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
Inside Covid-19 headlines
- More than 25,5m people have tested positive for Covid-19 around the world, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource centre. Just under 852,000 people are reported as having died of Covid-19;
- As of Monday a cumulative total of 627,041 confirmed Covid-19 cases in South Africa have been recorded with 1,985 new cases identified. The official number of Covid-19 related deaths in the country has reached 14 149. Recoveries now stand at 540 923 which translates to a recovery rate of 86%. The Western Cape has recorded the highest number of deaths, at just under 3,900, with Gauteng not far behind, reporting just under 3,600 deaths.
- Latin America is the current epicentre of the pandemic, with the region accounting for almost half of all deaths each day, reports the Financial Times. This has been fuelled by a surge in Covid-19 fatalities in Brazil, Mexico and several other countries in Central and South America, it says. Europe’s average count of coronavirus-related deaths overtook Asia’s in early March, with Italy, Spain and the UK becoming the global hotspots, with the focus shifting to the US from mid-April.
- 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.
- 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 the news agency.
- A World Economic Forum/Ipsos global survey of nearly 20,000 adults, 74% say they are willing to get a Covid-19 vaccine, but the 26% shortfall is significant. China stands out for its optimism, 87% of those surveyed expect a vaccine to be ready this year while the majority of the public are not expecting a vaccine to be available before 2021, says the World Economic Forum.
