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South Africa has recorded 30 new COVID-19 related deaths bringing the total number of deaths to 369 – this as the country’s cases rise to 19 137.

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

To date 525 433 tests have been conducted with 18 572 tests done in the past 24 hours.

Western Cape remains the epicentre with 12 153 Coronavirus cases in the province. Gauteng has the second highest number of cases at 2 453 with the Eastern Cape third with 2 324.

As of Thursday, KwaZulu-Natal had 1 693, Free State 184, Limpopo 121, Mpumalanga 95, North West 77  and 37 in the Northern Cape.

Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi has assured Parliament that the department is conducting the requisite due diligence as it disburses COVID-19 TERS Benefits to avoid processing fraudulent claims.

The Minister made the assurance during a virtual Employment and Labour Portfolio Committee meeting on Wednesday.

Suspicious claims, said the Minister, are being subjected to forensic audits where foul play is suspected.

“With these huge payments, inevitably you will attract criminals and companies colluding with employees to try and fleece the coffers. We will be engaging the services of the auditor-general and auditing firms to ensure that we comb through all the payments,” the Minister said.

By Wednesday, the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), an agency of the department, had paid over R14-billion to workers as a relief payment in the time of lockdown that has been necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the country and the world.

UIF Commissioner Teboho Maruping, during the meeting, indicated there were employers who were suddenly claiming for more employees than those who are in the Fund’s systems. Previously, the fund would pay but raise debt against the companies to be paid with interests and penalties.

Maruping indicated that where companies were still on lockdown, the process of payment would be fast tracked in May as the Fund already had the details.

“Moreover, we are paying workers directly and we have increased our capacity to process the claims. We will easily check on those who have not returned to work enabling that simplicity of payments. We will also advise the companies that there is no need to apply again and that we will automatically pay. The system will be open for applications this coming Friday, 22 May 2020,” Maruping said.

With regard to the Compensation Fund (CF), Commissioner Vuyo Mafata said the CompEasy system was working smoothly and claims to the contrary were untrue. He was responding to a question from a Member of Parliament who had intimated that the system was in shambles.

Mafata indicated that the CF has migrated more than 80% of all valid invoices into the new system and where this has not happened, this was because there were still issues that needed to be resolved with the claims submitted.

“Since April we have paid more than R400-million in claims and continue to do so. The system is working. However, over and above that, we continue to engage medical advisors and many other stakeholders. We have received favourable uptake of the system which also allows the claimants a degree of freedom to do their own claims,” he said.

Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu has called upon every citizen to start saving water in earnest and use its availability as a weapon to fight COVID-19.

“The current water levels have the potential to sustain us until the next summer rains provided we use water wisely and sparingly,” Sisulu said.

She made the call as the country’s dam levels begin their downward spiral, as expected in winter.

The department called on South Africans to double their water saving efforts to sustain water supply and respond to the advent of COVID-19 during the imminently dry winter season.

The virus has so far infected 18 003 South Africans and claimed the lives of 339 others in its wake.

Government has called on all citizens to wash their hands regularly with water and soap to stem the tide of Coronavirus.

Amidst the outbreak of the pandemic, the department said water has played an important role in pushing back the frontiers of the rampant pestilence.

“Invariably, the call to wash hands frequently has placed an unprecedented strain on the availability of water throughout the country even as the Department of Water and Sanitation has embarked on a massive rollout to distribute jojo tanks among communities to enable them to have access to water,” the department said on Thursday.

The latest weekly report on dam levels by the department indicates the beginning of a drop in dams as the country enters its dry winter season.

“In the past two weeks dam levels have decreased marginally from 70.8 to 70.6%. The decrease is expected to be exacerbated by the absence of rainfall in the middle of winter while Western Cape dams are expected to be boosted by winter rains. Currently, dam levels in the province are at their lowest at 35.8%,” the department said.

Gauteng dam levels has dropped from 100.8% to 99.8%, followed by Northern Cape at 86.7% and North West at 70.6%. Free State, with the biggest dams in the country, remained unchanged at 83.8%.

Mpumalanga and Limpopo are fairly stable with their dams dropping fractionally to 75.4% and 68.2%, respectively. KwaZulu-Natal also maintained its stability at 62.9%.

The department said it is watching the water situation in Eastern Cape closely, as the province’s dam levels continued to drop to 56.3%.this week.

