Author: Agency
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.…
The South African Post Office (SAPO) has warned beneficiaries of the R350 Special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant not to pay for a spot in the queue. The Post Office said it has become aware of instances where self-appointed “queue marshals” ask customers who visit their branches a fee for a place in the front of the queue. “No SAPO employee or other individuals have the right to ask beneficiaries to pay any fee to be serviced or to receive preferential treatment by jumping the queue. Such practices are illegal. “Customers are advised not to pay the fee…
Recently published research has revealed that the new COVID-19 variant C.1.2 has been identified in South Africa. According to the researchers, there are concerns that this SARS-CoV-2 variant of interest (VOI) has been associated with increased transmissibility, neutralisation resistance, and disease severity. “Here we report the identification of a potential variant of interest assigned to the Pango Lineage C.1.2,” the preprint analysis published last week read. The Pango, which stands for Phylogenetic Assignment of Named Global Outbreak Linages, refers to the software tool for sequence assignment used by researchers to track the transmission and spread of COVID-19. “This lineage was…
Khathutshelo Mashau, a convicted fraudster who swindled several taxpayers, has been sentenced to 48 years direct imprisonment after being found guilty on charges of theft, fraud and contravention of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA). In a statement, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) on Thursday said Mashau had been handed the hefty sentence by the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court. This came after the court heard how SARS had received a complaint from a taxpayer that his personal income tax refund was paid into an incorrect bank account. “SARS conducted an investigation and found that the refund was paid into…
Unemployment in South Africa rose to 34.4% in the second three months of 2021, according to results of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS). The outcome of the QLFS was released by Statistician-General, Risenga Maluleke, on Tuesday. Addressing reporters, Maluleke said for the second quarter of 2021, the number of employed persons decreased by 54 000, reaching 14.9 million. Statistics South Africa said the number of unemployed persons increased by 584 000 to 7.8 million compared to the first quarter of 2021. During this period, the number of discouraged work-seekers increased by 186 000 (5.9%), while the number of people who…