JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s rand firmed slightly early on Tuesday, pausing after a five-session long steep slide as demand for U.S. dollars eased, and waited for new signals on the pace of a global economic recovery that has stalled in recent days.



At 0645 GMT the rand was 0.35% firmer at 17.1250 per dollar, having tumbled to a one-month low of 17.3400 on Monday as tepid local economic data and surging coronavirus infections around the world saw a rush to safe haven assets.



As local COVID-19 cases breached the 500,000 mark over the weekend, South Africa’s economy continued to show signs of a slower recovery as car sales and factory activity remained subdued.



“Sentiment has improved tentatively with Asian equities mostly in the green while demand for the USD has paused. While this has not yet translated into any ZAR gains, it has halted the local unit’s five-session bear-run,” economists at ETM Analytics said in a note.



Data showing 30 million people were out of work in the United States, added to deadlocked talks on a new coronavirus relief bill, cooled hopes that the world’s no.1 economy could lead a global recovery.



“Investors appear to be waiting for a new catalyst to provide fresh directional impetus after the dollar lost some of its momentum overnight, meaning the market may take on a more reactive approach to the day’s trade.”



Bonds were firmer, with the yield on benchmark 2030 government paper down 6.5 basis points at 9.215%.



In equities, supermarket chain Pick n Pay flagged a more than 50% fall in first-half earnings, weighed down by a ban on sales of alcohol, tobacco and clothes during the lockdown, as well as voluntary severance payments.

ArcelorMittal South Africa fined R3.64 million over hydrogen sulfide emissions

South Africa’s rand steadies as investors seek fresh recovery signals

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s supermarket chain Pick n Pay flagged a more than 50% fall in first-half earnings on Tuesday, weighed down by not being able to sell alcohol, tobacco and clothes during the lockdown as well as voluntary severance payments.



Pick n Pay, which also owns discount supermarket brand Boxer, said headline earnings per share (HEPS) for the 26 weeks ended Aug. 30, would be down more than 42.52 cents from 85.03 cents reported in the previous year.



The retailer also blamed COVID-19-related costs for the decline in HEPS, the main profit measure in South Africa that strips out certain items.

Small_format_Pick_n_Pay_store_in_Kenilworth,_Cape_Town

South Africa’s Pick n Pay warns of 50% decline in half-year earnings

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South African Breweries (SAB) said on Monday it was cancelling 5 billion rand ($290 million) of planned investments as a result of revenue losses sustained during a near three-month ban on alcohol sales during the coronavirus crisis.



The South African drinks industry has been among the hardest hit by restrictions, which included a ban on the sale of alcohol to the end of May, which was reinstated last month to free up space in hospitals burdened by what officials said were avoidable alcohol-related injuries.



“The cancellation of this planned expenditure is a direct consequence of having lost 12 full trading weeks, which effectively equates to some 30% of SAB’s annual production,” SAB vice-president of finance Andrew Murray said.



The sector has already cut 118,000 jobs and projections show that a nine-week ban now will cost another 84,000 and 15.5 billion rand in GDP, Richard Rushton CEO of Distell, which makes wines, spirits and ciders, said.



SAB, owned by the world’s largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev, said it had cancelled 2.5 billion rand planned expenditure for this financial year, while the other half for the next financial year remains under review.



Investments being considered by SAB included upgrades to operating facilities and systems, as well as the installation of new equipment at selected plants, it added.



The ban has also forced the South African arm of Heineken to drop plans to build a 6 billion rand brewery in KwaZulu-Natal, it said on Monday.



Industry associations have called for the government to drop the alcohol ban, with some restaurant, bar and tavern owners considering closing for good.



SAB said the country had lost an estimated excise tax of more than 12 billion rand during the first ban.



($1 = 17.2467 rand)

beer

SAB dumps $290 mln investment plans after South Africa alcohol ban

COVID-19 has wrought havoc on poor households in countries across the world. In South Africa, more and more people are facing hunger resulting from&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businesslive.co.za/fm/features/cover-story/2020-07-15-the-jobs-reckoning-is-here/">mass job losses</a>&nbsp;and small, poorly implemented supplementary cash grants.



On top of this the pandemic has put in stark relief the country’s poorly understood food system, in which powerful firms operate with little oversight while vulnerable actors in the informal food sector face over-regulation.



When the country went into lockdown on 26 March 2020,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.dti.gov.za/news2020/FAQs-EssentialServices.pdf">government placed</a>&nbsp;the formal food sector at the centre of continued food supply. Informal food vendors were restricted. Yet these vendors provide an important source of food and livelihoods for the majority of South Africa’s population.



The South African constitution recognises the right to food. But the government’s failure to enact specific legislation on food rights has resulted in incoherent food security policies. Even the smallest increases in prices of products in the basic food basket can have a significant impact on poor households and in local markets. Therefore, access to affordable and nutritious food through formal and informal food markets is critical for ensuring people’s right to food.



In this article, we highlight indicators of a distressing rise in the prices of essential food products that is contributing to South Africa’s hunger crisis. We call for the urgent expansion of price controls to items in the basic household food basket, as well as an inquiry into the price-setting of major retailers.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Have food prices increased?</h2>



StatsSA recently&nbsp;<a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0141/P0141April2020.pdf">published</a>&nbsp;the headline urban consumer price index (CPI) as having&nbsp;decreased&nbsp;by 0.5% month-on-month in April 2020. But the statistics body&nbsp;<a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0141/P0141April2020.pdf">explicitly cautioned</a>&nbsp;that its new price collection strategy had been severely limited by the lockdown regulations. The headline number potentially reflects very different pricing behaviour of major retailers that have an online presence. Moreover, smaller retailers are excluded from this methodology – despite comprising half of poor household food spending based on data from the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/P0100/P01002011.pdf">Income and Expenditure Survey</a>&nbsp;of 2011.



