Author: svadmin

President Cyril Ramaphosa will this afternoon, 21 June 2021, together with the President of the French Republic, His Excellency Emmanuel Macron and World Health Organisation Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, participate in a joint media briefing on COVID-19 vaccines.

The briefing will focus on the establishment of the first messenger RNA technology transfer hub for COVID-19 vaccines, located in South Africa

The media briefing will be livestreamed on all PresidencyZA and WHO digital platforms as follows:

Date: Monday, 21 June 2021

Time: 17h00

Source: Government of South Africa

Tests have revealed that the stones discovered in the KwaHlathi area, outside Ladysmith, are not diamonds but quartz crystals.

Addressing the media on Sunday, KwaZulu-Natal Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs MEC Ravi Pillay said the tests conducted conclusively revealed that the stones discovered in the area are not diamonds “as some had hoped”.

“In fact, what has been discovered are quartz crystals that are common across the Karoo Supergroup with an extensional facture planes within and along the contact of Karoo dolerite sill. The value, if any, of the quartz crystals is yet be established but it must be mentioned that the value of quartz crystals is very low compared to that of diamonds,” Pillay said.

KwaHlathi has over the past days been gripped by excitement following the discovery of stones which locals believed were diamonds.

People, including those from other towns and provinces, flocked to the area to participate in the mining activity.

Pillay said this posed a huge risk in terms of COVID-19 regulations and also led to the degradation of the environment.

Following a visit to KwaHlathi, a technical sub-task team consisting of Department of Mineral Resources and Energy KZN Regional officials; the Council for Geoscience; South African Diamond and Precious Metals Regulator and Mintek analysed samples and have produced a preliminary report.

The report shows the site of the informal mining practises is geographically located on the edge of a Karoo dolerite sill, which is not in a zone where diamond occurrences are present.

“This was further confirmed by visual, geological and chemical analyses that were conducted,” Pillay said.

The MEC said the Council for Geoscience, working with various stakeholders will institute a geological mapping programme to further understand any other potential resources that may advance socio-economic development in KwaHlathi.

“Extensive geoscience studies are required in the area, at a regional scale to investigate possibilities of groundwater resources as well as any other lithologies that may be host to other natural resources that may contribute to local development and the economy of the province,” Pillay said.

Interventions by the province

He said the activity seen at KwaHlathi in the past week has highlighted the socio-economic challenges confronting people in the area.

In responding, particularly to the matter of the stones, Pillay said the provincial government has to provide a comprehensive response to the socio-economic challenges, as raised by the community members during its visit to the site, and as communicated by community representatives during a meeting held earlier.

“A report on the findings by the Council for Geoscience and on the socio-economic challenges in the area will be presented to Premier Sihle Zikalala and the entire provincial executive council. This will be the basis for us to formulate a coordinated response to all the challenges.

“Part of the response will have to focus on the issue of road and access to water. We will also formulate a comprehensive plan to rehabilitate the site on which digging is taking place,” Pillay said.

He appealed to the people on site to vacate the area, warning that what they are involved in has the potential of spreading COVID-19.

“The illegal mining practices also have a negative impact on the environment and land degradation that has been accentuated by the extensive diggings in the area. We reiterate that the mining activity taking place at KwaHlathi is illegal. We urge the community to cooperate with the police and local leadership,” Pillay said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Gauteng Health MEC, Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi, has assured the public that healthcare workers and the department remain committed to tackling the third wave of COVID-19 infections.

In addition, the MEC said they will be appointing additional staff to the 5 521 COVID-19 posts filled as of 1 June 2021.

“Despite the health system in Gauteng operating under increased load due to the rise in COVID-19 cases, the province is still able to cope with the pressure at this stage,” said Mokgethi on Sunday.

The MEC acknowledged that the province’s health system is under pressure but believes the institutions have enough capacity to cope with the demand, as Gauteng remains the epicentre.

On Sunday, South Africa recorded 13 155 new infections, of which 8 640 were logged in Gauteng alone.

“We are adding more healthcare personnel to make sure more available beds are fully functional,” she explained, adding that the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) is also deploying its medical personnel to ease the burden of the healthcare workers.

The Health MEC pointed out that because the province adopted a risk-adjusted and demand informed strategy, it can optimise its response to the resurgence and the pandemic.

“We have dedicated COVID-19 functional beds across the province supported by a live electronic COVID-19 bed management dashboard, which we use to monitor the utilisation of beds across the province.

In addition, the MEC said, the department will be relying on the newly built infrastructure in Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, Jubilee Hospital and Bronkhorstspruit Hospital and the repurposed Tshwane District Hospital.

“Wards and beds in other facilities are always repurposed based on the demands of the pandemic at any given time.”

In the meantime, the department has activated resurgence plans across its five districts to minimise the impact of the COVID-19 third wave.

This includes intensified COVID-19 screening and testing activities in communities with contacts followed up appropriately.

“There is also collaborative work led by other government agencies to improve law enforcement in various settings to ensure compliance to COVID-19 protocols in line with the national lockdown alert level 3.”

Source: South African Government News Agency

The Department of Basic Education is calling on all teachers and staff to be at school in order to prepare for the COVID-19 vaccination programme set to start on Wednesday.

In a statement on Monday, the department said the vaccination programme is an opportunity to normalise schooling and intensify the process of mitigating the impact of COVID-19.

At the weekend Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced that the vaccination of personnel in the sector would start officially on Wednesday following the arrival of an initial 300 000 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccines.

“In her address the Minister said all five official and recognised teacher unions in the sector were in full support of the vaccination program as part of the fight against COVID-19,” said the department.

The leadership of the teaching unions are themselves expected to get vaccinated this week.

School governing body associations have supported the vaccination programme and have committed to working closely with the department to ensure all targeted people receive the jab.

“For the next two weeks, we make the clarion call to our school communities to ‘drop all, and vaccinate!’ in order for us to successfully complete this program, we will need to keep schools open.”

Any disruptions, she said, “would be undesirable”.

“We need to work extremely hard and around the clock to vaccinate as many people as possible in our sector. Vaccinating does not mean that we need to stop adhering to the non-pharmaceutical health and safety protocols”.

The department has issued a circular to provinces to outline all the steps that must be taken before and during the vaccination process.

“Provincial education departments will also provide more details to district, circuit offices and schools on scheduling of the vaccination in all the sites,” said the department.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Gauteng Health MEC, Dr Nomathemba Mokgethi, has confirmed that the province will allow walk-ins at vaccination sites for those aged 60 and above.

According to the MEC, the elderly will be assisted whether they have registered on the Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS) or not.

“All persons will be assisted with registration and will be vaccinated, even those who are registered and waiting for SMSes.”

Meanwhile, Gauteng has opened more vaccination sites. There are currently 137 active centres, of which eight are new.

“The plan is to increase capacity and to ensure that more sites operate over the weekend, with the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital vaccination site being the first in the province to open seven days a week.”

According to the latest data, over half a million people have received their COVID-19 vaccine over the 860 793 who have registered in Gauteng.

Meanwhile, Mokgethi reiterated the call for compliance to non-pharmaceutical interventions including wearing a mask, keeping a safe physical distance and washing hands regularly or using a hand sanitiser and avoiding gatherings.

“There is no doubt that we are seeing the widespread transmission of Coronavirus infections in all our communities.”

For the first time, on 16 June Gauteng recorded 7 859 new infections which surpassed the first and second wave daily infections.

“The war against COVID-19 will only be won when everyone acknowledges the power to stop the spread of the Coronavirus lies with every individual.”

Source: South African Government News Agency