomware attack on the department’s Information Technology systems, earlier this month. According to the report, hackers allegedly encrypted all information on the department’s electronic system, including backups and demanded the ransom be paid – an allegation the department strongly denied. “The [department] would like to place it on the record that it has not received any ransom demand following the ransomware attack as suggested by an article…published on 20 September 2021. The article to this effect is completely untrue,” the department…

South Africa has surpassed the 16 million mark for total administered COVID-19 doses since the start of the country’s vaccination rollout programme. This comes after 154 199 jabs were distributed in the last 24 hours. According to the Department of Health, there are now 7 997 795 citizens who have been fully vaccinated, of which 76 736 people either received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine or the second shot of the Pfizer jab on Monday. The dashboard also shows that there are now 11 711 920 individuals who have been vaccinated, translating to 29.43% of the country’s adult population. Meanwhile, the National Institute for Communicable…

The Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation unit has arrested a 36-year-old suspect in Gauteng following the August 2020 data breach at Experian. In a statement, the Hawks on Wednesday said Experian entered into a contract with the suspect, who purported to be a certain Tebogo Mogashoa, a director of Talis Holdings. “The agreement gave the person access to the personal information of millions of people, held by the Credit Bureau.  The suspect then proceeded to download approximately 23 million personal data records and 727 000 business records. “The suspect then attempted to sell these records at about R4.2 million,” said…

Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla, has told the National Council of Provinces that current scientific reports suggest that vaccination still offers protection against the new COVID-19 variant C.1.2 identified in South Africa. The variant – which has been detected in all provinces in low frequency – is reported to be more transmissible, resistant to neutralisation and causes more disease severity. The Minister was speaking during the National Council of Province’s Ministerial Briefing Session on the Vaccination Programme. “The NICD [National Institute for Communicable Diseases] and the professors from KRISP [KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform] were reporting… to the National…

The government is making every effort to reach population immunity and is investigating immunising children with the remaining vaccine stock once most adults are covered. “Just in the same way as when we were convinced that we have enough capacity and stock to cover the above 35. Therefore, when that stage arrives, we will definitely look at science and our capacity. Then, at that stage, we should be able to move towards the lower ages below 18, as some of the vaccines have already been approved for those who are under 18,” said Health Minister, Dr Joe Phaahla on Tuesday.…