South Africa
T20 World Cup: South Africa dismiss Bangladesh for 84
Bangladesh batters left shattered for 84 on Sunday at Abu Dhabi in their fourth Super 12s match of the ongoing T20 World Cup against South Africa.
Four Bangladeshi batters— Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Afif Hossain and Nasum Ahmed— each suffered a duck and three of them fell for a golden duck.
While going to 35 from 22, Bangladesh lost five wickets— three to Kagiso Rabada inside five balls.
Also read: T20 World Cup: disastrous batting compounds Bangladesh miseries
Rabada led the terrific bowling display from South Africa on a pitch that had something in it for the quicks.
Rabada conceded 20 runs to take three wickets in four overs, Anrich Nortje also bagged three wickets conceding eight runs in 3.3 overs.
Tabraiz Shamsi, the left-arm unorthodox spinner, bagged two wickets as well.
For Bangladesh, Mahedi Hasan was the best batter scoring 27 off 25 balls while Liton Das scored 24.
Eventually, Bangladesh tumbled for 84 all out in 18.2 overs. They never looked able to soak up the initial pressure and come up with something challenging for the Proteas.
Also read: T20 World Cup: Bangladesh bat first vs South Africa
It was the third-lowest total by any team against South Africa in the T20 World Cups.
With this lean display, Bangladesh became the first ICC full member nation to be bowled out under 100 thrice in a calendar year.
ladesh have lost three matches they have played before this one, and they have no real chance to qualify for the semifinals even if they win this match and the next match against Australia.
T20 World Cup: Bangladesh bat first vs South Africa
Bangladesh lost the toss and were sent to bat first in their fourth match in the Super 12s stage of the T20 World Cup on Tuesday at Abu Dhabi.
Bangladesh lost three matches on the trot, and they have no real chance to qualify for the semifinals. Still, the last two matches of Super 12s will play a big role in their ranking that might guarantee a Super 12s berth in the next World Cup.
Read:Buttler ton propels England to fourth win in T20 World Cup
Bangladesh made two changes— Nasum Ahmed and Shamim Hossain are recalled to the playing XI to replace Shakib Al Hasan and Mustafizur Rahman.
Bangladesh (Playing XI): Mohammad Naim, Liton Das(w), Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mahmudullah(c), Afif Hossain, Shamim Hossain, Mahedi Hasan, Nasum Ahmed, Shoriful Islam, Taskin Ahmed
Read:Buttler puts SL to the sword in maiden T20I century
South Africa (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Reeza Hendricks, Temba Bavuma(c), Rassie van der Dussen, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Keshav Maharaj, Anrich Nortje, Tabraiz Shamsi
Shakib, Sohan uncertain for SA clash
Bangladesh star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan and wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan Sohan are in a race against time to be fit for their next match in the T20 World Cup against South Africa on November 2.
Shakib sustained a hamstring injury in the match against the West Indies while Sohan is still suffering from a blow on his abdomen received ahead of the match against England. Sohan missed the game against WI already.
According to the media department of the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), Sohan will be assessed on November 1 to decide if he is fit to play on November 2.
Read 'Tigers still have plenty to take from WC'
Shakib will be assessed after the completed 48 hours of rest to see if he is fit to play the next match.
Bangladesh have lost all three matches they have played so far in the Super 12s stage, which has made their way to the semifinals impossible.
Read Asif's 4 sixes in 1 over seals Pakistan win over Afghanistan
The injury concern over Shakib came as a fresh blow for the Tigers.
Mahmudullah, the T20 captain of Bangladesh, said they still have plenty to take from the T20 World Cup if they can register wins in the remaining matches.
Police investigate deaths of 3 young children in New Zealand
Three young children who had just moved to New Zealand from South Africa have died in what police said Friday they're investigating as homicide.
Police said they were not looking for any possible suspects beyond those involved in the incident late Thursday at a home in the South Island town of Timaru. They said emergency services had found a woman at the address who had been hospitalized in stable condition.
