US eyeing UK COVID-19 variant but SA one more concerning: NIH’s Collins


President Cyril Ramaphosa has confirmed that the country will receive its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines from India very soon.

The Competition Commission says it will be investigating the exorbitant prices of ginger and garlic in the food retail market.

South Africa has recorded 12 271 new coronavirus infections in the last 24-hour cycle, taking the total number to 1 404 839. The death toll now sits at 40 574 after 498 new COVID-19 related fatalities were recorded on Saturday.

African National Congress (ANC) President Cyril Ramaphosa says the party's National Executive Committee along with its alliance partners have agreed on a massive social mobilisation campaign to help roll out the coronavirus vaccine across the country.

Mpumalanga premier, Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane, has come under fire after she was seen without a mask during the funeral of Minister in the Presidency, Jackson Mthembu, at Emalahleni in Mpumalanga, on Sunday afternoon.

Some funeral undertakers in the North West say they can no longer cope with the high number of funerals they are handling daily. They say the pre-COVID weekly number of three to four, has jumped to over five.

Britain has detected 77 cases of the South African variant of COVID-19, the health minister said on Sunday, also urging people to strictly follow lockdown rules as the best precaution against Britain’s own potentially more deadly variant.

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the passing of the Minister in the Presidency, Jackson Mthembu, has shocked people into stopping the constant bickering that has been dividing the country.

South Africa has recorded 12 271 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the country’s total cases to 12 271. The death toll has climbed to 40 574 after 498 new deaths were reported.

America is mourning one of the nation's broadcast giants, Larry King, who died on Saturday.

The people of Babanango, a far-flung rural town in the Zululand district municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal, say the shortage of healthcare facilities, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, impacts negatively on their lives.

Larry King, who quizzed thousands of world leaders, politicians and entertainers for CNN and other news outlets in a career spanning more than six decades, has died at age 87.

South Africa has recorded 11 761 new coronavirus infections in the last 24-hour cycle, taking the total number to 1 392 568.

A variant of the novel coronavirus already accounts for about half of new infections in the Brazilian Amazonian city of Manaus, raising concerns about a greater risk of spread, a researcher warned on Friday.

Michael Mthembu, a brother to the late Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu, has described as "tough" the passing of his brother.

The World Health Organisation said on Friday it had reached an agreement with Pfizer for 40 million doses of its vaccine against COVID-19

The Dutch government said on Friday it could soften its demands for returning air crews to carry out rapid COVID-19 tests, after airline KLM moved to cancel its long-haul operations and warned that the shutdown could affect vaccine distribution.

The new COVID-19 variant identified in South Africa can evade the antibodies that attack it in treatments using blood plasma from previously recovered patients, and may reduce the efficacy of the current line of vaccines, scientists said on Wednesday.

China premiered a patriotic documentary film on Friday to mark the one-year anniversary of Wuhan’s coronavirus lockdown, part of a broader effort by authorities to cast the government’s early response to COVID-19 in a positive light.

Jackson Mthembu's political life included stints as the spokesperson for the African National Congress (ANC) at the provincial and national levels.

Thirty-three traffic officers have died of COVID-19 related complications over the 2020 festive season and more than 500 have tested positive.

British Athletics has cancelled its indoor championships set to begin in Glasgow next month due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the governing body said on Friday.

In this week's Global COVID-19 Wrap, SABC News captures highlights from all corners of the globe, as the number of confirmed infections worldwide continues to rise.

The Electoral Court has granted the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) an application to postpone the by elections by another 120 days.

Three mutant COVID-19 variants that emerged in Britain, South Africa, and Brazil pose a high-risk in Europe, Europe's disease surveillance agency said, while in theUnited States, President Joe Biden moved swiftly to coordinate a federal effort to fight the pandemic.

The 2021 Aerospace and Defence Trade Show, which was due to take place at Lanseria International Airport, north west of Johannesburg, has been cancelled.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention's (Africa CDC) Director, Dr. John Nkengasong, says access to oxygen is a critical need on the continent.

The COVID-19 Command Council in the Northern Cape says health authorities are increasing oxygen reserves in all health facilities in the Namakwa district.

The African National Congress (ANC) has made an impassioned plea to South Africans to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously, saying it has continued to claim millions of lives across the globe.

The South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) has described late Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu as the friend and defender of media freedom and freedom of expression.