As South Africa’s infections tally rose to 116 – including 14 cases of internal transmission – and confirmed cases worldwide exceeded 200 000, with more than 8 000 deaths, fighting the virus has become the country’s, and the world’s, priority.

South Africa’s cases rose by 31 yesterday from Tuesday night’s total of 85. New cases emerged in Gauteng, KZN, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape, and include six new cases of internal transmission, four in Gauteng, one in KZN and one in the Western Cape.

The government last night published tough new regulations criminalising spreading fake news about the coronavirus, punishable by fine or six-month jail term; criminalising intentional exposure of another person to the virus, any suspect attracting a a charge of assault, attempted murder or murder; criminalising the misrepresentation of infection in oneself or anyone else, punishable by fine or six-month jail term; and criminalising refusal to be tested, admitted to hospital or quarantined.

The thrust of the regulations, signed off by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, effectively place the responsibility on South Africans to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said that, as part of tracking and tracing, the government had ‘collated background information’ on how internal transmissions had occurred. This information would be made public ‘so as to give a sense of how these local transmissions occur’.

Virtually every news bulletin from across South Africa and the world brings news of COVID-10-related developments.

In South Africa, these include:

  • All bars, clubs, shebeens and restaurants that sell liquor must close at 6pm on weekdays and Saturdays, and at 1pm on Sundays and public holidays with immediate effect;
  • Fin24 reported that in ‘another disastrously record-setting day on the JSE, banking shares and miners were left bleeding as panic selling intensified’. The JSE’s all share index ended the day 7.2% lower on 38 604 points. The report said the financial sector took the biggest hit, and that Capitec had lost R79 billion of its value since 19 December;
  • The Muslim Judicial Council (SA) suspended Friday congregational prayers for four weeks;
  • The Minerals Council South Africa, which represents most mining companies, said hospitals and other medical facilities run by mines, which had expertise in screening for and treating tuberculosis, were being examined for use to treat coronavirus patients;
  • Gautrain announced that an executive at the operating company, who travelled on the system, tested positive for Covid-19. Gautrain ordered a deep clean of its Sandton and Park stations;
  • South African Airways cancelled 162 flights, scaling down its capacity as coronavirus wreaks havoc on the global transport industry, and SA Express suspended its operations until further notice;
  • Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula announced yesterday afternoon that ‘there has been an unfortunate incident (with) the MSC Orchestra (a luxury cruise ship) that despite the imposition of the ban left port headed for Pomene, Mozambique’. The vessel took on passengers in Durban. But, said Mbalula, it would ‘now be dealt with in terms of the new regulations and will have to be isolated as a quarantined vessel’;
  • Gauteng and Cape Town shut down picnic sites, swimming pools, and recreational areas;
  • After a 14-minute session, the National Assembly adjourned for the foreseeable future;
  • Saturday morning Park Runs have been cancelled; and
  • The government centralised communications on the coronavirus, with several senior and experienced scientists telling News24 that they were requested not to speak to the media and to direct all communications to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.

Elsewhere in the world:

  • A new forecast from the UN’s International Labour Organization says that the pandemic could in the worst case result in nearly 25 million people losing their jobs worldwide, according to the BBC;
  • The United Kingdom, where positive cases rose by 676, from 1,950 to 2,626 yesterday, ordered that all schools close tomorrow;
  • In the United States, at least 6,496 people across the country have tested positive for Covid-19 and 114 have died;
  • The death toll in Italy surged by 475, bringing the total to 2 978, an increase of 19% in one day;
  • Zimbabwe, though not having recorded any infections, declared a state of national disaster;
  • The International Monetary Fund rejected economically devastated Venezuela’s request for a $5 billion loan to help it cope with the coronavirus pandemic, indirectly citing a dispute over President Nicolas Maduro’s leadership;
  • Turkish news agency Anadolu reported that around 3.5 million people may die in Iran from the coronavirus if quarantine measures are not effectively enforced;
  • Brazil’s National Security Minister Augusto Heleno said he had tested positive;
  • The Glastonbury Festival, Europe’s largest outdoor music even, has been cancelled. Within just 34 minutes of going on sale in October, all 135 000 tickets were sold out; and
  • The BBC reports that, as the number of new infections in China continues to drop, hope and positivity are trending on Chinese social media. Photos of smiling doctors in Wuhan being able to take off their medical masks have gone viral.

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