Covid-19: What’s been happening around the world this week

South Africa’s vaccination campaign update 

As of Thursday (September 30), South Africa had administered 17 505 358 vaccines to its population – or about 31% of the adult population of the country. 

The government wishes to vaccinate 17 million more adults by December, which has prompted President Cyril Ramaphosa to launch ‘Vooma Vaccination Weekends’, a mass vaccination drive by government and civil society, during which all public vaccination sites as well as additional pop-up ones will open for weekends.

The first weekend of this drive is currently taking place, read more by clicking here. 

Globally, the World Health Organisation has recorded 450 268 new Covid-19 cases this week as the 7-day moving average. 

In light of the relatively low new Covid-19 infections in South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa has moved the country to adjusted Alert Level 1 as of yesterday (September 30). 

This sees the country with fewer alcohol restrictions and an extended curfew. For more on the updated restrictions, click here. 

Melbourne Covid-19 cases hit record high despite two months of lockdown

Parts of Australia have been marred by strict lockdown measures over the past two months. Despite these hard lockdowns, the state of Victoria has hit a new Covid-19 case record of 1 438 as of Thursday, September 30.

Earlier in the month, the city was rocked by hundreds of demonstrators protesting against the mandatory coronavirus vaccine rules that have been implemented in the construction industry which make it compulsory for all workers in this sector to be vaccinated. 

The government announced that the construction industry would need to completely shut down for two weeks in order to curb the spread of new Covid-19 infections. 

All workers in this industry are expected to return to work on October 5 under strict health guidelines. 

Pfizer submits data to FDA for vaccines in children

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States is set to rule on whether or not Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine may receive emergency authorisation for use in children between the ages of 5 and 11.

This comes as the US recorded high levels of infections among children in September. Currently the Pfizer vaccine is approved for children aged 12 and up.  

The FDA is a globally-leading health agency to which many governments and other authorities look for final decisions on things like vaccine-related matters. 

“The FDA takes very seriously the importance of getting vaccines, shown to be safe and effective in children,” Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show. 

“I would imagine in the next few weeks they will examine that data and hopefully give the okay so we can start vaccinating children, hopefully by the end of October.” 

Meanwhile, South Africa has partnered with a few other countries in trial tests for the use of China’s Sinovac Biotech vaccine in children and teenagers aged between six months and 17 years. 2000 children from South Africa will be participating in this trial. 

YouTube anti-vaccine crackdown

This week, video-streaming platform YouTube started banning and removing all anti-vaccination misinformation. 

YouTube, which is owned by Google, says that videos that perpetuate the idea that approved vaccines are dangerous and cause autism, cancer or infertility are among those that will be taken down. Over 130 000 videos have been removed so far. 

This move has drawn some criticism, with calls for free speech and intelligent discussion, most notably from Russian news channel ‘RT’ after two of its German channels were deleted.

The news company has threatened to impose a ban on YouTube, in defence of ‘free speech’. The country’s media regulator asserts that “for such actions, an Internet resource can be designated as breaching fundamental human rights and freedoms.”

Describing the move as “an act of unprecedented information aggression” and “obvious manifestation of censorship and suppression of freedom of expression,” the Foreign Ministry in Moscow said YouTube acted “with obvious connivance, if not at the insistence, of German authorities.”

Sale of masks to increase by 14% over next 5 years

“The Global Face Mask Market size was estimated at USD 6,867.82 Million in 2020 and expected to reach USD 7,808.64 Million in 2021, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) 14.03% to reach USD 15,104.33 Million by 2026.”

This is according to a report by Research and Markets which looked at the global forecast of face mask sales up to 2026, and the impact that Covid-19 has had on this market. 

*Notice: Coronavirus reporting at Caxton Local Media aims to combat fake news

Dear reader,

As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19. Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za).