Category: COVID-19 Corona Virus

South Africa has reported 10 496 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total number of infections to 298 292.

Also, a further 174 COVID-19 related deaths were reported on Tuesday bringing the country’s death toll to 4 346.

Of the reported deaths, 82 were from Gauteng, 44 from Western Cape, 27 from KwaZulu- Natal, 17 from Eastern Cape and 4 from Northern Cape.

“We convey our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the health care workers who treated the deceased,” said Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize.

The number of recoveries is 146 279, which translates to a recovery rate of 49%.

The provincial breakdown of cases is as follows: Gauteng 107 070, Western Cape 80 199, Eastern Cape 53 959, KwaZulu-Natal 30 587, North West 10 784, Free State 5 973, Mpumalanga 4 576, Limpopo 3 458, Northern Cape 1 579 and 107 were unknown.

The total number of tests conducted to date is 2 232 738 with 38 114 new tests conducted since the last report.

With many South Africans struggling to keep their heads above water given the financial challenges brought on by COVID-19, the National Credit Regulator (NCR) has reminded consumers of the measures available to ease the burden.

“The National Credit Act (NCA) offers various debt relief measures for financially embattled consumers struggling to repay debts and consumers are encouraged to consider these measures where applicable,” said the NCR’s acting manager for Education and Communication, Advocate Kedilatile Legodi.

The NCR, which is an agency of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (the dtic), said many South Africans are in financial distress and struggling to repay debts as a result of reduced and complete loss of  income.

Established in terms of the NCA, the regulator is responsible for the regulation of the South African credit industry while also monitoring the conduct of among others credit providers, and credit bureaus in their compliance with the National Credit Act as amended.

Credit Life Insurance

Consumers can consider several NCA debt relief measures, including Credit Life Insurance.

This is insurance that a consumer purchases when applying for credit or loan. It covers the outstanding debt in the event of unforeseen circumstances such as death, retrenchment, unemployment, inability to earn an income, disability and others.

In the event of the consumer becoming unemployed or unable to earn an income, the credit life insurance cover provides that credit providers must settle / pay the consumer’s debt for a period of 12 months or for the remaining repayment period or until the consumer finds employment or is able to earn an income, whichever period is shorter.

“Consumers who would like to use this relief measure but battling to get assistance from their credit providers can send a complaint to the National Credit Regulator. However, it is important for consumers to remember that in order to benefit from credit life insurance, all payments regarding the credit life insurance policy must be up to date,” said Legodi on Tuesday.

Debt counselling/review

Debt counselling is a debt relief measure intended to assist over-indebted consumers struggling with debt, through budget advice, negotiation with credit providers for reduced payments, extension of repayment term and restructuring of debt.

Debt counselling also offers consumers protection against repossession or legal action by credit providers.

“Consumers who have been negatively impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in reduced income are encouraged to consider this debt relief measure since an income is required to apply for debt counselling.”

Debt counselling is offered by NCR registered debt counsellors who operate nationwide.

A list of registered debt counsellors can be found on the NCR website www.ncr.org.za or by contacting the NCR on 0860 627 627.

Surrender of goods

The NCA allows consumers to voluntarily surrender / return goods to credit providers when they can no longer afford to maintain the repayments or can foresee that they will not be able to maintain future payments.

In terms of the act, credit agreements under which goods can be surrendered are instalment agreements, secured loans or leases.

Legodi said there is a process to be followed, which consumers are encouraged to understand before they give notice to a credit provider to return the goods.

The credit provider is required to provide the consumer with a letter setting out the estimated value of the goods, 10 business days after the consumer gave notice to surrender or return the goods, whichever is the latest.

The consumer may withdraw the notice to surrender within 10 business days after receiving the estimated value letter, if the account is not in arrears.

The credit provider will sell the returned goods in an attempt to settle the debt.

“However, there is no guarantee that the credit provider will sell the goods for what the consumer still owes. If the proceeds from the sale are insufficient to settle the outstanding debt, the consumer will be liable to pay the shortfall after the sale.”

Loans

For consumers with a need to borrow or loan money, they should do so having considered their ability to repay the debt and only use NCR registered credit providers.

“Consumers should never enter into any agreement with unregistered credit providers who usually retain bank cards, SASSA cards, identity documents etc. as security and a collection method.”

The retention of cards or identity documents is prohibited and a criminal offence in terms of the NCA.

“Consumers are urged to report credit providers who retain these instruments to the South African Police Service and the NCR,” said Legodi.

The NCR is also mandated with the registration of credit providers, credit bureaus, debt counsellors, payment distribution agents, and alternative dispute resolution agents.

A total of 4 424 720 applications for Special COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) Grant have been approved.

Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu said that the department has to date, received 7 558 555 applications through the various electronic application platforms, including Supplementary Service Data (USSD), Website, WhatsApp and email.

“A total of 2 174 046 applications were found to be active on various databases, including those who are currently receiving social grants, receiving Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) benefits or are appearing on the active database of UIF contributors, those who are receiving National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) stipends, [and] those who are found on government employee’s databases (Persal and persol),” Zulu said.

The Minister was speaking at the Social Cluster media briefing on socio-economic measures under the enhanced level 3 of the risk-adjusted strategy, held on Monday.

R1 billion paid for May applications

In line with the department’s commitment to pay successful applications from May 2020, Zulu said that 3 429 808 of the approved applications were paid as at 12 July 2020.

“We have so far disbursed R1 200 432 800. These payments are all for applicants who applied in May 2020. South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) will on a monthly basis, re-assess all applications to ensure that, where circumstances have changed and income is received from any other source, the grant will not continue to be paid.

“The re-assessment of all applications has already commenced and the applicants are being re-assessed against SOCPEN (Social Pension for Indigent Senior Citizens), UIF, NSFAS, Persal and Persol, in preparation for batch release of June payments from this week,” Zulu explained.

The Minister also acknowledged that the department is currently experiencing challenges in relation to the speedy administration and payment of the Special COVID-19 SRD Grant.

Among the challenges include slow processing of the special COVID-19 SRD Grant, bank accounts that failed the verification process, as well as a high number of declined applications.

Zulu explained that the initial delays in processing have been largely due to systems development which has been custom developed for the special COVID-19 SRD Grant alone, the need for multiple data verification sources, and slow response to requests to provide banking details by successful applicants, amongst others.

She said SASSA has enhanced its systems to improve the validation processes.

123 000 failed bank accounts verification

Zulu said that a high number of applicants failed the bank accounts verification process largely due to errors in the capturing of banking information and some applicants attempting to use other people’s bank accounts.

“Approximately 123 000 failed bank account verification which is facilitated through the National Treasury, prior to crediting of accounts. In this regard, SASSA has requested Post Bank to open accounts for the clients to enable payment without delay. Clients will be able to update their banking details and preferences in future should they wish to make use of different bank accounts or even the cash send option and not continue receiving the money through the post office,” the Minister said.

Reconsideration of previously declined applications

Zulu said SASSA has undertaken an internal reconsideration of previously declined applications due to UIF, after having received an updated database from the Department of Labour and Employment.

“The number of declined applications as a result of the ID having been found on the UIF database has declined significantly. Approximately 900 000 validated applications were found to potentially qualify for payment from May 2020 following the reconsideration process.

“SMS messages were sent to all these applicants indicating that they have been provisionally approved and must provide SASSA with their banking details. SASSA is currently processing payments to these applicants,” Zulu said.

Recourse mechanism for declined applicants

In order to address further exclusion errors, Zulu said, SASSA is implementing a recourse mechanism for applicants who have been declined and wish to review the decision.

She said that applicants can now direct their appeals for review to covid19srdappeals@sassa.gov.za

“This facility will have dedicated staff to respond timeously to all emails. I would like to point out that applicants requesting recourse need not upload documents – the recourse process will be electronic. Work is currently underway to develop a recourse mechanism which will attend to the complaints and disputes raised, while not extending the life span of this intervention.

“In addition, any recourse mechanism will have to be electronic in order to cope with the numbers involved – manual processes are not a viable option at all. The recourse process will be gazetted in due course. This will provide the legal framework within which the reassessments will take place,” the Minister said.

With 11 554 new COVID-19 cases reported on Monday, Gauteng has surpassed the 100 000 mark with a 103 713 infections recorded in the province.

To date, South Africa has 287 796 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country.

A further 93 COVID-19-related deaths brings the total number of deaths to 4 172.

Six of the deaths were from KwaZulu- Natal, 11 from Mpumalanga, 16 from the Free State, 37 from Western Cape and 23 from Eastern Cape.

“We convey our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the health care workers who treated the deceased,” said Health Minister, Dr Zwelini Mkhize.

A total of 138 241 people have recovered from the virus, which translates to a recovery rate of 48%.

The total number of tests conducted to date is 2 194 624 with 40 233 new tests conducted since the last report.

In an effort to eliminate the risk of criminals exploiting the COVID-19 Temporary Employee Relief Scheme, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) has introduced new stringent controls to verify banking details of recipients.

This comes after the Fund was in recent weeks exposed to opportunistic elements.

Due to the introduction of the new safety and security changes, the Fund has had to delay payments.

“However, over the weekend, it resumed payments and disbursed R 372 million of COVID-19 Temporary Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) benefit claims,” said the Fund in a statement on Tuesday.

The payment covered claims for April and May lodged by 15 866 employers benefitting 78 283 employees for whose banking details passed the verification process.