Evidence of large price increases on essential food items is recorded by the NGO Pietermaritzburg Economic Justice and Dignity’s&nbsp;<a href="https://pmbejd.org.za/index.php/household-affordability-index/">price surveys</a>. They find an 8.2% increase in the price of a household food basket for the three-month period from 2 March to 3 June 2020. This includes large increases in the prices of essential food items at the local level over the period, such as an 18% increase for sugar beans and a 14% increase for brown bread.



Table 1: Month-on-month price increases for essential food items, March to April 2020



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349102/original/file-20200723-21-1boiwi4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""/><figcaption>Source: StatsSA detailed weekly price data for April and PMBEJD weekly price data for April. Items have been matched by authors for comparability.</figcaption></figure>



Comparisons of the StatsSA and Pietermaritzburg surveys are limited by timing and availability of item specific data. But both sources show that prices of brown bread, eggs, potatoes, salt, and soup increased in March and April. These are essential food items not necessarily monitored under current COVID-19 regulations.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Why is this not a Competition Commission case?</h2>



The price hikes have drawn the attention of the country’s Competition Commission. In a recent food price monitoring&nbsp;<a href="http://www.compcom.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Essential-Food-Pricing-Monitoring-Report.pdf">report</a>&nbsp;it pointed out significant inflation in the prices of various food items. It commented that, in some cases, the increases and high margins were not justified by the changes in the operating costs of the suppliers.



<a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/202004/43205rg43205gon448.pdf">Regulations</a>&nbsp;introduced in March after the government declared a state of disaster to manage the COVID-19 pandemic empowered competition agencies to investigate firms believed to be charging excessive prices for certain essential healthcare and food items. But not a lot has happened. Although 38% of the 320 complaints received by the competition commission by the end of June related to food prices, only one has so far led to an administrative penalty for a firm. This was the Food Lover’s Market case relating to the price of raw&nbsp;<a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2020-07-14-food-lovers-store-admits-to-charging-excessive-price-for-raw-ginger/">ginger</a>.



Cases of excessive pricing of goods and services are among the most difficult to prosecute. This is because of the complexities of determining the extent to which prices are high; relevant cost parameters that have to be considered; the reliability of benchmarks; and the availability of data.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What can be done?</h2>



During the most severe part of the lockdown in the country, the government addressed the issue of higher food prices by concluding an agreement with major retailers to limit price increases on key items. But this lapsed immediately after the first easing of the lockdown on 4 May. Since then retailers have&nbsp;<a href="http://www.compcom.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Essential-Food-Pricing-Monitoring-Report.pdf">increased prices</a>&nbsp;of certain food items in response to higher input prices. We believe a renewed list of price limits should be put in place.



Along with capping price increases for key food items, we propose that the list of items subject to the price monitoring regime be broadened. The Competition Commission’s assessment – and our own – indicate that there has been some positive effect of the food price increase restrictions for food items already included in this list, such as maize meal and frozen chicken. But the published&nbsp;<a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/business/383217/new-regulations-bring-coronavirus-price-controls-for-certain-high-demand-products-heres-what-is-on-the-list/">list</a>&nbsp;of 22 critical products and categories, including 11 basic food items that are price-monitored, does not go far enough. The list of 11 food items leaves out brown bread and dried foods such as legumes, for example, which are staple foods for the poor and a major source of nutrition. The inclusion of frozen vegetables, on the other hand, points to poor targeting and a limited understanding of what constitutes the food basket of low-income households. Frozen vegetables are staples among middle-income households.



Table 2: Comparison of essential food baskets



<figure class="wp-block-image"><img decoding="async" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349109/original/file-20200723-29-105x169.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&amp;q=45&amp;auto=format&amp;w=754&amp;fit=clip" alt=""/><figcaption>Notes: Food poverty line basket compiled by the StatsSA. VAT zero-rated basic foodstuffs are defined by National Treasury/SARS. Price monitored goods are published by the National Consumer Commission list in Reg. 350 of Government Gazette No. 11057 of 19 March. PMBEJD household food basket is compiled in consultation with women living on low incomes in Pietermaritzburg.</figcaption></figure>



We recommend the urgent expansion of the list to include brown bread, fresh vegetables, eggs and sugar beans, among other products. A failure to do this may well reverse any positive impact of increasing the rand values of social grants. At its core, the right to food is about protecting people’s right to feed themselves.



While the expansion of social protection measures does in part contribute to access to food for poor and vulnerable households, government should play a role in monitoring and regulating the food sector to ensure a more equitable and sustainable food system for consumers and actors in informal food markets. Price limits should be complemented by an inquiry into the price-setting of major retailers. The weaknesses in the StatsSA pricing data highlighted above indicate the need for more comprehensive data to inform ongoing monitoring of food prices.



The effects of COVID-19 will endure for some time to come, including large-scale job losses, and so it is certainly not too late to intervene. Poorer South African households cannot continue to endure both a crisis of joblessness and food price increases.

Everyday_african_urbanism_yasser_booley_51990

South Africa needs better food price controls to shield poor people from COVID-19 fallout

(Reuters) &#8211; The U.S. economy, battered by a resurgence in the spread of COVID-19, needs increased government spending to tide over households and businesses and broader use of masks to better control the virus, several U.S. central bankers said on Monday.



The calls for increased government intervention came as U.S. lawmakers and the White House resumed talks on a new government relief package, including a possible extension of unemployment benefits that expired on Friday.



