Sa News and Story

A Free State mother has tested positive for Covid-19. She and her children have been quarantined. Image:   123RF / Xixinxing A Free State mother and her two children have been quarantined after she tested positive for Covid-19, health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said. Mkhize said on Friday that 202 cases of infection had been confirmed in the country. The Free State had recorded seven cases, Gauteng had 33 cases, Western Cape 11 and KwaZulu-Natal seven. The   first five people who tested positive in the Free State had travelled from abroad and attended a religious gathering. They are in isolation in a local bed and breakfast. On Thursday, the government said there were 150 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country. This did not include the new Free State cases which were confirmed later in the day. “The mother of two is a health worker. She has no history of travel,” Mkhize said. He said the woman’s children had been quarantined after...

Covid-19 cases on the rise in SA. Image:   GALLO IMAGES/AFP/BERND THISSEN The total number of Covid-19 cases in SA is now 202 with seven cases in the Free State - which recorded its first case a day ago. Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said on Friday that Gauteng had 33 cases, Western Cape 11 and KwaZulu-Natal seven. The  first five people who tested positive in the Free State had travelled from abroad and attended a religious gathering. They are in isolation in a local bed and breakfast. On Thursday, government said there were 150 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country. This did not include the new Free State cases which were confirmed later in the day. Coronavirus watch Mkhize told a #CoronaVirusUpdate news conference in the Free State that leaders in society must not fear the virus, but the country needs to be realistic about it. He said scientists estimated that 60% of the population would be affected by the virus at some...

President Cyril Ramaphosa. Image:   GCIS/ELMOND JIYANE Business leaders and the team heading up SA's plan to combat the spread of coronavirus is on Sunday briefing President Cyril Ramaphosa, ahead of his scheduled address to the nation. Ramaphosa on Sunday morning hosted a consultation with business leaders at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, his office said. These leaders will have an opportunity to outline the impact of the disaster on businesses and the economy at large, and engage recommendations to mitigate the impact of the outbreak on the economy at large. This follows his meetings with constituencies including communities of faith and the nation’s political leadership in the week since his declaration on March 15 of the national state of disaster. Companies have been hit by a wave of panic buying, expenditure on preventive measures such as sanitisers for staff and customers, shortened hours for liquor sales and employees as well as th...

Lt-Col Leroy Bruwer was the lead investigator in two high-profile rhino poaching cases. A top Hawks investigator who cracked rhino poaching cases was killed assassination-style in Mpumalanga. Lt-Col Leroy Bruwer, 49, died in a hail of bullets in Mbombela on the R37 connecting Mbombela and Lydenburg yesterday morning while heading to work. He was the lead investigator of two high-profile rhino poaching cases - of former policeman Joseph "Big Joe" Nyalunga and suspected rhino kingpin Petrus Mabuza. National police commissioner Gen Khehla Sitole said in a statement: "Colonel Bruwer, who was attached to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation [the Hawks], was driving to work this morning at 6.30am when he was shot at on Lydenburg Road in Nelspruit with what appeared to be heavy calibre weapons by unknown gunmen. Colonel Bruwer died on the scene. "Colonel Bruwer was a seasoned investigator within the DPCI environment and always excelled i...

Alexandra residents have been complaining about their poor living conditions for a very long time now. Social distancing will never be a reality in this congested settlement near Sandton. / ANTONIO MUCHAVE A few weeks ago, a group of middle-class people went on vacation in Italy and brought with them Covid-19, a virus that is tearing the world asunder. Since then, the number of people who have tested positive in SA has increased exponentially, and by all indications, the worst is yet to come. While our country has not registered any fatalities, there is a sense that we soon will, because our ailing public health system is ill-equipped to handle a health emergency the nature and scale of Covid-19. It is a battle that we are unlikely to win, if the virus is to wreak havoc at the scale of what it has done in countries like Italy and China - developed countries with far better infrastructure and resources than us. On Sunday evening, President Cyril Ramaphosa stood bef...

What is most vital to the fight against the deadly coronavirus outbreak is individual behavioural change, the writer says. Image:   REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo On Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced extraordinary measures in response to the outbreak of the coronavirus, which has wreaked havoc and left a trail of death and destruction throughout the world in recent weeks. These measures include travel bans from high-risk countries, a shutdown of schools from tomorrow and a prohibition of large gatherings exceeding 100 people. By yesterday at least 62 people had been confirmed to have the virus in SA. More concerning is that, unlike before where only South Africans who had travelled abroad were infected, at least two cases of local transmission had been recorded as at yesterday morning. These numbers are expected to rise. There is no doubt that we face a crisis. Therefore, the drastic restrictive measures imposed by government, though inconvenient, a...

The Reserve Bank says it is not recalling cash from the public. Image:   123RF/LEON SWART As fear over the coronavirus grips Mzansi, criminals have taken the opportunity to scam unsuspecting people. On Monday, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) warned the public about criminals going to homes claiming to be representatives of the bank and telling them to hand over cash as it was “contaminated” with the virus. In a statement, the Bank said it was not removing any cash from the public. SA Reserve Bank ✔ @SAReserveBank  ·  Mar 16, 2020 Replying to @SAReserveBank The SA Reserve Bank wants to encourage members of the public to contact local police when they are approached by individuals purporting to be SARB employees or representatives. The SARB will never ask members of the public to hand over their cash. SA Reserve Bank ✔ @SAReserveBank DO NOT hand over cash to anyone claiming that it is contaminated...