Further payments were done on Tuesday with some R295-million paid out from 1 824 employers benefitting 76 078 workers.

This brings the total paid to date since April 16, to just under R30-billion (R 29 726 359 618.48) covering 6 789 695 workers from 539 953 employers.

Measures introduced

As part of the new control measures, the Fund has also introduced a new rule to the system that requires applicants to insert either their enterprise number (CK/CIPC) or the ID number of the bank account holder in the TERS Online portal.

This has been introduced in order to further verify banking details against the authorised claimant.

“This requirement which may seem onerous is critical to ensure banking details are verified before any TERS payment is authorised. Failure to populate the system properly will unfortunately lead to more delays in the payment process,” said UIF Commissioner Teboho Maruping.

Fighting fraud

The Commissioner added that the Fund has been at the receiving end of fraud complaints after it emerged that certain individuals managed to change banking details of their companies and inserted their own.

“This situation has created a need for us to do an upfront account verification and validation before the payment is made, and we expect this to increase our turnaround time by two days as the accounts are verified and validated to ensure that fraud at company level is eliminated and reduced as far as possible.”

“We cannot overemphasise how important it is for companies to provide correct information that can be validated and verified with the banks so that there are no delays with the payment,” said Maruping.

The new changes come on the back of the Fund having paid up to R 1 billion directly into the bank accounts of 238 086 employees since April 2020. Direct payments to employees have not been affected by the new measures.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement to reinstate a ban on alcohol sales in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic is reflective of an increased number of trauma cases seen in hospitals.

“It’s a decision that I don’t think he’s taken lightly. It’s a decision that was reflective of what we have been seeing in the last few days. Unfortunately if you look at the various levels of lockdown under level 5, our trauma units were nice and quiet. Under level 4, it was around 20% of the user volumes to about 40%,” Professor Steve Moeng said on Monday.

Moeng, who is head of trauma at Gauteng’s Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, spoke to SAnews following the President’s announcement of the immediate suspension of the sale, dispensing and distribution of alcohol during a televised address on Sunday night.

In his weekly newsletter on Monday, the President said there is clear evidence that the resumption of alcohol sales has resulted in substantial pressure being put on hospitals, including trauma and ICU units, due to motor vehicle accidents, violence and related trauma.

“We have therefore decided that in order to conserve hospital capacity, the sale, dispensing and distribution of alcohol will be suspended with immediate effect,” he said in the newsletter.

Moeng said that since the country moved to level 3 of the lockdown on 1 June, hospitals have seen more trauma cases.

“Usually when it’s cold, trauma goes down, but unfortunately we have seen higher numbers. Unfortunately, that has had a negative impact in terms of our ability to deal with the COVID-19 load in our hospitals,” he said.

Moeng, who is also the academic head of trauma at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), said a hospital’s response to COVID-19 is put under pressure when the trauma load increases.

“Unfortunately it reduces that capacity for us to deal with other emergencies. Remember at the same time it’s the flu season and I understand why he may have found it worthwhile to sit down and see whether we can reduce the trauma load again. Unfortunately in this country the trauma that we see is related to alcohol,” said Moeng.

The Professor welcomed the decision announced by the President, saying it will afford hospitals time to pay more attention to COVID-19 which to date has affected at least 276 242 people in the country.

“From the health point of view, we would welcome this, it can help us to reduce and give us an opportunity to be able to pay more attention to COVID-19 again as those numbers are going higher and higher.”

He said there is a need to re-evaluate society’s relationship with alcohol.

“I think as a society at some stage we need to deal with the reality of that we have a problem when it comes to being able to manage responsibility of the alcohol component. We are further adding salt onto this wound from COVID-19.

“We have looked and combined our stats for different hospitals. So it would include Chris Hani Baragwaneth and Helen Joseph Hospital, a number of the same patterns have been seen in different institutions. All of them making us aware that they are seeing more and more trauma cases,” he said.

In the newsletter, President Ramaphosa said measures taken by government, including the reintroduction of a curfew between 9pm and 4am are necessary.

“We are taking these measures fully aware that they impose unwelcome restrictions on people’s lives. They are, however, necessary to see us through the peak of the disease. There is no way that we can avoid the Coronavirus storm. But we can limit the damage that it can cause to our lives,” said the President.

The Department of Employment and Labour’s Kroonstad Labour Centre has shut its doors after an official tested positive for COVID-19.

“The office will be closed as of today and will be expected to reopen next week Thursday on the 16th of July 2020, subject to the availability of a supplier to decontaminate the office,” said the department in a statement on Friday.

This is the department’s first positive COVID-19 case in the Free State.

The office will be cleared for 48 hours for decontamination and will thereafter be back for operational purposes.