“Four months ago, when we did the first stimulus, we thought the economy faced a pothole and the stimulus put a plate over it so we could navigate. Now escalation of the virus may be making that pothole into a sinkhole and creating a need for a longer plate,” Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said in webcast remarks to the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce.



“Quickly pulling away the support that consumers and businesses are receiving would be a pretty traumatic move for what’s happening in the economy.”



Echoing those sentiments, though in slightly different terms, were Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard. Kaplan pushed back on the notion that the extra $600 weekly benefits to the unemployed had made it harder for businesses to hire, while Bullard said earlier efforts to keep businesses and households whole through the crisis have paid off so far.



“We’ve looked at a number of studies, we’ve done our own work: we don’t see it as much in the data but I can tell you I’m hearing it from business people,” Kaplan told Bloomberg TV earlier Monday when asked about whether the enhanced jobless aid was deterring people from returning to work.



“While it may have made it hard for certain individual businesses to hire, it has helped create jobs, because it has helped bolster consumer spending, so the net effect still has probably been positive for the economy for employment.”



Kaplan also said he did not agree with his colleague, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, who at the weekend said he thought the U.S. economy should shut back down again for four to six weeks to suppress spread of COVID-19.



Instead, Kaplan said, universal mask-wearing could substantially mute transmission of the virus without a widespread lockdown. “I think we are going to have to learn to live with this virus. We are going to have to learn to re-engage in our daily activities but still control the virus,” he said. “Widespread mask-wearing is essential to that.”



Bullard, too, emphasized mask-wearing as a significant risk-management tool, especially as he does not expect health officials to be able to reduce disease transmissions to zero because it is so contagious. He also warned against placing too much emphasis on the development of a successful vaccine.



“If you put too much emphasis on the idea that a vaccine is going to come and save us, and someone’s going to crack a very difficult scientific problem &#8230; then you get people not doing anything and sitting around waiting for the vaccine,” Bullard said in a presentation during an online event hosted by the bank’s Memphis, Tennessee, branch. “So If you do that, you do risk a depression because you could get a lot of business failures while you’re waiting, potentially a very long time for a vaccine to come and save the day.”



The regional bank presidents’ comments came just days after the Fed’s latest two-day policy meeting, at which officials repeated their pledge to do all in their power to help the economy weather the recession that began in February as the outbreak began ricocheting around the globe. The U.S. central bank has slashed interest rates to near zero &#8211; where they are expected to remain for years &#8211; and has rolled out roughly a dozen emergency programs to backstop financial markets and support businesses.



Bullard also said he expects that economic growth has resumed in the current third quarter, but that after a better-than-expected start to the rebound in May and June, the rebound slowed in July with the resurgence in infections in many areas of the country.



“I think the slowdown in July would be consistent with the idea that we shouldn’t expect a completely smooth transition as you go forward because this is a crisis and there’s going to be ups and downs.”

U.S. economy needs more stimulus and more masks, Fed policymakers say

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s anti-corruption watchdog said on Monday it was investigating irregularities in coronavirus-related tenders, the latest in a series of scandals that trade unions said showed the government’s failure to tackle graft.



The probes by the Public Protector come soon after investigators launched separate inquiries into the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) in Gauteng province, the country’s economic heartland.



<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="760" height="382" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CR-lockdown.png" alt="Ramaphosa tests negative for coronavirus as South Africa to begin lockdown" class="wp-image-365190" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CR-lockdown.png 760w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CR-lockdown-300x151.png 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CR-lockdown-696x350.png 696w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px" /><figcaption>Ramaphosa tests negative for coronavirus as South Africa to begin lockdown</figcaption></figure>



President Cyril Ramaphosa staked his reputation on tackling graft when he replaced Jacob Zuma as head of state more than two years ago, but he is on the back foot after news reports alleging that politically connected individuals have milked the state for millions during the coronavirus pandemic.



Ramaphosa used a weekly newsletter to the nation to promise that his government would “finally deal with the entrenched patronage networks that enable government employees to bid for state contracts through their friends and relatives”.



“We will not allow public funds hard-earned by loyal taxpayers or donations by patriotic companies and individuals and the international community to vanish down a black hole of corruption.”



COSATU, the country’s largest trade federation and a key ally of the governing African National Congress (ANC), said in a statement that Ramaphosa’s administration had acted feebly in the face of the recent corruption allegations.



It called corruption the biggest threat to the economy.



The Public Protector said it was investigating tender irregularities at least in three provinces, including over a quarantine site that is believed to be owned by a government official and PPE procurement in the KwaZulu-Natal province.



South Africa has recorded more than a half a million cases of COVID-19, the most in Africa, with the number of infections continuing to rise rapidly.



The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, over the weekend called for a snap parliamentary debate on what it described as a “feeding frenzy” by ANC-connected individuals after normal procurement rules were suspended because of the coronavirus.



An ANC spokesman did not answer his phone when Reuters sought comment on Monday.



Ramaphosa’s spokeswoman, Khusela Diko, and a top Gauteng health official have taken leaves of absence after a media report said that Diko’s husband won PPE contracts with the Gauteng government.



Diko and her husband have denied wrongdoing and the health official has said he was not involved in provincial procurement processes.



Despite Ramaphosa’s assurances, some analysts are sceptical he will make much headway tackling corruption.



“The ANC sustains itself off state tenders,” political analyst Ralph Mathekga said.



“The only way Ramaphosa can remain president is to act surprised and look the other way. He created an integrity ticket for himself, and now he is failing at living up to it.”

gettyimages-1152457961-594×594

South African corruption watchdog probes COVID-19 tenders

GENEVA (Reuters) &#8211; The World Health Organization warned on Monday that, despite strong hopes for a vaccine, there might never be a “silver bullet” for COVID-19, and the road to normality would be long.



