The Covid Report

The African continent seems to have dealt with the pandemic better than the developed nations. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous infection remains under 100 - thousand with recover as high as above 78%. We speak to Dr Kehinde Okunade who is currently based in Lagos State Nigeria about how they have dealt with the virus and the country as a whole managed. We also hear from ordinary Nigerians who say the government of Nigeria could have dealt with the pandemic better.

COVID-19 in many ways has shown us that technology is no longer a luxury but an important component of our daily lives, as the South African Government continues to fight the spread of the Coronavirus and now ensuring we don’t run the risk of being exposed to the second wave of Covid-19 infections; Discovery and the Department of Health have worked together in creating a contact tracing app to help curb the spread of the virus. We speak Maria Carpenter from Discovery who led the Covid Alert SA App development project.

We speak to political analyst Jamie about Mightie the move to lockdown level 1 from Sunday. President Ramaphasa. From the first of October South Africa will be opening its borders to the world for the first time after 6 months. Some of the other economic activities will be restored at level. There are fears of a second wave of the virus and a need for a turnaround to rejuvenate the country’s economy. Under level one companies are going to reassess their commercial activities.

On The Covid Report today we speak to Professor Shabir Madhi about how South Africa has managed the coronavirus pandemic since the first case was reported in March. He also speaks to us about the vaccine trials that South Africa has been involved in. Madhi is a Professor of Vaccinology in the School of Pathology at the University of the Witwatersrand and Director of the world-renowned Medical Research Council Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit (VIDA), A National Research Foundation A-rated scientist.

Africa is seemingly dealing with the covid-19 pandemic better than most developed nations. We speak to Mkhulu Zola Xashimba an Nyanga, Naturalist and a herbalist. He specializes in indigenous ethnomedicine ethnopsychology and ethnopsychiatry about what the west can learn from the continent.

Construction industry members including owners, developers, contractors and subcontractors have experienced varying degrees of impacts as a result of Covid-19. The nature of these impacts and extent of the ramifications are in large part dependent on the location of both the business and underlying projects. We spoke to Tumelo Kgole, Administrator at Building Construction and Allied Workers Union about the impact in the industry. We also spoke to Vicky Radebe who has a construction business.

Rail is a critical mass transit mode in South Africa, with many citizens relying on this mode of transport to commute to and from work. Due to the effects of the pandemic many industries faced numerous challenges, and the railway sector is no different. We spoke to PRASA's Makhosini Mgitywa to expand on the impact of Covid-19 on passenger rail.

Safety compliance and hygiene have been talked about a lot since the number of Covid-19 cases soared. The prevention of Covid-19 infections doesn’t only apply in wearing masks and sanitizing frequently, but also in the safety of the products and equipment we use. Today we look at the impact that the pandemic has had on the breathalyzer industry, many workplaces rely on the use of breathalyzers to test if employees are not intoxicated when reporting for duty. We spoke to Rhys Evans, the Managing Director at ALCO-Safe, which is a company that supplies drug and alcohol testing equipment and accessories.

During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, health-care workers are at a substantially increased risk of becoming infected with COVID-19.

Dealing with this pandemic is not easy for anyone, but it’s especially hard on Doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers. We speak to Professional Healthcare Nurse Pauline Nxumalo who will tell us more about how COVID-19 has affected her and Samantha Mhangwane a 2nd year medical intern doctor who shares with us her experience from the frontline.

With lockdown level two now in full swing, and people being able to travel to other provinces, we look at how the tourism industry which was brought to a complete halt for several months is faring. Refilwe Tladi who runs a Tour Operations business tells us about some of the challenges her tour b