PANDA’s Open Letter to President Cyril Ramaphosa, Urging the Lockdown to Move to Level 1

Superspreader events, in which one person infects a disproportionately large number of others, are the primary means by which the coronavirus spreads, new preprint research suggests.

The South African economy, like many emerging and developing economies, has high levels of poverty. As with many such countries, there are three primary objectives to reducing poverty, unemployment and inequity. These three objectives take precedence over almost all other goals.

The South African Communist Party (SACP), which has long used its dominance over the African National Congress (ANC) to set the policy agenda for the ruling party, reiterated last week that it wants to ‘mobilise’ the ‘ample resources’ in both ‘public and private financial institutions’ to finance ‘sustainable recovery and development’ by introducing ‘investment requirements’ or ‘prescribed assets’.

Lobby group AfriForum has laid charges against the government at the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights over “draconic regulations and the brutal enforcement of the lockdown to combat the Covid-19 pandemic”, as well as what they say is a racial agenda promoted with tourism relief funds.

A Public Health England (PHE) data review has established a significant relationship between weight-related comorbidities and COVID-19 mortality in the UK.

South Africa’s antitrust authorities have charged 28 international and local banks which now include Nedbank and Rand Merchant Bank for manipulating the rand exchange rate.

“You may wonder why I am telling you all of this. It is because, within the ANC, you have often become the lone voice of sanity and reason on matters relating to our economy”

Dear President Ramaphosa, I hope this letter finds you well, as you help SA navigate Covid-19 and the unintended social impact of the policies you and your colleagues designed to contain the virus. We appreciate your efforts and the goodwill underpinning them.

Reyno de Beer’s Liberty Fighters Network (LFN) on Tuesday won an urgent court application to have the lockdown regulations declared invalid. He said he was underestimated by the South African government.

The African National Congress’s (ANC) vision of a ‘new economy’ is now on the table, marking an apparent victory for the Radical Economic Transformation faction. Now that the ‘new economy’ vision is out, President Cyril Ramaphosa will no longer be able to convincingly sell the country as an investment destination.

The South African Communist Party (SACP), which has long used its dominance over the African National Congress (ANC) to set the policy agenda for the ruling party, reiterated last week that it wants to ‘mobilise’ the ‘ample resources’ in both ‘public and private financial institutions’ to finance ‘sustainable recovery and development’ by introducing ‘investment requirements’ or ‘prescribed assets’.

It seems to be a week of absorbing court judgements. Tuesday’s from Mr Justice Norman Davis was under a quarter of Ms Justice Ronel Tolmay’s SAA epic, but no less scathing on the defendant – Davis said many of COGTA minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s lockdown regulations were “irrational, distressing, unconstitutional and paternalistic.”

Additionally and according to the judgment, in order to successfully self-quarantine or self-isolate, a person requires access to a separate room where the person should self isolate.

The landmark judgment on Tuesday by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria reining in a state which started out with the support of most South Africans in resisting the spread of the coronavirus, sets out the thrust of its arguments with a lengthy quote by former US attorney general Robert Kennedy.

While few industries have been spared by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, even fewer have been hit harder than the tourism sector. And while it is impossible to gauge the full extent of disruption brought on by COVID-19, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) published estimates on how the pandemic will affect international tourist arrivals in 2020 under three different scenarios.

Last October, Uğur Şahin traveled from Germany to New York to launch the initial public offering of his decade-old biotechnology company with a message about its new and unproven technology. “We rely on the patient’s immune system,” Şahin said before ringing the opening bell at Nasdaq’s market site. “We want to activate the patient’s immune cells to identify, to detect, and eliminate tumor cells.”

Yoram Lass, former director of Israel’s Health Ministry, on the hysteria around Covid-19.

As a pathologist, I’m used to people thinking that my job mainly involves dealing with death. But nothing could be further from the truth. That is why I and many of my colleagues are so dismayed by changes introduced during the coronavirus epidemic which mean that pathology has not been able to play the role that it should have in helping to understand this new disease.

JOHANNESBURG – The COVID-19 lockdown alert levels 3 and 4 have been declared invalid and unconstitutional.
The High Court in Pretoria has handed down this judgment. The court, however, suspended the declaration of invalidity for a period of 14 days.