More than 18.14 million people around the world are reported to have been infected with the disease and 688,080​ have died, according to a Reuters tally, with some nations that thought they were over the worst experiencing a resurgence.



WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WHO emergencies head Mike Ryan exhorted all nations to rigorously enforce health measures such as mask-wearing, social distancing, hand-washing and testing.



“The message to people and governments is clear: ‘Do it all’,” Tedros told a virtual news briefing from the U.N. body’s headquarters in Geneva. He said face masks should become a symbol of solidarity round the world.



“A number of vaccines are now in phase three clinical trials and we all hope to have a number of effective vaccines that can help prevent people from infection. However, there’s no silver bullet at the moment &#8211; and there might never be.”



Ryan said countries with high transmission rates, including Brazil and India, needed to brace for a big battle: “The way out is long and requires a sustained commitment.”



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">INVESTIGATION</h3>



The WHO officials said an advance investigation team was not yet back from China, where the virus originated.



A larger, WHO-led team of Chinese and international experts is planned next, to study the origins of the virus in the city of Wuhan, although the timing and composition of that is not yet clear.



Tedros urged mothers to continue breastfeeding even if they had COVID-19, as the benefits “substantially” outweighed the risks of infection.



The WHO head said that, while the coronavirus was the biggest global health emergency since the early 20th century, the international hunt for a vaccine was also historic.



“There are many vaccines under trial, a couple in the final stage of clinical trials &#8211; and there is hope. It does not mean that we will have the vaccine, but at least the speed with which we reached the level we reached now is unprecedented,” he said.



“There are concerns that we may not have a vaccine that may work, or its protection could be for just a few months, not more. But until we finish the clinical trials, we will not know.”

Dr Matshidiso Moeti – WHO Regional Director for Africa

There may never be a ‘silver bullet’ for COVID-19, WHO warns

(Reuters) &#8211; As the world awaits a COVID-19 vaccine, the next big advance in battling the pandemic could come from a class of biotech therapies widely used against cancer and other disorders &#8211; antibodies designed specifically to attack this new virus.



Development of monoclonal antibodies to target the virus has been endorsed by leading scientists. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious diseases expert, called them “almost a sure bet” against COVID-19.



When a virus gets past the body’s initial defenses, a more specific response kicks in, triggering production of cells that target the invader. These include antibodies that recognize and lock onto a virus, preventing the infection from spreading.



Monoclonal antibodies &#8211; grown in bioreactor vats &#8211; are copies of these naturally-occurring proteins.



Scientists are still working out the exact role of neutralizing antibodies in recovery from COVID-19, but drugmakers are confident that the right antibodies or a combination can alter the course of the disease that has claimed more than 675,000 lives globally.



“Antibodies can block infectivity. That is a fact,” Regeneron Pharmaceuticals executive Christos Kyratsous told Reuters.



Regeneron is testing a two-antibody cocktail, which it believes limits the ability of the virus’ to escape better than one, with data on its efficacy expected by late summer or early fall. “Protection will wane over time. Dosing is something we don’t know yet,” said Kyratsous.



The U.S. government in June awarded Regeneron a $450 million supply contract. The company said it can immediately begin production at its U.S. plant if regulators approve the treatment.



Eli Lilly and Co &lt;LLY.N, AstraZeneca, Amgen, and GlaxoSmithKline were cleared by the U.S. government to pool manufacturing resources in order to scale up supplies if any of these drugs prove successful.



Even with that unusual cooperation among rivals, manufacturing these medicines is complex and capacity is limited. There is also a debate over whether a single antibody will be powerful enough to stop COVID-19.



ADVERTISEMENT



<figure><iframe loading="lazy" src="https://tpc.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html" width="0" height="242"></iframe></figure>



AstraZeneca said it plans to start human trials of its dual-antibody combination within weeks.



Lilly, which began human testing in June of two antibody candidates in separate trials, is focusing on a one-drug approach.



“If you need a higher dosage or more antibodies, fewer people can be treated,” Lilly Chief Scientific Officer Dan Skovronsky said.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">‘INSTANT IMMUNITY’</h3>



Unlike vaccines, which activate the body’s own immune system, the impact of infused antibodies eventually dissipates.



Still, drugmakers say monoclonal antibodies could temporarily prevent infection in at-risk people such as medical workers and the elderly. They could also be used as a therapeutic bridge until vaccines become widely available.Slideshow&nbsp;(3 Images)



“In a prophylactic setting we think we may achieve coverage for up to six months,” said Phil Pang, chief medical officer of Vir Biotechnology, which aims to start testing an antibody in non-hospitalized patients next month with partner GSK.



“The advantage of an antibody is that it is basically instant immunity,” said Mark Brunswick, senior vice president at Sorrento Therapeutics, which aims to begin human trials next month of a single antibody candidate.



Safety risks for monoclonal antibodies are considered low, but their cost can be quite high. These type of drugs for cancer can cost over $100,000 a year.



There is also concern that the coronavirus could become resistant to specific antibodies. Researchers are already at work on second-generation compounds with targets other than the crown-like spikes the virus uses to invade cells.



“We are trying to develop something that is complementary,” Amgen research chief David Reese said. Amgen is working with Adaptive Biotechnologies Corp.



Researchers in a recent paper published in the journal Nature said they had discovered several new, very potent, antibodies directed to an area where the virus attaches to human cells and to a region of the spike that has not attracted attention.