Read: Haiti PM, under fire, addresses evidence in leader's slaying
Police said the children were 3-year-old twins and a 7-year-old who were all siblings. All those involved had recently moved from South Africa to New Zealand, police said, and had moved out of a mandatory coronavirus quarantine facility within the past week.
In a brief news conference, police said the investigation was in its early stages and they couldn't yet release many details, including the names of the children or how they died.
Inspector Dave Gaskin, the Aoraki area commander, said the deaths would be “incredibly distressing” for residents of Timaru, particularly after five teenagers from the town were killed in a car crash last month.
Read:Cuba begins vaccinating children as young as 2
The Stuff news organization said neighbors Karen and Brad Cowper called police just after 10 p.m. when they heard a man screaming and crying. The neighbors said they asked the man if he was OK but he didn't respond other than to say: “Is this really happening?”
Stuff reported the family was living in accommodation for hospital staff, and both the man and woman were medical professionals.
Bangladeshi investors keen to invest in South Africa: FM
Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen has said Bangladeshi investors are likely to consider investing in South Africa if they get similar facilities offered by other African countries.
The Foreign Minister said Bangladeshi investors have invested in some African countries.
Dr Momen, now in South Africa, held discussions with Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition of South Africa Ebrahim Patel virtually on Tuesday and discussed the investment issue.
The Trade Minister strongly suggested that Bangladesh investors may visit South Africa to see the investment opportunities in South Africa.
READ: Bangladeshi peacekeepers boost country's image globally through dedication, efficiency: FM
He indicated that Bangladeshi investors can invest in South Africa in different sectors including clothing, textiles and footwear sectors.
The Foreign Minister said collaboration in many sectors like IT and agro-processed industry would provide win-win situation for both countries.
Rioting, looting continues in South Africa, deaths up to 32
South Africa’s rioting continued Tuesday with the death toll rising to 32 as police and the military struggle to quell the looting and violence in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces.
Many of the deaths occurred in chaotic stampedes as scores of people looted food, electric appliances, liquor, and clothing from retail centers, KwaZulu-Natal premier Sihle Zikalala told the press on Tuesday morning.
“Yesterday’s events brought a lot of sadness. The number of people who have died in KwaZulu-Natal alone stands at 26. Many of them died from being trampled on during a stampede while people were looting items,” said Zikalala.
Also read: Former South African president Zuma to face corruption trial
In Gauteng, South Africa’s most populous province which includes the largest city, Johannesburg, six people have died, said officials.
The deployment of 2,500 soldiers to support the South African police has not yet stopped the rampant looting although arrests are being made at some areas in Johannesburg, including Vosloorus in eastern Johannesburg.
Looting continued Tuesday in Johannesburg shopping malls in township areas including Jabulani Mall and Dobsonville Mall in Soweto. There were also reports of continued looting in centers in KwaZulu-Natal.
Also read: COVID-19 corruption puts 'lives at risk' in South Africa
The violence started in KwaZulu-Natal last week as protests against the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma, who began serving a 15-month sentence for contempt of court. He was convicted of defying a court order to testify before a state-backed inquiry probing allegations of corruption during his term as president from 2009 to 2018.
The sporadic pro-Zuma violence spiraled into a spree of criminal theft in poor, township areas of the two provinces, according to witnesses. So far the lawlessness has not spread to South Africa’s other nine provinces.
The Constitutional Court, the country’s highest court, heard Zuma’s application to have his sentence rescinded on Monday. Zuma’s lawyer presented his arguments that the top court made errors when sentencing Zuma to prison. After 10 hours of testimony on Monday, the court judges said they would study the arguments and announce their decision at a later date.
South Africa ramps up vaccine drive, too late for this surge
Some in wheelchairs, others on canes, hundreds of South Africans waited recently on the ramps of an open-air Johannesburg parking garage to get their COVID-19 vaccine shots. Despite the masks, social distancing and blustery weather of the Southern Hemisphere winter, a celebratory atmosphere took hold.
