Inside Covid-19: B4SA expects case, death surge till end August; fresh vaccine hope; new Tips for Trevor campaign. Ep 65

In Episode 65 of Inside Covid-19, some upside from the pandemic as we hear from Martin Kingston that business and government are forging a working relationship that’s closer than ever before, but B4SA expects a surge in cases, mortalities until late August; The Foundry restaurant’s owner launches his own Tips For Trevor campaign with a difference; a positive development in the search for a coronavirus vaccine as Moderna, one of the frontrunners, is in the final testing stage and could have a solution by November; and a leading member of SA’s charitable sector waves a flag about SA’s mushrooming market in fraudulent PPEs. – Alec Hogg

In today’s Covid-19 headlines:

  • South African coronavirus deaths went beyond 7,000 on Monday with 298 mortalities registered, catching up on the usual slow reporting over weekends. Although recent infections are declining, and Monday’s active cases fell by a few thousand to 170,000, modellers are expecting a surge in the country’s cases over the next four weeks, projecting a peak in mortalities by early September. South Africa remains fifth in the world on total infections, active cases and daily mortalities, but is a modest 17th on total mortalities, although this may be a result of lagged reporting on deaths.
  • On Monday night, the executive board of the International Monetary Fund approved an emergency loan of $4.3bn – that’s R71bn – to help South Africa over the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. The loan was granted under the IMF’s Rapid Financing instrument and the multilateral institution says it will help the country address a challenging health situation and the severe economic impact of the coronavirus. There are string attached, however, as the IMF says that once the pandemic is behind us, South Africa will need to implement structural economic reforms.
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