Tag Archives: South Africa

Hope and excitement gripped the Munsieville care home in the South African mining city of Krugersdorp on Monday, when people over the age of 60 were called to receive the COVID-19 vaccine for the first time. “It’s going to change our country for the better,” Caroline Nicholls, 64, a judge, …

The World Health Organization has warned the coronavirus pandemic could overwhelm strained public health systems in Africa. On Wednesday, the continent was approaching a million infections and around 21,000 deaths, according to a Reuters tally. Here are measures some countries are taking to curb the virus. SOUTH AFRICA With more …

South Africa has announced more than 12,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases as the total in one of the world’s worst affected countries reaches 434,200 with 6,655 deaths. South Africa makes up well over half the confirmed cases on the African continent, where experts say the virus could smoulder in areas …

A large manhunt has been launched in South Africa after a group of prisoners escaped as they awaited trial. The inmates made a break from Malmesbury Correctional Centre in the Western Cape on Friday afternoon. Police were deployed to the area to search for them on foot and in vehicles, …

Countries from the U.S. to South Africa to India were struggling to hold down rising rates of the coronavirus, as global deaths from COVID-19 surged past 600,000 in a sign of how far off the world remains from a return to normalcy. While the U.S. leads global infections, South Africa …

Confronted by surging hospitalizations due to COVID-19, South Africa is considering a return to tighter restrictions to combat the disease, which officials say may soon overwhelm the country’s health system. President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced he will speak to the nation about the crisis on Sunday evening after top health …

Police in South Africa says five people are dead and more than 40 have been arrested after an early-morning hostage situation at a church near Johannesburg. A statement says police and military who responded to reports of a shooting at the International Pentecostal Holiness Church in Zuurbekom found four people …

Africa now has more than a half-million confirmed coronavirus cases, while South Africa’s health minister declared Wednesday that “we have now reached the surge.” The continent-wide total is over 509,000, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after South Africa recorded another day of more than 10,000 …

An explosion on Thursday at Astron Energy’s South African refinery in Cape Town has killed at least two people and injured several others, a source who works at the 100,000 barrel per day plant told Reuters. “There are two people dead that I know of and many injured,” said the …

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday urged South Africans to stamp out the stigmatization of people who have proven positive with coronavirus. The stigmatization of COVID-19 patients has become one of the challenges confronting the country, Ramaphosa said in his weekly presidential address. “As a society, we have a collective responsibility …

South Africa has been described as “one of the most unsafe places in the world to be a woman” and as the country has entered level 3 of its lockdown which included the ban on the sale of alcohol being lifted, there has been a surge in femicide cases across …

As of June 5, confirmed the COVID-19 case total from 55 African countries has reached 169,645. Reported deaths in Africa have reached 4,756 and recoveries 73,895. South Africa has the most reported cases – 40,792, with deaths numbering 848. Other most-affected countries include Egypt (29,767 cases), Nigeria (11,516), Algeria (9,831), …

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday thousands of low-risk prisoners would be granted parole to help curb the spread of the coronavirus in correctional facilities. Around 19,000 people would be freed in response to a U.N. call on all countries to reduce their prison populations so that social …

South Africa’s president has announced an easing of some lockdown restrictions – to begin next month. But Cyril Ramaphosa warned that most people should remain at home and also urged people to wear masks when outside. Yet at the end of his speech, he struggled while demonstrating how to put …

Sixty-four migrants from Ethiopia were found dead on Tuesday, crammed inside a freight container in the northwestern Mozambican province of Tete, a senior hospital official said. The victims were discovered in a blue cargo container loaded on a truck. They were surrounded by survivors. Temperatures in Tete currently hover around …

At least 640 Nigerians have signed up to take free flights home from South Africa after xenophobic attacks on foreigners, a spokeswoman for Nigeria’s president said on Tuesday. The flare-up in violence directed against mainly African foreigners has been widely condemned by South Africa’s neighbors and has caused a diplomatic …

A South African man who won the chance to be the first black African in space has died in a motorbike crash before turning his dream into reality, his family announced Sunday. Mandla Maseko, a part-time DJ, and candidate officer with the South African Air Force, was nicknamed “Afronaut” after …

Bob Hawke, one of Australia’s longest-serving Prime Ministers and a champion of the trade union movement, has died peacefully at the age of 89. Known affectionately by his nickname, “Hawkie” was Australia’s prime minister between 1983 and 1991, winning four elections and becoming the country’s third longest-tenured leader. His policies …

The African National Congress retained control of South Africa’s parliament but its share of the vote fell, a rebuke from voters fed up with corruption scandals and racial inequalities that remain entrenched a generation after the party took power. Provisional results on Saturday showed the ruling party secured 57.51% of …

Fifty-one people have died in floods that ravaged parts of the coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa’s southeast, local authorities said. The flooding began on Monday after heavy rain caused mudslides in several towns in Durban, the largest city in KwaZulu-Natal, government spokesman Lennox Mabaso said. “The areas most …