People over 60 who have registered to receive the vaccine on the government’s system will soon receive a message to schedule their appointments, reports Daily Maverick.
In a separate statement, the national Department of Health confirmed that...Weekly Roundup
Mucormycosis, a rare “black fungus” that invades the brain and has a mortality rate upwards of 50%, is being increasingly seen in vulnerable patients in India, including those with COVID-19, as the health system continues to struggle in the...Weekly Roundup
The SA Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has appealed to the Treasury for a bigger budget, warning that it cannot do its job effectively unless key vacancies are filled, reports BusinessLIVE.
SAHPRA’s allocation for this financial...Weekly Roundup
The COVID-19 variants detected in SA could spread “quite quickly” and no-one should become complacent, warned Prof Salim Abdool Karim, in TimesLIVE report. The national Department of Health has confirmed that 11 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant —...Weekly Roundup
The head of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said she hopes that by December the body’s members will have reached a “pragmatic” solution over whether to waive COVID-19 vaccine patents, reports Reuters.
Okonjo-Iweala...Weekly Roundup
AstraZeneca executives have struggled to pull together the full data necessary to apply for US approval of its COVID-19 shot. The Wall Street Journal reports that according to people familiar with the matter, this is further delaying its efforts to...Weekly Roundup
Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has conveyed condolences to the families of the two victims who died on Tuesday (4 May 2020) when a ward at Modimolle's FH Odendaal Hospital in Limpopo was gutted by fire, reports TimesLIVE. Other patients were...Weekly Roundup
The government has awarded contracts for importing and distributing COVID-19 vaccines, a vital step in preparing for its mass vaccination drive, which is due to begin on 17 May, reports BusinessLIVE. State-backed vaccine manufacturer Biovac is to...Weekly Roundup
As Pfizer discontinues a drug used to manage a rare form of glaucoma, a small group of patients struggles to cope, Stat News reports.
From next month, an eye drop that Carol Vaghar has taken for the past few years to manage aphakic glaucoma will...Weekly Roundup
Like in most countries, the pandemic in Brazil hit the elderly and immuno-compromised first and hardest. But, reports Stars and Stripes, in the past couple of months, the nation that has stood out as nearly a worst-case-scenario for caseloads,...Weekly Roundup
French wine tasters have urged the government to prioritise them for vaccines after dozens were left unable to work when they lost their sense of smell and taste after being infected with COVID-19, reports The Daily Telegraph.
In a survey of more...Weekly Roundup
A kitten has died from COVID-19 in the first case of its kind in the UK, as cat owners are warned not to hug their pets, reports The Daily Telegraph. The four-month-old Ragdoll died from pneumonia believed to have been triggered by contracting the...Weekly Roundup
An investigation has been launched into a fire which broke out at the Caledon Provincial Hospital on Thursday night, last week, reports News24. The fire, which started at around 22:00, affected one of the wards in the hospital's west wing.
The...Weekly Roundup
Operations at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital are expected to resume on 3 May after parts of the hospital were gutted by a fire last week, reports News24. The fire affected two blocks, which will remain closed until a detailed...Weekly Roundup
A fire caused by an oxygen tank explosion at a COVID-19 hospital in Baghdad took at least 82 lives and forced some people to leap through windows out of the burning building, Reuters reports witnesses and authorities said. As rescuers combed the...Weekly Roundup
Israel has recorded no new daily COVID-19 deaths for the first time in 10 months, as the country pushes ahead with its speedy vaccination drive. BBC News reports that Israel Health Ministry data showed the country's coronavirus death toll remained...