“This is amid fears that unless drastic measures are taken to address the situation the province may revert to the drought situation it experienced last year,” the department said.

Due to the current lockdown, citizens can expect a three-day blackout during the winter, a sizeable decrease from the envisaged 31 days of stage 1 load shedding.

“We don’t see any stage 2 or 3 during winter,” Eskom’s Generation Group Executive, Bheki Nxumalo, said on Thursday.

According to Eskom’s Chief Operating Officer Jan Oberholzer, while the power utility has recovered some partial losses and made improvements, the country is still not out of the woods yet.

“You can only get sustainability and reliability in these units when you have done proper reliability maintenance and that we haven’t done aggressively yet.

“Until the end of July next year, the risk of load shedding will remain because of the unreliability and unpredictability of the system,” he said.

He said this was due to the neglect of the system for the past decade.

Eskom’s executives were speaking at a virtual media briefing where the management outlined the details of the operational performance.

Eskom dealing with challenges

Eskom CEO André de Ruyter also warned that if Eskom does not get their act together, the power utility will continue to be on a  downward spiral and will halt operations.

He said the state-owned entity (SOE) still faces a significant number of challenges despite some wins.

“We have a debt of some R450 billion. We don’t have enough revenue to cover our debt service costs. We’ve had our challenges with the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) and this is part of our quest to find cost-effective tariffs that will enable us to be a sustainable and viable business,” De Ruyter added.

Eskom and NERSA have been in loggerheads over the tariff increases and De Ruyter said they are working on building the relationship with the regulator.

In addition, their operational expenditure has increased by 30% in the past five years, coal prices have augmented, while their procurement costs are higher than normal and load shedding is still not the thing of the past.

“Our business model is safe to say it’s outdated, the world of energy has changed around us, and we need to change along with it.”

However, De Ruyter said they have adopted the alternative of doing nothing and working around the clock to address the issues.

“If we don’t fix our operational stability, we will be on the red downward sloping curve which will result in poor governance as we’ve seen, poor staff morale, Eskom will be unable to operate, and we’ll require increased borrowings and support from the fiscus which we know it’s going to challenging particularly in a post-COVID-19 environment,” he said.

“And eventually, we’ll have severe restrictions and have curtailments imposed on us from the operational perspective which will translate into lower availability of electricity to the South African economy which of course is completely accepting.”

He said there are no additional bailouts they are expecting from the government except for the R56 billion.

De Ruyter said they are working around the clock to improve their income statement, balance sheet and continue to restructure Eskom while improving the culture of employees.

He said Eskom has managed to do short-term maintenance, they are repurposing old power stations and cutting day-to-day costs.

While the generation plant is still not reliable and predictable as they would like it to be, they are working on improving the current plant performance to reduce the risk of load shedding.

Other plans in the cards include expanding margin through efficiency return on assets, resolve NERSA tariff disputes, resolve municipal debt, coal cost renegotiations, fuel oil cost and consumption, and diesel consumption reduction.

Eskom’s COVID-19 response

De Ruyter said they have a comprehensive and focused effort in place to protect employees and contractors, in compliance with the government’s COVID-19 health and safety regulations.

“As of 7am, this morning, 21 Eskom employees and contractors have tested positive for COVID-19 and are receiving the best treatment available.”

He said the maintenance and construction projects were impacted by the lockdown.

The contractors are required to comply with COVID-19 health and safety regulations prior to working on-site, while operations at power stations and power networks have continued with minimal disruption.

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) has facilitated the repatriation by air of 5 239 South Africans stranded abroad.

According to DIRCO Minister Naledi Pandor, hundreds more have also returned through the country’s land borders.

As several countries went into lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19, an initial 3 637 requested repatriation.

But the repatriation of citizens has not been easy given the various restrictions implemented by countries across the world.

“The process involved a lot of negotiations with multiple stakeholders, which explains why we couldn’t repatriate some as speedily as we wished.

“We implemented this process to assist our nationals who were in distress – those stranded at airports, students who were asked to evacuate their places of residence as many countries were implementing lockdown, the elderly and those who needed medical attention,” said the Minister.

To properly coordinate the repatriation process, DIRCO established a 24-hour Command Centre, to help those who were unable to reach embassies.

