Editor

In a remarkable show of support, accommodation establishments in South Africa have joined hands to provide beds to doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals working on the frontlines of fighting the coronavirus (COVID-19). 

Ubuntu Beds was founded by Kim Whitaker, a Cape Town-based tourism entrepreneur. Whitaker contracted COVID-19 herself after a trip to Germany. This gave her the initial idea to unite hospitality businesses, which now have empty beds due to the lockdown, in offering accommodation to healthcare workers. 

Door-to-door household screening, initially in areas identified as high-risk, is one of government’s proactive responses to the coronavirus pandemic.

Government is ramping up the fight against the coronavirus (COVID-19) with new mobile testing labs. The National Health Laboratory Service has bought 60 mobile sampling and testing units, bringing the number of mobile units that will be used across the country to 67. 

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says government is planning to use rapid mobile testing labs to speed up the testing process. 

It is of great importance for people to adhere to the rules set by government, say twin brothers who were at the heart of the Chinese coronavirus outbreak.

Medical students at China’s Hubei Polytechnic University, Mvuzo and Mvuyisi Nkcosolwana-Vili (28) saw with their own eyes how practising social distancing and adhering to the regulations put in place by government can stop the spread of the pandemic. 

There has been a heartwarming response to government’s call to people to donate to a fund established to respond to the coronavirus through prevention, detection, care and support.

South Africa’s Solidarity Fund, which was established by government after consultation with social partners, raised R2 billion in its first two weeks. 

Virtual learning, support material and plans for post-lockdown catch-up are some of the ways that South African learners are being enabled to complete 2020’s curriculum.

The Department of Basic Education (DBE) has partnered with the SABC to launch a multi-media learner support initiative, which will be available to learners throughout 2020. 

The COVID-19 learner support initiative was launched less than two weeks into the lockdown, in the beginning of April. It is part of efforts to prevent a total loss of the school year.

With hand washing and general hygiene essential to combatting the coronavirus, government has put emergency measures in place to assist communities without access to water.

As the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to spread, government is working to bring relief to water scarce communities. The Department of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation (HSWS) has delivered tanks and water-carting trucks to communities across the country.

The uncertainty and financial strain placed on entrepreneurs and small business owners by the global coronavirus pandemic is being alleviated by a host of public and private support schemes.

Small business owners and informal traders are amongst the South Africans who are most heavily impacted by the lockdown. In order to get through this difficult time, these business owners can take advantage of a number of interventions that government has put in place to assist them. 

SMME Debt Relief Fund

The night before South Africa entered its national lockdown, President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered a moving address to members of the South African Police Service and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).

“Tonight, you begin the most important calling of your mission: To save the lives of South Africans.”

Nompumelelo Ncube is one of our healthcare heroes working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 fight. 

Ncube works as a communicable disease control and outbreak response co-ordinator for the Tshwane health district with the Gauteng Department of Health. This means that she is at the very heart of the country’s efforts to control the epidemic. 

Government’s novel coronavirus (COVID-19) interventions, especially the national lockdown, have been successful in slowing down the disease’s spread.

This is according to South African epidemiologist and infectious diseases specialist Professor Salim Abdool Karim, who is also the chairman of the Ministerial Advisory Group on COVID-19.

At a briefing held with Health Minister Zweli Mkhize recently, Professor Karim presented an overview of the epidemic, its early trajectory and the country’s eight-stage plan for tackling the virus.