Covid-19 snapshots: SA deaths; Hong Kong testing; French discover most in ICU are overweight

News in brief: Covid-19 snapshots from around the world. Including: in France, researchers discover that most people with coronavirus in intensive care are overweight.
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South African Covid-19 figures (as of August 31st):

3,693,721 tests conducted

627,041 cases identified

540,923 recoveries

14,149 deaths

1,985 new cases

Hong Kong: DNA paranoia

The Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam is encouraging citizens to get tested for Covid-19, as part of a mass testing drive. Lam is trying to overcome suspicions that the testing drive will be used to harvest people's DNA for monitoring purposes, reports Bloomberg.

France: Most in ICU are overweight – research

A French study has reported that obese and overweight individuals are at a high risk of "suffering severe cases of Covid-19", says Bloomberg.

The research showed how extra body weight put patients at a higher risk of serious illness and death. The study found that "Only one in every ten people who end up in intensive care with Covid-19 were in a range of healthy weight" says Bloomberg.

For more on Covid-19, listed to Inside Covid-19:

In this episode of Inside Covid-19, Alec Hogg has a fascinating conversation with a leading South African medical specialist on infectious diseases. In today's episode of Inside Covid-19, BizNews founder Alec Hogg has a fascinating conversation with a leading South African medical specialist on infectious diseases, Professor Lucille Blumberg of the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, on how South Africa is fighting the coronavirus pandemic and other deadly diseases. We also hear about Sweden's controversial lockdown strategy – where it has gone right and wrong – and BizNews partner Wall Street Journal provides in-depth reportage on Covid-19 patterns and trends across the continent. – Jackie Cameron

 

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