Cost of repatriation

On the estimated cost of the repatriation of citizens, Pandor said while government had anticipated that repatriation would cost over R90 million the figure hovers far below R10 million.

She attributed the relatively low cost of the repatriation to the assistance of energy and chemical company – Sasol which donated jet fuel. Pandor also highlighted that many of the citizens were able to cover the cost of their return.

“Citizens being repatriated were in the main able to pay for themselves so we have not had to spend tremendous amounts of money. Many of the persons that sought repatriation sought it because flights were cancelled but they were holders of flight tickets,” said the Minister.

Peru repatriation underway

On the repatriation of South Africans in Lima, Peru, Pandor said there is a group of South Africans still stranded about nine hours away from the capital. The group cannot travel on the road because of the strict lockdown underway in Peru.

“We continue to appeal for their patience as we explore and negotiate ways of bringing them home. The government of Peru remains open to assisting us for their return,” said the Minister.

Repatriated South Africans seek to return to countries of residence

With some repatriated citizens seeking assistance to return to the countries they were repatriated from, DIRCO clarified that it cannot bear the cost of that repatriation.

“We also want to make it very clear that whilst our government is facilitating the return of our nationals, should they wish to return abroad after the lockdown is lifted we as government will not have the means to bear any cost of such return.

“We have made it clear to all those who sought help that we were helping those who are ordinarily resident in South Africa. We are not assisting you to come back for a short period and then paying for you to return from the country that you earnestly asked us to return you from,” said the Minister.

As government prepares for the ease of the lockdown to alert level 3, President Cyril Ramaphosa has consulted a broad range of faith leaders on government’s preparations for a differentiated approach to the reopening of the economy alongside the unrelenting effort to save lives.

The consultations between the President and interfaith leaders took place in a virtual meeting on Wednesday evening.

The President held discussions with the leadership of the South African Catholic Bishops Conference, the South African Council of Churches, the National Interfaith Council of South Africa, the Muslim Judicial Council, the Jewish Board of Deputies, the South African Hindu Maha Sabha, African Independent Churches, Charismatic/Pentecostal churches, African Traditional Faiths, the National Religious Leaders Council and the Southern African Interfaith Council.

“The meeting was held amid government’s planning, in partnership with civil society, for the progression of large parts of the country to alert Level 3 of the national lockdown that will enable further easing of economic activity and personal movement,” said the Presidency in a statement on Wednesday.

The meeting with interfaith leaders formed part of an intensive series of consultations undertaken by the President in recent days.

The consultations are an effort by government to take stakeholders into its confidence regarding progress and challenges in the management of the pandemic, and provides stakeholders with a platform for making proposals and articulating challenges identified in different communities or sectors.

The Mahikeng Provincial Hospital has been decontaminated after a hospital doctor tested positive for COVID-19.

North West Department of Health said that a total of 135 staff members have been tested for COVID-19 at the hospital, of which 73 test results came back negative with 28 results still pending.

“As at Wednesday, 20 May 2020, 34 staff members were yet to collect their test results. Twenty eight staff members are in self-quarantine,” the department said in a statement on Thursday.

North West has recorded a total number of 72 COVID-19 confirmed cases, with 28 recoveries and one death.

“The total number of screenings in the province is 2 161 223 and 2 055 people screened showed COVID-19 symptoms [and] they were referred for testing. A total of 999 contacts of the 72 confirmed cases in the province were identified and 934 were successfully traced.

“Ten contacts tested positive for COVID-19, and are included in the 72 confirmed cases in the province. A total of 466 of the 999 contacts have completed 14 days monitoring period,” the department said.

No new cases have been recorded in Bojanala Platinum District in the past five day cycle of testing.

The department said that allocation and verification of COVID-19 confirmed cases in the province is an ongoing process, and the department will continuously allocate cases after verification to a specific and appropriate location within a particular municipality.

“We thank our tracing teams, nurses, doctors, paramedics and all healthcare workers who continue to serve with pride during these difficult times.”

Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and her Deputy, Professor Hlengiwe Mkhize, will on Friday host a webinar focusing on upholding the rights of persons with disabilities.

The webinar will be held under the theme: ‘Persons with Disabilities and COVID-19 South Africa’.

The purpose of the webinar is to conduct an interface dialogue as a direct result of the disability specific interventions undertaken by government across services and infrastructure within the COVID-19 government and civil society responses.