“To avoid development of resistance you want to target different sites,” study author and Columbia University professor David Ho told Reuters.



There are also questions about when in the course of the illness it might be best to employ these new weapons.



“Giving an antibody later on after infection might not be that helpful, said Florian Krammer, microbiology professor at New York’s Icahn School of Medicine. “Given early, they probably work well.”

Clarification on COVID-19 “hotspots” as SA moves to level 3 lockdown

Next big COVID-19 treatment may be manufactured antibodies

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s rand fell to its weakest in more than three weeks on Monday, as fears about the economic fallout from rising COVID-19 cases dented investors’ appetite for riskier assets.



At 0625 GMT, the rand was 0.47% weaker at 17.1400 per dollar, its weakest since July 8.



Signs of a resurgence in global infections in recent days have tamed global demand for assets perceived as risky, putting pressure on the rand, which was already vulnerable because of the frailty of South Africa’s economy.



In South Africa, confirmed cases of COVID-19 crossed half a million on Saturday.



“Markets continue to dwell on uncertainty regarding trade tensions, U.S. elections and recovery, as well as rising virus numbers,” said Bianca Botes, executive director at Peregrine Treasury Solutions.



Government bonds weakened, and the yield on the benchmark bond due in 2030 rose 9 basis points to 9.335%.

101416618-rand

South Africa’s rand falls as virus fears hit risk appetite

(Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s Branden Grace has withdrawn from the Barracuda Championship prior to the third round after testing positive for COVID-19, the PGA Tour said on Saturday.



Grace, who was tied for second place after two rounds at Tahoe Mountain Club in California, must now self-isolate for 10 days, which will rule him out of next week’s PGA Championship.



“I felt great all week,” said Grace. “Last night, I was tired and thought it had to do with the altitude. This morning, I notified the PGA Tour about my symptoms before going to the golf course.



“I wanted to get tested out of respect for my peers and everyone involved with the tournament.



“While it is unfortunate given my position on the leaderboard, the most important thing is our health.”



The PGA Tour has implemented its response plan in consultation with medical experts, including working with those who may have had close contact with Grace.



Grace’s caddie tested negative for COVID-19 but will quarantine for 14 days in line with the Tour’s health and safety protocols.

Branden_Grace_2016_Qatar_Masters_Champion_,photos_by_Hanson_K_Joseph

South African Grace tests positive for COVID-19 at Barracuda Championship

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s confirmed cases of COVID-19 have crossed half a million, its health ministry said on Saturday, while cases in Africa as a whole approached a million.



Africa’s most industrialised nation recorded 10,107 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, pushing the total to 503,290, the ministry said.



Just over 3 million people have so far been tested for the virus in South Africa, which confirmed its first case five months ago, and 8,153 deaths have been recorded. Africa has recorded 934,558 cases, 19,752 deaths and 585,567 recoveries, according to a Reuters tally.



South Africa imposed a nationwide lockdown at the end of March to curb the spread of the virus, but it has now eased many restrictions to boost economic activity &#8211; as have other countries across the continent, a large chunk of whose populations are poor and face hunger.



“The lockdown succeeded in delaying the spread of the virus by more than two months, preventing a sudden and uncontrolled increase in infections in late March,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a separate statement.



As restrictions have eased, infections have spiked over the last two months.



However, the daily increase in infections appears to be stabilising, particularly in the worst-hit Western Cape, Gauteng and Eastern Cape provinces, Ramaphosa added.



The World Health Organisation’s top emergencies expert Mike Ryan last week warned that South Africa’s experience was a precursor for what was likely to happen across the continent.



The difficulty &#8211; if not outright impossibility &#8211; of socially distancing in Africa’s poor, tightly packed urban areas, has also been an enabler for the spread of the virus.



Cases in South Africa, which has the fifth highest total in the world, have overwhelmed an already stretched healthcare system.



That presents a cautionary tale to the other African countries, whose health services are for the most part even more stretched.



During August, the National Ventilator Project will deliver 20,000 locally-produced, non-invasive ventilators to where they are most needed, Ramaphosa said, as the government continues to mobilise additional facilities, equipment and personnel in provinces still experiencing an increase in infections.

gettyimages-1006175054-594×594

South Africa’s COVID-19 cases surpass half a million

MELBOURNE (Reuters) &#8211; Australia’s second-most populous state of Victoria declared a state of disaster on Sunday and imposed a nightly curfew for the capital Melbourne as part of its harshest movement restrictions to date to contain a resurgent COVID-19.Near empty shelves are seen at the vegetable section of a supermarket amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in this August 2, 2020 photo obtained from social media. Klarissa Leahy/via REUTERS



Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city already under a reimposed six-week stay-home order, has struggled to rein in the disease, with record numbers of infections of the new coronavirus reported last week.



On Sunday, Victoria reported 671 infections, one of its highest, and seven COVID-19 deaths. High numbers of community transmissions and cases of unknown origins have forced the new restrictions, which will be in place for six weeks, officials said.



“The current rules have avoided thousands and thousands of cases each day, and then thousands of people in hospital and many more tragedies than we have seen. But it is not working fast enough,” Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews told a televised briefing.



A curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. every day will be implemented from Sunday evening in Melbourne, barring the nearly five million people in the city from leaving their houses except for work or to receive or give care.



The sweeping new restrictions limit the time Melbourne residents may spend on outdoor exercise and essential shopping. All schools will move to remote learning from Wednesday.



Supermarkets will remain open, and restaurants, already closed for dining in, will be able to continue with their takeaway and delivery services.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">FEDERAL BACKING</h3>



The federal government backed Victoria’s measures, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison saying in a post on his Facebook page that they were “regrettably necessary” to stop the spread of the pandemic.



