As the world battles a third Covid wave driven by the delta variant, India is bracing for a new wave, underscoring the need to speed up vaccinations and to stay vigilant in keeping safe. This is no different for South Africa where the delta variant accounts for more than 90% of present infections.
According the Bloomberg’s vaccine tracker South Africa has so far administered 7.4 million inoculations, enough for 7.7% of population coverage. The good news is that the first batch of 2.8 million doses of the Pfizer vaccines donated by the US arrived on Saturday, with the second expected to arrive tomorrow. The bad news is that a huge part of the population is still reluctant to take the jab. And the price for rejecting the vaccine could be very costly.
Covid-19 and other economic glooms aside, the South African economy has made an astonishing come-back, fuelled by huge mining profits from strong commodity prices.
The worst we can do now amid this windfall and as social interactions pick up is to get complacent.
Here’s a roundup of the world’s top and most interesting headlines:
SA Business
Zweli Mkhize’s son collected bags of Digital Vibes cash, says SIU – Daily Maverick
Where you are paying more for food: Joburg vs Cape Town vs Durban – BusinessTech
All the companies Cyril Ramaphosa owned – MyBroadband
Global Business
Afterpay: Jack Dorsey’s Square in Australia’s biggest buyout – BBC News
GLOBAL ECONOMY Asian factory activity hit by rising costs, Delta variant – Reuters
The future will be stranger than we think – TechCentral
Markets
China’s elite role in emerging markets has traders creeping back – Bloomberg
Asian markets mostly up but China, Delta fears temper optimism – AFP
Bitcoin pares weekend rally that took coin to highest since May – Bloomberg
Opinion
After the looting: A snap survey reveals what South Africans think – and fear – Daily Maverick
Adriaan Basson | Why I chose to be vaccinated – News24
The Ramaphosa Cabinet reshuffle space – a heavy task in a hard land – Daily Maverick
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