While the primary threat posed by COVID-19 is to people’s physical health, the pandemic is also taking its toll on economies, social and cultural activities, and people’s mental health. Spotlight spoke to mental health experts in the public, private and NGO sectors to hear how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the mental health of people in South Africa.
Over 163 000 people are in correctional facilities in South Africa. Outbreaks of COVID-19 in these prisons can have catastrophic consequences for both prisoners and the public healthcare system. Professor Lukas Muntingh unpacks the issues at stake.
On 1 May South Africa will enter a new phase of lockdown – level 4. Spotlight explains the different levels of lockdown and answers some questions surrounding what is allowed under level 4.
Spotlight visited the kitchen of Pholosong Hospital in Tsakane, Brakpan to meet some of the essential workers whose job it is to make sure patients are well-fed and to find out how they are preparing for COVID-19.
Many journalists, including us, are finding the quantity of science reports on COVID-19 overwhelming. We introduce a new occasional column to help make sense of the information overload. The aim of this occasional column, which we’re calling COVID-19 Report, will be to alert reporters in South Africa (and anyone else who is interested) to the best and most important science, and also clear up misconceptions.
Two provinces have said they will force people with COVID-19 to isolate in state facilities irrespective of whether they can safely self-isolate at home. Kathryn Cleary investigates the legal and public health side of these decisions.
There are some healthcare workers who feel South Africa’s COVID-19 testing criteria should be broadened. Amy Green asked some local health experts for their views.
As most people in South Africa prepare for another week in their homes under South Africa’s national COVID-19 lockdown, Amy Green spoke to some of Johannesburg’s many homeless persons about why they choose life on the street over government shelters.
Access to reproductive healthcare services is almost always time sensitive and not something that can simply be placed on hold because of the COVID-19 lockdown. It remains as important as always to provide services that reinforce women’s rights to dignity, autonomy and to access healthcare services, including reproductive healthcare services, writes Thuthukile Mbatha and Tendai Mafuma.
Despite measures implemented by the Department of Justice and Correctional Services to protect inmates since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, there are concerns among some civil society organisations and legal experts about the adequacy of these measures, writes Elri Voigt.
Every year around 40 000 people are hospitalised with influenza in South Africa and around 11 000 die of the disease. Spotlight interviewed leading Professor in Vaccinology Shabir Madhi about the flu and its implications for the fight against COVID-19.
Government has rolled out an intensified screening and testing campaign in the hope of finding more COVID-19 cases during and after the lockdown period, but the disparity between the country’s testing capacity and the actual number of tests being conducted remains substantial.
