South Africa will stay on Alert Level 4 for another two weeks with a few crumbs for ailing sectors: Restaurants will resume operations at half their normal capacity and gyms are allowed to open subject to strict rules. Some financial relief in the form of unemployment insurance for workers is underway, and for small businesses, all business licenses and permits that expired between March 2020 and June 2021 will remain valid until 31 December 2022.
Extending a ban on alcohol sales (to the disdain of the industry) and keeping the curfew from 9 pm to 4 am intact, President Cyril Ramaphosa told the nation last night “we have had to make difficult decisions, knowing that almost every decision carries a cost to the economy and society”.
Fuelled by the Delta variant, the country has consistently recorded an average of nearly 20,000 daily new cases. At present, the country has over 200,000 active Covid cases, and in the last two weeks over 4,200 South Africans have lost their lives to Covid-19.
Just this morning we lost another high-profiled, former Eskom board member, Ben Ngubane, to Covid.
Meanwhile, the government has sped up its vaccination rollout, doubling the number of vaccinations issued in the past month. To date, over 4.2 million people in South Africa have received a vaccine dose, with one million of these having been done over the past seven days.
Ramaphosa said government and the private sector are working together in an unprecedented way to build additional capacity to vaccinate many more people a day.
Here’s a roundup of the world’s top and most interesting headlines:
SA Business
Discovery health employee quits after leaked recording shock – Fin24
KZN and Gauteng business owners count losses following looting spree by some Zuma supporters – SABC News
This South African billionaire surged up the UK rich list – and is now one of three locals inside the top 100 – Business Tech
Global Business
World’s billionaire factory shudders as China cracks down – Bloomberg
Branson, Virgin Galactic pull off key test for space tourism – Bloomberg
Musk-Branson bromance on full display for Virgin Galactic flight – Bloomberg
In-depth
Powerships: Inside the Karadeniz money-spinning global empire – Daily Maverick
Part 5: How the Guptas used their loot – Daily Maverick
Karpowership SA: How much again? – Daily Maverick
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