“We are all in this together and we will get through it,” Morrison said.



Australia’s Health Minister Greg Hunt said at a televised briefing the federal government supports the measures with a ‘heavy’ heart.



“We do so because they will help save and protect lives,” Hunt said.



The backing by the federal government, ruled by a Liberal Party-led coalition, for the measures by Victoria’s Labor Party government shows national unity across the political spectrum in a country with a loose federal system.



Australia has fared far better than many other countries in keeping the coronavirus from spreading, but at a high economic cost. It has recorded around 18,000 coronavirus cases and just over 200 COVID-19 deaths, but the recent surge in Victoria has proven difficult to contain.



The state of disaster gives Victoria police additional powers to ensure people are complying with public-health directions.



“We have no choice but to make these decisions and to push on,” Andrews said. “This is the only option we have.”Slideshow&nbsp;(2 Images)



Restrictions on movement and business operations elsewhere in the state will be less severe than in Melbourne. Andrews said further restrictions for Victoria businesses will be announced on Monday.



Neighbouring New South Wales, the most populous state, reported 12 infections on Sunday, with the state now “strongly” recommending the use of face masks in public.

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Australia’s Victoria declares disaster, sets curfew to curb COVID-19

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; When coronavirus patients started arriving at South Africa’s government-run Thelle Mogoerane Hospital, workers scrambled to set up isolation wards to treat them.



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They can’t keep up. Video filmed inside the hospital and seen by Reuters shows patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, being treated in a general ward, separated from other patients only by curtains.



“There’s no space anywhere,” nurse Rich Sicina said outside the modernist, iron-roofed hospital in a southern Johannesburg township. “It’s a mess.”



Kwara Kekana, spokeswoman for the department of health in Gauteng, the province containing Johannesburg, said that at the beginning of the pandemic, Thelle Mogoerane Hospital had dedicated wards for patients under investigation.



“Once we had a first positive case, a ward was created for confirmed positive cases,” she said, adding that it strictly followed South Africa’s national infection prevention guidelines.



The struggle is what President Cyril Ramaphosa wanted to avoid when he imposed one of the world’s toughest lockdowns in late March &#8211; when the country had confirmed just 400 cases &#8211; to buy health workers time to prepare.



But the measures battered the economy of Africa’s most industrialised nation, which was in recession before the pandemic, and Ramaphosa lifted many of them long before infections peaked in order to save livelihoods.



Four months later, South Africa faces a runaway epidemic that has overwhelmed public&nbsp;hospitals in a country where roughly half the population lives below the poverty line, according to the latest government figures from 2015.



With the number of cases approaching 500,000 &#8211; more than half of Africa’s total and the world’s fifth-highest &#8211; the country’s harsh inequalities appear to have contributed to its undoing, government advisers and independent experts said.



The first cases were wealthy travellers who brought the virus in from Europe, Asia and beyond, they said.



“They could isolate in their mansions,” said Wolfgang Preiser, a virologist at Stellenbosch University. “The problem is that these places are maintained by a whole crowd of domestic workers. They were exposed, and they travelled home in (communal) taxis.”



Once the virus reached South Africa’s poor, densely populated townships &#8211; a legacy of decades of oppressive white minority rule &#8211; it spread quickly, said Yunus Moosa, chief infectious disease specialist at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a senior member of the government’s COVID-19 advisory panel.



It overwhelmed public hospitals “already on the brink of collapse”.



Police and soldiers battled to enforce the lockdown in areas where people live in close quarters and depend on daily earnings to eat. Bustling markets in Soweto, Johannesburg’s biggest township, were a stark contrast to nearly deserted streets in the city’s more affluent suburbs.



Mismanagement and looting of public funds, which have hollowed out public services for years, exacerbated shortages of protective clothing and other supplies at some hospitals, according to both the government and its critics.



Ramaphosa pledged a crackdown, saying on July 23 that authorities were investigating at least 36 corruption allegations in areas including COVID-19 procurement and relief programs.FILE PHOTO: People stand in a queue to receive food aid amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the Itireleng informal settlement, near Laudium suburb in Pretoria, South Africa, May 20, 2020. Picture taken May 20. 2020. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko



Other factors were less foreseeable: some epidemiologists think the virus was circulating before it was first detected in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal province in early March, including across the country in the tourist hotspot of Western Cape.



Global shortages of testing materials undid an ambitious screening policy.



“I understand people might ask if things could have been done better, but honestly, what more could we have done?” Moosa said.



“If we had a magic wand we could wave and turn our healthcare system into a world-class one overnight, then we would have done it.”



The World Health Organization says South Africa is a “wake-up call” for other African nations, where confirmed infections are lower but climbing.



“South Africa may unfortunately be a precursor, &#8230; a warning for what will happen in the rest of Africa,” the WHO’s top emergencies expert Mike Ryan said.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading">FROM RICHES TO RAGS</h3>



The first cases identified in Johannesburg, the country’s biggest city now at the outbreak’s epicentre, were concentrated in Sandton, a wealthy northern suburb.



Provincial officials declined to release case figures for specific suburbs and neighbourhoods that could better explain how the virus spread, but there are clues.



In the greater Soweto area, cases increased 252% this month compared with 200% for the rest of Johannesburg.



Drawing on experience tackling HIV and tuberculosis, the government began screening and testing in communities to catch new infections early.



But the virus spread too swiftly, and there weren’t enough personnel or reagents to process so many tests, researchers at two laboratories and Moosa told Reuters.



Data from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases show wait times at public hospitals, the worst hit by shortages, shot up from two days in mid-April to 12 by mid-June, before falling to between four and six days in July.



