Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says the Matric pass rate of 76.4% obtained in the November 2021 examinations is testament that the country’s education system is improving.
The Minister announced the pass rate last night, and says this is a slight improvement from 2020’s 76.2%.
Motshekga says the 2019 pass rate, before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, stood at 81.3%.
Watch the minister’s full announcement here.
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The #MatricClassof2021 pass rate is 76.4%, an increase of 0.2% from 2020.#matricresults2021 @ElijahMhlanga @HubertMweli @ReginahMhaule pic.twitter.com/Gls0u6Z7AX
— Dep. Basic Education (@DBE_SA) January 20, 2022
Minister Motshekga: The Free State is the leading province at 85.7%, an improvement of 0.6% from 2020
Gauteng achieved at 82.8%, a 1.0% decline from 2020
Western Cape achieved 81.2%, an improvement of 1.3% from 2020#MatricResults @dbetvnews
— Dep. Basic Education (@DBE_SA) January 20, 2022
South Africa will start producing second generation vaccines to better fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the South African-born billionaire, Patrick Soon-Shiong the vaccine production facility which opened here in the Mother City yesterday, would produce vaccines which would be far more capable in fighting the virus.
He says this new generation of vaccines are a lot more effective in disrupting the reproduction and further spread of the virus than currently available vaccines.
Soon-Shiong says the facility would also develop and produce therapies for the treatment of diseases such as cancer, HIV and tuberculosis.
Watch Dr. Soon-Shiong’s full briefing here.
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- Vaccine production facility to boost South Africa’s Covid-19 fighting capabilities.
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WATCH LIVE: President @CyrilRamaphosa launches the NantSA vaccine manufacturing campus with Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, founder of NantWorks, LLC, at Brackengate in Cape Town. #InvestSA 🇿🇦 https://t.co/HAsg4DMPgS
— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) January 19, 2022
President Cyril Ramaphosa says the vaccine production facility, unveiled in Brackengate yesterday, will tremendously boost South Africa’s Covid-19 fighting capabilities.
The plant, established by the US biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, is set to produce a billion Covid-19 vaccine doses by 2025.
Ramaphosa says the facility would help provide much needed doses of vaccines to other African countries.
He says the establishment of the facility is also a big investment in the country’s scientific and research skills.
Watch the full media-briefing here.
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- Patrick Soon-Shiong’s cancer & Covid-19 vaccine initiative to significantly boost South Africa’s vaccine-manufacturing capabilities.
- Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong.
WATCH LIVE: President @CyrilRamaphosa launches the NantSA vaccine manufacturing campus with Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, founder of NantWorks, LLC, at Brackengate in Cape Town. #InvestSA 🇿🇦 https://t.co/HAsg4DMPgS
— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) January 19, 2022
Remarks by President @CyrilRamaphosa at the official launch of the Nant-SA Vaccine Manufacturing Campus, Brackengate Business Park, Brackenfel. https://t.co/NiTYfSw5dF#InvestSA pic.twitter.com/I4oCVk9JvV
— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) January 19, 2022
South African health authorities have seen a marked decrease in the number of excess deaths reported during the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Public Health Specialist at the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, Dr. Waasila Jassat this decrease in excess mortalities has become more apparent over the past 2 to 3 weeks.
Jassat says all other indicators, such as hospitalizations, severe disease and ICU treatment, have also, in this current wave, seen a drastic decline.
Access the Health Department’s latest Covid-19 update here.
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- Western Cape Health Department: “Evidence shows the Omicron variant of is less cumbersome than previous variants”.
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- Professor Jonathan Jansen: Reopen schools on a full-time basis.
As of today the cumulative number of #COVID19 cases identified in SA is 3 552 043 with 5 244 new cases reported. Today 128 deaths have been reported bringing the total to 93 117 deaths. The cumulative number of recoveries now stand at 3 358 065 with a recovery rate of 94.5% pic.twitter.com/zGs6sDcVMw
— Department of Health (@HealthZA) January 14, 2022
The Western Cape Health Department says evidence, from the fourth wave, again shows that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is less cumbersome than previous variants.
Head of Health, Dr. Keith Cloete says previous Covid-19 infection and vaccination may have lead to the lower incidence of deaths and severe disease in the fourth wave.
Cloete says risk for hospital admission, when infected with Omicron, had dropped by 1.4%, when compared to Delta-infection.
Access the latest Western Cape Covid-19 digital conference here.
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- Up to 90% of Western Cape adults had protection against Covid-19 before the onset of the fourth wave.
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- Professor Shabir Madhi: “Decision to not abolish contract tracing & quarantine should be reconsidered”
1/6 At my Digital Press Conference today we stated that during the fourth wave, we have seen a growing gap or “decoupling” between the high number of cases, and relatively low number of admissions and deaths compared to previous waves. pic.twitter.com/js1LzkVKBS
— Premier Alan Winde (@alanwinde) January 13, 2022
Covid-19 dashboard update for 13 January 2022📢
To get more information, you can visit our dashboard on https://t.co/bLHGiWBdzg pic.twitter.com/fnrcTSAOFf
— Premier Alan Winde (@alanwinde) January 13, 2022