“What a relief!” said Vincent Damon, a 63-year-old electrical technician, after getting his second dose. “In the last four days, I’ve lost four friends. All of them under 60. This pandemic has gotten worse. It’s frightening.”
New infections in South Africa rose to record levels in recent days, part of a rapid rise across the continent, and experts say the surge here hasn’t yet peaked. To fight the new wave, South Africa reimposed several restrictions, including shutting restaurants and bars and limiting alcohol sales — and its vaccination drive is finding its feet after several stumbles.
But even as the campaign gathers pace, experts say it’s too late to reduce the deadly impact of the current spike. Instead, South Africa is now rushing to vaccinate enough of its 60 million people to blunt the impact of the next inevitable surge.
Read:Virus infections surging in Africa’s vulnerable rural areas
“Our vaccination campaign is gathering momentum, but obviously it’s too late to do much in terms of reducing the impact of this current resurgence we’re experiencing, which by all accounts is going to completely dwarf what we experienced either in the first or second waves in South Africa,” said Shabir Madhi, dean of health sciences and professor of vaccinology at the University of Witwatersrand.
South Africa accounts for more than 35% of the 5.8 million cases recorded by Africa’s 54 countries, although it is home to just over 4% of the continent’s population. The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in the country more than doubled over the past two weeks to more than 360 fatalities per day on July 9.
Its troubles reflect a broader trend. Neighboring Zimbabwe went back into lockdown on July 6, and Congo, Rwanda, Senegal and Zambia are among the 16 African countries battling the new surge of infections sweeping across the continent.
“Africa has just marked the continent’s most dire pandemic week ever. But the worst is yet to come as the fast-moving third wave continues to gain speed and new ground,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa.
“The end to this precipitous rise is still weeks away. Cases are doubling now every 18 days, compared with every 21 days only a week ago,” she added Thursday.
The current upsurge comes while the continent’s vaccination rates are painfully low: Just 16 million, or less than 2%, of Africa’s 1.3 billion people are now fully vaccinated, according to the WHO.
More than 4 million South Africans, or about 6.5%, have received at least one dose, with 1.3 million fully vaccinated, according to government figures Saturday. Still, the drive is picking up speed after a bumpy campaign so far, marked by missteps and bad luck.
Although South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was quick to respond to COVID-19 and put the country into one of the world’s strictest lockdowns in March last year, his officials were slow to place firm orders for vaccines, say critics.
Read:Fearing COVID, struggling Malawian women forgo prenatal care
This appeared to be resolved when South Africa’s first delivery of vaccines — 1 million doses of AstraZeneca — arrived in February. Just as the government was to begin administering the shots to front-line health care workers, a small study showed that AstraZeneca provided low protection against the beta variant, which was dominant in South Africa at the time. The AstraZeneca vaccines were scrapped, and South Africa quickly pivoted to Johnson & Johnson, which was still in testing but appeared to show protection against the mutation.
At first, South Africa received such small shipments of the J&J doses that its campaign lurched from week to week. But then a South African pharmaceutical firm was contracted by J&J to produce its vaccine, using large batches of ingredients sent from the U.S. The South African company, Aspen Pharmacare, has the capacity to assemble and package more than 200 million doses of the J&J vaccine per year, one of very few firms in all of Africa with that capability.
But just as the first 2 million J&J doses produced by Aspen were about to be used to kick start South Africa’s sputtering vaccination drive, the U.S. drug regulator recommended a pause in the distribution of the vaccine over concerns about rare blood clots. The suspension was brief, but South Africa eventually had to discard its doses because they were made with materials provided by a U.S. factory where there were concerns about contamination.
A further obstacle came when Health Minister Zweli Mkhize was suspended amid a corruption scandal in which his family members are accused of benefitting from an inflated government contract.
This all exacted a toll on South Africa’s vaccination drive. By the middle of May, the country had inoculated just 40% of its 1.25 million health care workers — a segment of the population it had hoped to be finished vaccinating by that time before moving on to the general public.