Small Business Development Deputy Minister Rosemary Capa will unpack economic interventions for persons with disabilities during the lockdown period and beyond.

The White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides clear policy directives and implementation methods and guidelines, for government to implement programmes and projects to promote and protect the rights of persons with disabilities.

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, states that ‘Everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law’.

It thus guarantees the right of persons with disabilities to equality, non-discrimination and human dignity.

The Webinar is particularly relevant because persons with disabilities who are dependent on support for their daily needs may find themselves isolated and unable to cope during lockdown measures, while those living in care facilities are particularly vulnerable, as evidenced by a number of deaths in residential care homes and psychiatric facilities.

“Persons with disabilities also continue to face discrimination and other barriers in accessing livelihood and income support, participating in online forms of education, and seeking protection from violence,” the department said.

The webinar will bring together representatives from national governments, provincial governments, academic institutions, civil society organisations, donors, United Nations agencies, private sector organizations and youth-led organisations from across the relevant sectors to have an open discussion on challenges that exist and the interventions being put in place to address these challenges.

World Health Organisation (WHO) member states have signed a resolution that calls for COVID-19 vaccines to be classified as a global public good for health in order to bring the pandemic to an end.

This follows China’s commitment made by President Xi Jinping during the two-day World Health Assembly to make the vaccine a global public good, once one is available.

“The landmark resolution underlines WHO’s key role in promoting access to safe, effective health technologies to fight the pandemic,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus.

In addition to a vaccine, the resolution highlights three other critical points. It calls for countries to ensure the fair distribution of all quality essential health technologies required to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

Second, that relevant international treaties should be harnessed where needed, including the provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement.

The third point encourages collaboration to promote both private sector and government-funded research and development. This includes open innovation across all relevant domains and the sharing of all relevant information with WHO.

The historic consensus resolution on COVID-19 and the way ahead comes as 106 000 cases were reported.

“In the last 24 hours, there have been 106 000 cases reported to WHO – the most in a single day since the outbreak began. Almost two thirds of these cases were reported in just four countries,” said Ghebreyesus on Wednesday.

But, in good news,  it has been particularly impressive to see how countries like the Republic of Korea have built on their experience of  the Middle East Respiratory (MERS) outbreak to quickly implement a comprehensive strategy to find, isolate, test and care for every case, and trace every contact.

This was critical to the Republic of Korea curtailing the first wave and now quickly identifying and containing new outbreaks.

At the assembly, WHO expressed concern about the rising numbers of cases in low- and middle-income countries.

Governments in the assembly outlined their primary goal of supressing transmission, saving lives and restoring livelihoods.

As the world continues to battle COVID-19, Ghebreyesus called on governments to ensure that health systems continue to function to avoid the risk brought on by the suspension of essential services, like child immunisation.

As the numbers of COVID-19 cases increase, South Africa has recorded its first death of an infant due to Coronavirus.

According to Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, a two-day-old was born prematurely and had lung difficulties that required ventilation support immediately.

“The mother had tested positive for COVID-19 and the child subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 as well,” Mkhize explained.

“It is important to appreciate the complexities of the underlying condition of prematurity. We extend a special word of comfort to the mother of this child and salute the neonatologists, nurses and all allied and technical personnel who had the difficult task of caring for the neonate to the end.”

The baby is among the 27 who succumbed to the COVID-19 related illnesses, which brings the total national deaths to 339 as of Wednesday.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country is 18 003, an increase of 803 in the last 24 hours.

Meanwhile, a healthcare worker in the Western Cape also lost their life.

“When COVID-19 claims the lives of the very people who are the bedrock of the national response, we feel the loss in so many ways.”

Mkhize has saluted health professionals who continue to serve with honour and compassion despite the risk they face in the frontline.

The total number of recoveries to date is 8 950, while 505 861 tests have been conducted with 18 252 done in the last 24-hour cycle.

During a public presentation to senior editors and journalists on Tuesday, Mkhize said without natural immunity or a vaccine, everyone is at risk of the Coronavirus infection.

“One in five sick patients may need hospital care,” he told journalists.

He also said flattening the curve is an ongoing process of reducing Coronavirus spread over an extended period.

“The reason for flattening the curve is to reduce the rate of new infections so that the peak is lowered to a level where hospitals can cope with COVID-19 cases.”