COVID-19

COVID-19

Interactive Data Dashboards

Track the HIV & TB response

Live indicators, province breakdowns and downloadable data.

  • Poor vaccine coverage risks measles outbreak, experts say

    A recently published survey found that only 76.8% of children surveyed have received all their required childhood vaccines. Elri Voigt unpacks the survey findings and asks whether a recent measles outbreak in Gauteng may be a harbinger of worse outbreaks to come.

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  • Spotlight on HIV: Six graphs that tell the story

    In 2021, HIV was successfully suppressed in the bodies of around 63% of the close to eight million people living with HIV in South Africa. This is according to recent outputs from Thembisa, the leading mathematical model of HIV in South Africa. With the help of some graphs, Spotlight editor Marcus Low unpacks this and…

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  • COVID-19: The role of next-generation vaccines in immunity

    Indications are that the virus that causes COVID-19 is going to continue evolving and escaping the protection against infection people already have. Researchers are working on next-generation vaccines tailored to fight off specific versions of the virus, like the Omicron sub-lineages BA.4 and BA.5. But can these new vaccines be tested and produced fast enough…

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  • COVID-19: Reinfections amid ‘complex mix of immunity’

    Omicron and its sub-variants have been dominating new surges of SARS-CoV-2 infections around the world and were behind South Africa’s fifth wave. The BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages unveiled yet more surprises about the evasive nature of these ever-emerging forms of SARS-CoV-2. They also hold clues for what to expect next and how to prepare. Aisha…

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  • COVID-19 blamed for shortcomings of ‘ideal clinics’ in Free State  

    There are 83 clinics – down from 153 in 2018/19 – in the Free State with Ideal Clinic status, meaning they have adequate staff, infrastructure, and medicines, among others. For many primary health facilities, this accreditation status is crucial for the National Health Insurance, however, some of these ideal clinics still have various shortcomings. Refilwe…

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  • RSV: Virus that threatens infants again circulating in 2022

    Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is estimated to affect 64 million people and claim around 160 000 lives around the world every year. Infants are most vulnerable and there is no effective treatment or vaccine. Tiyese Jeranji asks what we know about RSV in South Africa.

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  • COVID-19: What role for masks, sanitising, and ventilation in the new normal?

    South Africa’s fifth wave of COVID-19 infections was comparatively small and is already abating. As with the fourth wave, infection was much less likely to result in hospitalisation or death than in the first three waves. In light of these changes in the pandemic, Aisha Abdool Karim asks what the “new normal” should look like…

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