In recent weeks, the supply issues have eased: Large shipments are arriving weekly of the 40 million Pfizer doses that South Africa purchased. The country is getting another 31 million J&J vaccines, most assembled in South Africa. Vaccinations began for those 60 and over in late May, and schoolteachers and police officers became eligible for vaccines in June. In early July, shots opened up to those age 50 and over, and later this month the eligibility will be expanded to those 35 and older.
Vaccination sites have multiplied from a few dozen to several hundred, and the country soon hopes to be on pace to inoculate two-thirds of its population by the end of February.
Read:In poorest countries, surges worsen shortages of vaccines
The increased supply can be seen at the vaccine center atop the Johannesburg parking garage. It started giving about 200 shots per day when it opened in May. In the first week of July it reached 1,000 a day and last week it was jabbing 2,000 daily, according to workers at the busy site.
Even if the country can manage to get about half of the population over 40 vaccinated in the coming months, expert Salim Abdool Karim said he thought it would blunt the impact of another surge.
“We could basically avert a significant fourth wave, maybe it could just be a minor fourth wave,” said Abdool Karim, who is director of the Center for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa. “But that is contingent on one thing: that we do not have to fight a new variant. As we’ve seen with the beta and delta variants, a new one could change everything.”
Mystery over claim world’s 1st ‘decuplets’ born in S. Africa
South Africa has been gripped by the mystery of whether a woman has, as has been claimed, actually given birth to 10 babies, in what would then be the world’s first recorded case of decuplets.
Gosiame Thamara Sithole from the Tembisa township near Johannesburg gave birth to the babies on Monday, according to the Pretoria News newspaper which quoted the parents. The babies — seven boys and three girls — have not made a public appearance or been captured on camera, although they were born prematurely, the newspaper reported.
The South African government said it is still trying to verify the claim.
That’s led to South Africans obsessing on social media over whether the story of the “Tembisa 10” is indeed true.
The father, Teboho Tsotetsi, told the paper his wife had given birth in a hospital in the capital Pretoria. He said it was a big surprise for the parents after doctors only detected eight babies in pre-natal scans.
“It’s seven boys and three girls. She was seven months and seven days pregnant. I am happy. I am emotional,” the newspaper quoted Tsotetsi as saying.
The couple already have 6-year-old twins, which would make the total an even dozen kids, if the claim is true.
South Africans are eagerly waiting for proof of what would be a world record. Relatives and neighbors of the couple have insisted the news is true.
“For her to receive 10 blessings at one given time, we thank God for that,” Wilson Machaya, a neighbor of the family in Tembisa, told The Associated Press. “And because we are neighbors we will have to assist in any way possible.”
A Malian woman gave birth to nine babies only last month in Morocco, in what was hailed as the world’s first case of nonuplets.
The Department of Social Development in South Africa’s Gauteng province confirmed tracing Sithole and spokeswoman Feziwe Ndwayana said they would make an announcement after meeting with the family. Another local government department said earlier this week that it had no record of the babies’ births in any of the province’s hospitals.
The Pretoria News initially broke the story with an interview with Sithole and her husband Tsotetsi at their home, which was conducted nearly a month ago and when they thought they were having eight babies. They requested that the story only be published after the babies were born for safety and cultural reasons, the newspaper said.
According to the report, Sithole went on leave earlier than expected from her job as a retail store manager because she could no longer cope. Tsotetsi is unemployed.
One organization has given $70,000 to the couple to help and other South Africans are being encouraged to donate.
Alongside #Tembisa10, the term #NationalBabyShower has been trending on Twitter.
‘This IS INSANE’: Africa desperately short of COVID vaccine
In the global race to vaccinate people against COVID-19, Africa is tragically at the back of the pack.
In fact, it has barely gotten out of the starting blocks.
In South Africa, which has the continent’s most robust economy and its biggest coronavirus caseload, just 0.8% of the population is fully vaccinated, according to a worldwide tracker kept by Johns Hopkins University. And hundreds of thousands of the country’s health workers, many of whom come face-to-face with the virus every day, are still waiting for their shots.