“That’s clearly far, far too long for it to be of any use in terms of preventing spread of infection. Two days is what you need,” said Richard Lessells, an infectious disease specialist at the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform.



Officials at the department of health did not respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment.



Twenty-six years after apartheid ended in 1994, healthcare remains divided between a world class private system for those who can afford it, and an overburdened public one for the mostly Black citizens who cannot.



Just 17% of South Africans have medical insurance, the latest government figures from 2017 show. But healthcare provider Netcare estimates more than half of the country’s 6,000 critical care beds are in private hospitals.



When the first coronavirus cases came to Thelle Mogoerane, on the edge of the mostly black Vosloorus town, southeast of Johannesburg, “it was pure chaos,” Sicina said.Slideshow&nbsp;(4 Images)



A 30-bed isolation ward was set up in mid-April, but it filled so quickly that 18 critically ill patients were put in a regular casualty ward.



Five more COVID-19 wards have been added since then, but some patients are still spilling over into general wards, Sicina said. Until early May, nurses treated the patients protected only by a surgical mask and apron, he added.



Another nurse corroborated his account; she is not authorized to speak to media and declined to be named.



Kekana said PPE has been available at the hospital since the beginning of the pandemic.



At least eight patients admitted for other complaints caught COVID-19 there, they said, along with 240 staff. Last week, they held a memorial service for two nurses who died.



Kekana said she was not aware of the figure of 240 staff infected, but confirmed a memorial service for one nurse.



The hospital now has the masks, gowns and visors it needs, the nurses said. But shortages persist at other facilities, said Sibongiseni Delihlazo, spokesman for the main nurses’ union, the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa.



A nurse at Bisho Hospital, in the more rural Eastern Cape province, said patients were getting just 30 minutes of oxygen at a time because there weren’t enough access points.



Nurses sometimes filled balloons with oxygen for the sickest patients, she said, on condition of anonymity.



The hospital and provincial health department did not respond to requests for comment.



The government has recruited health workers and is building field hospitals with partners to accommodate the overflow. It has also negotiated with private providers to take public patients if needed.



Private hospitals, though under strain, have fared better, said Charl van Loggerenberg, head of emergency medicine at private provider Life Healthcare, by putting in “big orders for PPE” and training extra nurses.



But he added, “it isn’t the world class super centres that are dealing with the public health pandemic. It’s the places in the trenches.”

south-african-flag-1486137288VYk

How inequality and poverty undermined South Africa’s COVID response

CAPE TOWN (Reuters) &#8211; The first of thousands of South African-designed ventilators rolled off a Cape Town assembly line on Friday, responding to requests from hospitals needing them for severe COVID-19 cases but unable to get them on global markets, officials said.



Poorly resourced hospitals across Africa, which is nearing a million cases of COVID-19 — more than half of them in South Africa — have struggled to cope with a burgeoning case load amid a global scramble favouring richer nations in procuring ventilators and protective gear.



South Africa, which now has the world’s fifth highest infection burden of around 482,169 confirmed cases, launched a 250 million rand ($14.80 million) project in April to make them here.



“Today the first batch of completed ventilators are coming off the assembly line, part of an initial order of 10,000 units,” Ebrahim Patel, the trade and industry minister, said during a COVID-19 conference.



He added that 20,000 would be built in total.



Based on the clinical experience of COVID-19 epicentres such as China, Britain and the United States, the government decided that the production of non-invasive Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) devices would have the greatest chance of saving lives in South Africa, Patel said.



Ventilators are used to supply oxygen to the lungs of severely ill patients, who make up around 5% of overall cases.



Each CPAP device consists of some 30 separately manufactured components, he said, adding that final assembly currently takes place at the Cape Town factory of medical supplies firm Akacia Medical ahead of distribution to hospitals across the country.



“There is a worldwide shortage and extraordinary demand on some of the components,” Peter Brierley, operations director at Akacia Medical, told Reuters.



The company only this week managed to find a local machine shop able to make vital “peep valves” which help control the pressure in the device and allow the patient to exhale, he said.

South Africa produces its first ventilators to fight COVID-19

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa’s economy could contract 8.2% this year and grow just 0.6% in 2021, if it is hit by a second wave of coronavirus infections that also affects major trading partners, the OECD said on Friday.



If a second wave of infections is avoided, the economy will probably contract 7.5% in 2020 before rebounding 2.5% next year, the OECD said in its latest report on Africa’s most industrialised economy.

South Africa economy could contract 8.2% if second COVID-19 wave hits, OECD says

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) &#8211; South African investigators are probing 102 suppliers of personal protective equipment (PPE) in the country’s most populous province after news reports alleged that politically connected individuals had won lucrative COVID-19 tenders. 



David Makhura, premier of the Gauteng province where major cities like Johannesburg and Pretoria are located, said payments of around 1 billion rand ($60 million) to PPE suppliers had been halted, after an initial audit raised red flags like overpricing and bad quality.



A top Gauteng health official, Bandile Masuku, will take at least four weeks of leave during the investigations, he added.



Gauteng has more confirmed COVID-19 infections than any other province, accounting for around a third of South Africa’s 470,000 cases.



President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokeswoman, Khusela Diko, took a leave of absence on Monday after a news report said her husband had won PPE contracts worth 125 million rand with Gauteng’s health department.



Diko and her husband, king of the Bhaca people, have denied doing anything illegal. In a statement, they said a PPE contract awarded to Royal Bhaca Projects, a company linked to Diko’s husband, was cancelled before public funds were paid out.



Masuku has also refuted allegations of impropriety. But Makhura said the allegations against Masuku and the province’s health department were serious and could not be ignored.



