Hospitalisations and deaths due to Covid-19 may be on the decline but a study by the University of Pretoria shows that new mutations of the virus could occur after some lions and pumas were infected by humans at a zoo in Pretoria.
Bloomberg reports that “new variants could emerge from animal reservoirs of the disease” and while the dominant theory around coronavirus is that it spread from animals to humans the reverse is also possible.
Data used for the research study shows that the lions likely contracted the disease from asymptomatic handlers at the zoo. There is a possibility that when this happens the disease could mutate and reinfect humans, according to researchers.
“A 2020 study of faeces from two pumas that had had diarrhoea, nasal discharge and anorexia showed the animals had Covid-19 and made a full recovery after 23 days, the University of Pretoria said in a statement on Tuesday. A year later, in the midst of South Africa’s delta-variant-driven third wave, three lions, one of which had pneumonia, tested positive for the coronavirus.”
Just when you may have thought there was a glimmer of light at the end of the never-ending pandemic tunnel, there will be another curve in the road to throw us off. Hopefully, we won’t have to deal with another variant that is worse than that of the omicron strain.
Private school pupils who wrote the Independent Board Examinations (IEB) last year will be able to access their results today and what a performance it was with a 98.39% pass rate for 2021, which represents an increase from 98.06% the year before.
A total of 12,857 full-time and 968 part-time candidates from 238 examination centres in 267 venues across Southern Africa wrote the IEB National Senior Certificate exams, reports TimesLIVE. While matriculants who wrote the exams through the other private assessment body, the South African Comprehensive Assessment Institute (Sacai), achieved a 76% overall pass mark, representing a 2% increase from 2020.
IEB chief executive, Anne Oberholzer said the class of 2021 showed “immense resilience” with their exam performance and some of the top performers in the country received as many as ten distinctions.
It puts your own high school performance to shame, doesn’t it?
Meanwhile, the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria ruled in favour of Afriforum that the National Senior Certificate results should be published in the media when they are released on Thursday. The department of basic education originally made the decision not to publish the results in public, claiming it would violate the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).
AfriForum, Maroela Media and Anle Spies – a pupil from the Gereformeerde Skool Dirk Postma in Pretoria – brought the case against the department. Spies said publishing the results publicly without the pupils’ names and just the examination number would not violate POPIA as only the pupil would know their exam number.
In the currency markets, the rand weakened against the dollar yesterday after surging US Treasury yields and a firming dollar. This morning the local unit is trading slightly weaker at R15.53/$, which is in line with generally weaker EM markets says forex trading house TreasuryONE.
“The local CPI numbers will be released today, with the YoY number estimated to be at 5.7% from last month’s 5.5%, reinforcing the expectation that the SARB will raise rates at next week’s MPC meeting,” comments TreasuryONE.
On the commodity front, metals are trading weaker, with gold at $1,813, platinum at $972, and palladium at $1,892. Continued supply constraints and geopolitical tensions are driving the rise in oil prices with Brent crude at a 7-year high, trading at $88.57 a barrel.
Here’s a roundup of the world’s top and most interesting headlines:
SA Business
Rothschild Hired by Eskom Creditors to Help Steer Debt Plan – Bloomberg
Zimbabwe’s Rudland family effectively wins control over Tongaat Hulett – Daily Maverick
Former Old Mutual CEO says he did not authorise writing off NMT debt – SABC
Global Business
The high drama that led to Microsoft swooping on Activision – Tech Central
Chip crisis pushes European car sales to new low – Fin24/AFP
Apple and Google warn that new tech bills threaten user privacy – My Broadband/Bloomberg
Markets
Asian Stocks Down, Global Shares Selloff Continues as Treasury Yields Climb – Investing.com
Gold dips as Treasury yields advance on U.S. rate-hike prospects – Reuters
Oil hits seven-year highs on recovery hopes, unrest – EWN
Opinion/In-depth
How to keep SAA, PetroSA, Eskom away from politicians – Mail & Guardian
There’s gold buried in the Zondo Commission reports, let’s not only mine the silver and tinsel – Daily Maverick
‘Too much too late’ – mandatory vaccination – BizNews
Video
Kenya on track to reach energy self-sufficiency – Al Jazeera
Everything You Need to Know About Ethereum – Coindesk
More Legendary Artists Are Selling Their Music Catalogs – Newsy
Image: Pixabay
