Peter Wark, Conjoint Professor, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle – 27 July 2020 We’re now all too familiar with the common symptoms of COVID-19: a fever, dry cough and fatigue. Some people also experience aches and pains, a sore throat, and loss of taste or smell. Sufferers with mild illness might […]
FEATURED NEWS
Oxford immunologist on coronavirus vaccine: our early results look promising
Rebecca Ashfield, Senior Project Manager, Jenner Institute, University of Oxford A vaccine against COVID-19 is urgently needed if we’re to stop the virus spreading and prevent potentially millions of further deaths. We’re now one step closer to that goal. We have published early results from our clinical trial of the vaccine ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (also known […]
South Africa’s leaders have had a crack at COVID-19: it’s time to give the people a go
Alexander Broadbent, Director of the Institute for the Future of Knowledge and Professor of Philosophy, University of Johannesburg – 18 July 2020 South Africa is now ranked 5th in the world for COVID-19 active cases, 9th for cumulative cases, and 23rd for cumulative deaths. The nation’s leadership was initially widely praised for reacting decisively and […]
Here’s how scientists know the coronavirus came from bats and wasn’t made in a lab
It is unlikely that any techniques used to genetically engineer the virus would not leave a genetic signature, like specific identifiable pieces of DNA code. Polly Hayes, Lecturer in Parasitology and Medical Microbiology, University of Westminster – 13 July 2020 One of the conspiracy theories that have plagued attempts to keep people informed during the […]
President Ramaphosa Tightens Level 3 Laws
Statement by President Cyril Ramaphosa on progress in the national effort to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, Union Buildings, Tshwane on 12 July 2020 My Fellow South Africans, This evening, as I stand here before you, our nation is confronted by the gravest crisis in the history of our democracy.For more than 120 days, we […]
CAPEXIT – International Law and Independence, a Force of Powerful Magnitude
by Des Palm, CapeXit – 7 July 2020 The right to Independence according to the South African Constitution and South African Law has been discussed in our last article, but how does this tie in with International Law? Self-determination is a force of powerful magnitude, a philosophical stance, a moral value, a social movement, a potent […]
‘Top secret’ government document exposes massive ANC power grab
The document seems to reveal an ANC plan to slowly roll back the powers of democratically elected local and provincial government. This is nothing short of a coup d’état. Cilliers Brink MP, DA Deputy Shadow Minister of Cooperative Governance & Traditional Affairs – 6 July 2020 The Democratic Alliance (DA) is in possession of what […]
Is the airborne route a major source of coronavirus transmission?
The World Health Organization on Tuesday 7 July acknowledged “evidence emerging” of the airborne spread of the novel coronavirus, after a group of scientists urged the global body to update its guidance on how the respiratory disease passes between people. Reuters Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, La Trobe University – 7 July 2020 As the world […]
Existing cancer drugs could fight COVID-19
Viruses and cancer actually have more in common than you might think Nevan Krogan, Professor and Director of Quantitative Biosciences Institute & Senior Investigator at the Gladstone Institutes, University of California, San Francisco Most antivirals in use today target parts of an invading virus itself. Unfortunately, SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – has […]
Mutating coronavirus: what it means for us
Will the virus evolve to become more or less lethal? Claire Crossan, Research Fellow, Virology, Glasgow Caledonian University – 23 June 2020 An important milestone in the fight against COVID-19 came in early January 2020, when the entire viral genome of the novel coronavirus that causes the disease was sequenced for the first time. Since […]