“These allegations we are facing now have profoundly eroded public confidence,” Makhura said. “PPE is very, very important for our frontline workers, it is meant to protect them, to empower them to be able to do their work, it was not meant for the loot.”



Makhura said he did not suspect all 102 companies being probed by the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) had committed wrongdoing, but he wanted all PPE contracts scrutinised.



An SIU spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.



Makhura added: “This PPE story has the potential to sidetrack us from the battle of saving lives, and it is shameful.”

South Africa probes medical suppliers over COVID-19 tender allegations

COVID-19 will come and go, yet other global problems, such as climate change and extreme poverty, will persist in its wake.



The African Development Institute (ADI), was founded by the African Development Bank to be a focal point for capacity building in order to tackle such challenges. Prof. Kevin Chika Urama is its senior director.



Under the auspices of its Global Community of Practice (G-CoP) platform, the ADI brings together global experts to develop evidence that can inform policy, strategies and technical assistance for African countries to arrest the COVID-19 pandemic and cushion their economies against its impacts.



In this interview, Urama explains why G-CoP matters.



Can you give us a brief overview of the Global Community of Practice (G-CoP) initiative and main objectives?



The G-CoP was established to inform short, medium and long-term policy responses to global policy challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic.



This platform is a partnership between member institutions and government agencies that participate in and host webinars, and policy dialogues on subjects that are of interest to the Bank’s regional member countries.



All webinars are moderated in consultation with dedicated ADI staff members who manage the G-CoP platform and help to produce relevant knowledge products that respond to the unprecedented impact of the pandemic on global, regional and national health systems and economies. Our objective is to build more resilient African economies in the post COVID-19 world.



To date, the ADI has hosted three G-CoP policy webinars. The first focused on macro-economic policies; the second on food systems and agricultural value chains; and the third on inclusive health systems. In total, the webinars brought together more than 1,500 global experts, including current and former policy practitioners, academics, private sector leaders and civil society, the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, African Economic Research Consortium, Murdoch University in Western Australia, the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, Harvard University in the United States, and many African universities and think tanks.



One of the platform’s most innovative features is an interactive virtual marketplace that enables policymakers to access technical advisory services in real time.



What are some of the key takeaways from your recently concluded G-CoP seminars?



Some key policy options and recommendations include:



· Implement social distancing and personal hygiene, including frequent hand washing and wearing face masks,



· Engage with local experts to garner context-relevant social protection policies and strategies to protect vulnerable households and small businesses from collapse.



· Scale up the capacity for community testing, contact tracing and isolation of COVID-patients to prevent community spread of the virus.



· Invest in inclusive health and food systems, water and sanitation facilities, especially for vulnerable households where lockdown policies are needed.



· Public and private debt restructuring, structured debt relief and targeted debt forgiveness. Short-term debt moratoriums are helpful. However, considering the pandemic’s massive impact on countries’ already constrained fiscal balances, debt forgiveness would be ideal.



· Scaling up investments in centres for disease control to strengthen their capacity for early warning systems and pandemic risk mitigation.



How different are the G-CoP’s deliberations from those of other forums?



Our deliberations take the form of African fireside discussions that cover matters of grave importance; key implementable decisions are collectively owned by the elders.



By bringing together global experts from around the world on the same platform, the G-CoP offers reality checks for each policy option proffered. Many of the policy questions that face humanity today, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, poverty alleviation, climate change, terrorism and global insecurity, are trans-disciplinary, trans-sectoral and transnational.



Most of these policy questions touch on problems around the so-called global commons. Policy options conceived by a single sector, discipline or even nation are often suboptimal and may lead to more systemic challenges. Global collaborative platforms, such as the ADI G-CoP, are required to address these challenges holistically.

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South African corruption watchdog probes COVID-19 tenders

There may never be a ‘silver bullet’ for COVID-19, WHO warns

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South Africa’s rand falls as virus fears hit risk appetite

South African Grace tests positive for COVID-19 at Barracuda Championship

South Africa’s COVID-19 cases surpass half a million

Australia’s Victoria declares disaster, sets curfew to curb COVID-19

How inequality and poverty undermined South Africa’s COVID response

South Africa produces its first ventilators to fight COVID-19

South Africa economy could contract 8.2% if second COVID-19 wave hits, OECD says

South Africa probes medical suppliers over COVID-19 tender allegations

OPINION: World experts gather for African ‘fireside chats’ to tackle humanity’s challenges

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Advertise With Us

Coronavirus

South Africa’s rand steadies as investors seek fresh recovery signals

South Africa’s Pick n Pay warns of 50% decline in half-year earnings

SAB dumps $290 mln investment plans after South Africa alcohol ban

South Africa needs better food price controls to shield poor people from COVID-19 fallout

U.S. economy needs more stimulus and more masks, Fed policymakers say

South African corruption watchdog probes COVID-19 tenders

There may never be a ‘silver bullet’ for COVID-19, WHO warns

Next big COVID-19 treatment may be manufactured antibodies

South Africa’s rand falls as virus fears hit risk appetite

South African Grace tests positive for COVID-19 at Barracuda Championship

South Africa’s COVID-19 cases surpass half a million

Australia’s Victoria declares disaster, sets curfew to curb COVID-19

How inequality and poverty undermined South Africa’s COVID response

South Africa produces its first ventilators to fight COVID-19

South Africa economy could contract 8.2% if second COVID-19 wave hits, OECD says

South Africa probes medical suppliers over COVID-19 tender allegations

OPINION: World experts gather for African ‘fireside chats’ to tackle humanity’s challenges

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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