In Episode 55 of Inside Covid-19, global medical heavyweight UCT’s Dr Linda-Gail Bekker shares her wisdom about the pandemic – and how little we still know; tobacco industry insider Azeem Carim exposes how cigarette manufacturers are making massive profits during SA’s Covid-19 inspired ban on legal sales; we hear from the Rockefeller Foundation’s MD of Pandemic Response on how the leaders should adjust their pandemic messaging to be better heard by an increasingly restive public; and with Gilead’s drug Remdesivir attracting a huge order from the US Government, Big Pharma is jumping on an opportunity to transform its profit gouging reputation. – Alec Hogg
In today’s Covid-19 headlines:
- South Africa’s coronavirus cases continue to rise exponentially with Tuesday’s increase of 6,945 the second highest yet recorded. It took the national total to over 150,000 confirmed cases and moved South Africa into fourth place of countries with the highest daily infections – behind the US, Brazil and India, and slightly above Russia. South Africa reported 128 deaths on Tuesday, by far the highest for a single day, with the total now at 2,675. For the first time the country has entered the global top ten in terms of daily mortalities. For the world as a whole, total cases are now at 10.7m with deaths approaching 520,000.
- Fears of competition between countries for coronavirus drugs are intensifying after the US’s Department of Health and Human Services said last night that it had secured 500,000 treatment courses of Remdesivir for American hospitals. This represents more than 90% of the production of the drug over the next three months. Remdesivir, has proven to be effective against Covid-19 in human trials and is one of the two most promising drugs. It is manufactured by Gilead, an American company. Oxford University’s Professor Peter Hornby, who led trials of the drug originally developed for use against Ebola, told the BBC that Gilead would have been under political pressure to comply with its Government’s requests.