COVID-19

COVID-19

Interactive Data Dashboards

Track the HIV & TB response

Live indicators, province breakdowns and downloadable data.

  • How to boost the COVID-19 vaccine rollout

    A few weeks ago, South Africa’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout seemed well set. We were consistently administering over 200,000 doses on weekdays and well over a million a week. Government got a few things right, but there’s so much more it can still do.

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  • Healthcare workers in the third wave: “We are living in the shadows of death”

    It’s been over a year since COVID-19 first hit South Africa. Since then, many people have been living in constant fear and many have lost loved ones. Frontline healthcare workers had no choice but to face their fears if they were to keep doing the life-saving work they were trained for. Amy Green and colleagues…

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  • Medical intern burnout worsened by COVID-19

    Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic many medical interns in South Africa had a tough time, often working long hours and with little oversight or support. Chris Bateman spoke to interns and junior doctors in public hospitals and tag-on COVID-19 facilities, who are performing tasks of porters, auxiliary nurses, and liaising with anxious relatives, instead…

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  • Transport issues putting brakes on vaccination efforts in rural Free State

    In the Free State as a whole, roughly 16 COVID-19 jabs have been administered for every 100 people. In the province’s rural districts, the number is closer to one for every 100. Refilwe Mochoari spoke to a nursing union, some organisations on the ground, and the Free State Department of Health to get the full…

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  • Assessing Dr Zweli Mkhize’s two years as Health Minister

    Last night President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that Dr Zweli Mkhize had resigned as South Africa’s Minister of Health after eight weeks on special leave. Although Mkhize will primarily be remembered for the Digital Vibes scandal that caused his downfall, a lot more happened over the last two years. Spotlight editor Marcus Low asks what we…

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  • COVID-19 and HIV: What we can learn from a new WHO report

    The risk of developing severe or fatal COVID-19 is 30% greater in people living with HIV compared to those who are HIV negative, according to a new report from the World Health Organization. Comprised of data from 37 countries, including South Africa, the report suggests people living with HIV should be prioritised for vaccination. Laura…

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  • COVID-19: Crisp on the challenges with SA’s vaccine rollout

    Dr Nicholas Crisp is a deputy director-general in the National Department of Health and the person responsible for coordinating South Africa’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Crisp spoke to Chris Bateman about challenges with the rollout and his wife and daughters getting sick with COVID-19.

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  • COVID-19: Jabs for most pregnant women more than a month away

    Most pregnant women in South Africa will have to wait at least another month for a potentially life-saving COVID-19 jab. Chris Bateman takes a look at what we do and do not know about COVID-19 and its impact on pregnant women or those planning to get pregnant, and when it is safest for such women…

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  • Efforts to vaccinate the homeless stumbling over red tape

    South Africa’s COVID-19 vaccination programme currently requires that people enter an identity number when registering on government’s electronic system and present an identity document when they go to get jabbed. This makes it hard for homeless people without IDs to get vaccinated. Siyabonga Kamnqa reports from the streets of Cape Town.

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  • OPINION: Going Local in Health Innovation – It is time and we are ready

    The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need to think global and build locally. The African innovative pharmaceutical sector has the potential to thrive and needs more incentive to grow. A blooming continental sector would serve as a critical and secure source for key vaccines and therapeutics, reducing the need to rely on the goodwill of…

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  • In-depth: Why is there hardly any flu in SA this year?

    While COVID-19 cases are surging in South Africa off the back of the dominant Delta variant, the flu virus has virtually vanished. Only 50 influenza cases have been detected so far this year through the country’s influenza monitoring system. Adele Baleta unpacks what is going on.

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