“Officials who were not in close proximity with the infected employee will be expected to return back to work. Officials who were in close contact with the employee who tested positive will be given 14 days off to allow them to self-isolate/quarantine at home,” the department said.

The department’s Director-General Thobile Lamati reaffirmed that the safety of staff remains paramount.

“Our officials are an important cog of the working of the South African economy and as such, we will also ensure that they are as safe as possible,” Lamati said.

In the meantime, clients are urged to use the department’s online systems or drop boxes located at the closed labour centre.

The matter has been reported to the Department of Health in the province.

Tourism Minister, Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, has reiterated that while easing the COVID-19 lockdown regulations in the tourism sector is aimed at assisting businesses, it has to be done under strict conditions to curb the further spread of the virus.

Addressing the Portfolio Committee on Tourism on Thursday, Kubayi-Ngubane said the department’s focus is on supporting domestic tourism as the first point of recovery.

“The recovery of the entire tourism industry would largely depend on how travel ready authorities are in terms of managing and controlling coronavirus locally and globally,” Kubayi-Ngubane warned.

Tourism relief fund

The department informed committee members that 3 861 companies and individuals have already benefited from the R200 million Tourism Relief Fund, with assistance capped at R50 000.

The department received more than 7 000 applications for assistance.

Tourism Director General, Victor Tharage, confirmed that the department has lost close to R1 billion in its readjusted budget, as announced by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni.

However, Tharage said that although there are difficult times ahead for the industry and those dependent on it, his department would still be able to meet all its amended targets in line with its adjusted budget.

The committee has expressed its full support for the department’s efforts to reopen the tourism industry.

Committee Chairperson, Supra Mahumapelo, thanked the department for its commitment and effort to save the industry, while balancing the pressure, both from industry stakeholders and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We all have a role to play in defeating Coronavirus and rebuilding the tourism industry, and our economy. Therefore, you have the full support of this committee to appropriately manage the controlled opening of the tourism industry in line with broader government regulations,” Mahumapelo said.

He further called on all relevant parliamentary committees to support the industry in its drive to manage the reopening of the tourism industry, but to “do so cautiously without unnecessary risks to the lives of innocent citizens and the people who work in the industry”.

The devastating reality of COVID-19 continues to batter the country as South Africa reported a record of 13 674 new cases on Thursday, bringing the total to 238 339 infections.

Gauteng, which is now the epicentre, also hit new highs in daily cases, with 6 531 additional infections in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, 129 people lost their lives due to the novel Coronavirus which brings the death toll to 3 720.

Of these, both Gauteng and the Western Cape each recorded 37 deaths, 28 from Eastern Cape, 26 from KwaZulu-Natal, and one from the Northern Cape.

The department has since corrected a miscalculation after stating that the recent total deaths in Limpopo were 44 instead of 33 on Wednesday.

“This was a data interpretation error, which has been corrected. Reallocation has since been done and we have confirmed the current total with the province,” Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, explained.

In addition, the number of recoveries is 113 061, while 56 170 new tests were completed since the last report.

“We have thus reached a milestone of having completed over 2 million tests for Coronavirus,” he said.

The Minister has also paid a special tribute to laboratory services employees who have made this feat possible.

“This is an enormous achievement that we can all be proud of as South Africans,” he said, adding that 2 000 569 have been conducted since the outbreak.

Gauteng now has 81 546 cases, followed by the Western Cape with 74 815, Eastern 44 432 and KwaZulu-Natal 19 630.

North West has 7 870 reported infections, Free State 3 724, Mpumalanga 2 902, Limpopo 2 381 and Northern Cape 1 039.

According to the World Health Organisation, there are 11 874 226 cases worldwide and 545 481 deaths.

Gauteng Premier David Makhura has confirmed he is in isolation after testing positive for COVID-19.

In a brief statement issued on Friday, the Premier said he on Wednesday began experiencing mild symptoms.

“On Thursday, I decided to self-quarantine and test for COVID-19 as a precautionary measure. Today, Friday 10 July 2020, I received my test results confirming that I have tested positive for COVID-19,” he said.

The Premier in the statement said he was in self-isolation, in line with the WHO protocols and will work from home over the next 14 days, while monitoring my health.

“Given the fact that I only have mild symptoms, I will continue to ensure that the Provincial Executive Council and Provincial Coronavirus Command Council respond adequately to weather the storm of the pandemic in order to save more lives,” he said.

The MEC’s will later today give a weekly update on COVID-19.

He said the province’s primary focus in its response is to limit the number of infections and save more lives.

“We must double our efforts because Gauteng is once again the epicenter of COVID-19,” he said.

Makhura in the statement has also appealed to Gauteng residents to continue playing their part in observing the golden rules of washing hands regularly, wearing a mask and practicing physical distancing.