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The service provider, LNG, has been ordered to pay back the profit earned from the R113.2 million PPE contract

Corona waste is harming animals, everywhere

Single-use PPE, such as face masks and gloves, is hurting and killing wildlife and pets around the globe

The personal protective equipment (PPE) procurement scandal has cast a shadow over small businesses in the textile sector that ventured into manufacturing masks to survive the adverse effects of the Covid-19 lockdown.

Who’s making money from Covid-19?

Our Covid-19 Tender Tracker is monitoring payments awarded for PPE, and we need your help to maintain it.

Hyenas circle: President Cyril Ramaphosa can’t snuggle under his duvet while Ace Magashule (above) feathers his kids’ beds and tries to snatch the presidential blankie for himself. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

False dawn gives Ace all the cards

The unrepentant, recalcitrant ANC secretary general thinks it’s okay for his and other wayward comrades’ kids to loot

(David Harrison/M&G)

Pandemic-induced human rights violations a double tragedy to humanity

The conflation of human rights violations and a pandemic leave the most vulnerable marginalised. Equitable and democratic societies are needed to fight against this

Omandurar Medical College hospital staff gesture as an Indian Air Force helicopter drops flower petals to pay tribute to those involved in the fight against Covid-19 in Chennai in May 2020. (Arun Sankar/AFP via Getty Images)

This simple model shows the importance of wearing masks and social distancing

This simple actuarial model uses general guidelines, rather than data and assumptions about Covid-19 specifically, to simulate the effect of safety protocols

Last week, Sudanese pharmacists demonstrate against medicine shortages during the struggle against the coronavirus pandemic, also in the capital. (Mahmoud Hjaj/Anadolu Agency)

Doctors under siege in Sudan

Healthcare workers in the country are quitting because of assaults and inadequate PPE

Screen test: The number of tests done is irrelevant if the results aren’t being processed quickly enough and no
one really knows how prepared they are until the wave hits, specialists have said. (Marco Longari/AFP)

SA accelerating towards virus peak without capacity, experts warn

Despite efforts to prepare for the worst, it is ‘very unlikely’ that hospitals will be able to cope with the onslaught of Covid-19 cases

All teachers, including those with comorbidities, are expected to return to work when schools reopen, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said on Wednesday. (Paul Botes/M&G)

Teachers test Covid-19 positive

Many schools are still not coronavirus ready for learners and teachers to return

Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital in Johannesburg,

Pharmacists, denied frontline status, get PPE late

Pharmacists at one of the major public hospitals in Gauteng say they only received sufficient protective gear after several of their colleagues contracted Covid-19.

Jeppe Park Primary

We should be worried about children going back to school

Personal protective equipment had not been delivered to all schools, some had not been cleaned and some provinces were still in a process of recruiting people who will be…

(Madelene Cronje)

Education: A state of unreadiness

Evidence shows schools are not ready as the department pushes them to reopen in 10 days

Crammed together: A cellphone image of a cell at the Johannesburg Correctional Centre, aka ‘Sun City’, shows the extent of overcrowding

Inmates fear Covid-19 contagion

A group of men wearing masks can be seen in cellphone images — but they are not physically distancing because of overcrowding in their cell

Slow off the mark: Bizana in the Eastern Cape. The province waited more than a month to establish a team of experts to direct its efforts to contain Covid-19.  (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Wanted: Medical experts in the Eastern Cape

Its government is far behind other provinces in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic

Up in smoke: Government has backtracked on its decision to allow the sale of tobacco products under level four of the national lockdown.
Video

Level four lockdown: Dlamini-Zuma stubs out South Africa’s hopes for a puff

Some industries will open but the tobacco ban remains in place, contradicting the president’s earlier remarks

With more resources than other provinces, health workers in Gauteng still say they do not have enough protective equipment to ensure safety when working with Covid-19 patients. (Paul Botes, M&G)

Nurses ‘threatened’ after refusing to attend to people in quarantine

Sixteen people identified during mass testing in the Eastern Cape were first taken to a B&B before being taken to a hospital

(John McCann/M&G)

Jack Ma v. Bill Gates: Does Africa need another benevolent billionaire?

The latest member of the benevolent billionaires club could learn from what his peers have done right — and wrong

Jermaine Prim, who allegedly ran an elaborate scam targeting luxury car owners from his cell, will return to court in later November

Police officers, prison officials and inmates in isolation as Covid-19 hits correctional services

Covid-19 has entered the police and corrective system, with the Eastern Cape hit hard

Solution: Vaccine vials, which need to be kept cool and are costly to transport,  may soon be replaced by vaccines on a thin-film membrane, which will do away with weight, cost and cooling issues. (Jane Barlow – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

What universities are doing in the fight against Covid-19

While teaching students during lockdown, institutions of higher learning are also using their expertise to make masks, develop vaccines and research labour abuses

Prisoners will be vaccinated in phase two of the vaccine rollout programme, sparking fierce local and international debate.  (David Harrison/M&G)

Covid-19 hits prison system

A warder at a correctional facility has tested positive for Covid-19, sparking concerns about the effects of the pandemic on the whole system

The service provider, LNG, has been ordered to pay back the profit earned from the R113.2 million PPE contract

Labour court refuses to allow Nehawu to withdraw case on protective gear

Instead the labour court heard and then dismissed the case, with costs. Judge Benita Witcher will give reasons at a later stage