In Nigeria, Africa’s biggest country with more than 200 million people, only 0.1% are fully protected. Kenya, with 50 million people, is even lower. Uganda has recalled doses from rural areas because it doesn’t have nearly enough to fight outbreaks in big cities.
Read:UN: Famine is imminent in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region
Chad didn’t administer its first vaccine shots until this past weekend. And there are at least five other countries in Africa where not one dose has been put into an arm, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The World Health Organization says the continent of 1.3 billion people is facing a severe shortage of vaccine at the same time a new wave of infections is rising across Africa. Vaccine shipments into Africa have ground to a “near halt,” WHO said last week.
“It is extremely concerning and at times frustrating,” said Africa CDC Director Dr. John Nkengasong, a Cameroonian virologist who is trying to ensure some of the world’s poorest nations get a fair share of vaccines in a marketplace where they can’t possibly compete.
The United States and Britain, in contrast, have fully vaccinated more than 40% of their populations, with higher rates for adults and high-risk people. Countries in Europe are near or past 20% coverage, and their citizens are starting to think about where their vaccine certificates might take them on their summer vacations. The U.S., France and Germany are even offering shots to youngsters, who are at very low risk of serious illness from COVID-19.
Poorer countries had warned as far back as last year of this impending vaccine inequality, fearful that rich nations would hoard doses.
In an interview, Nkengasong called on the leaders of wealthy nations meeting this week at the G-7 summit to share spare vaccines — something the United States has already agreed to do — and avert a “moral catastrophe.”
“I’d like to believe that the G-7 countries, most of them having kept excess doses of vaccines, want to be on the right side of history,” Nkengasong said. “Distribute those vaccines. We need to actually see these vaccines, not just ... promises and goodwill.”
Others are not so patient, nor so diplomatic.
“People are dying. Time is against us. This IS INSANE,” South African human rights lawyer Fatima Hasan, an activist for equal access to health care, wrote in a series of text messages.
The Biden administration made its first major move to ease the crisis last week, announcing it would share an initial batch of 25 million spare doses with desperate countries in South and Central America, Asia and Africa.
Read:Burkina Faso says at least 100 civilians killed in attack
Nkengasong and his team were in contact with White House officials a day later, he said, with a list of countries where the 5 million doses earmarked for Africa could go to immediately.
Still, the U.S. offer is only a “trickle” of what’s needed, Hasan wrote.
Africa alone is facing a shortfall of around 700 million doses, even after taking into account those secured through WHO’s vaccine program for poorer countries, COVAX, and a deal with Johnson & Johnson, which comes through in August, two long months away.
Uganda just released a batch of 3,000 vaccine doses in the capital, Kampala — a minuscule amount for a city of 2 million — to keep its program barely alive.
There and elsewhere, the fear is that the luck that somehow enabled parts of Africa to escape the worst of previous waves of COVID-19 infections and deaths might not hold this time.
“The first COVID was a joke, but this one is for real. It kills,” said Danstan Nsamba, a taxi driver in Uganda who has lost numerous people he knew to the virus.
In Zimbabwe, Chipo Dzimba embarked on a quest for a vaccine after witnessing COVID-19 deaths in her community. She walked miles to a church mission hospital, where there were none, and miles again to a district hospital, where nurses also had nothing and told her to go to the region’s main government hospital. That was too far away.
“I am giving up,” Dzimba said. “I don’t have the bus fare.”
South African health workers faced similar disappointment when they crowded into a parking garage last month, hoping for vaccinations and ignoring in their desperation the social distancing protocols. Many came away without a shot.
Read:South Africa returns to stricter lockdown, virus 'surging'
Femada Shamam, who is in charge of a group of old-age homes in the South African city of Durban, has seen only around half of the 1,600 elderly and frail people she looks after vaccinated. It is six months, almost to the day, since Britain began the global vaccination drive.
“They do feel very despondent and they do feel let down,” Shamam said of her unvaccinated residents, who are experiencing “huge anxiety” as they hunker down in their sealed-off homes 18 months into the outbreak. Twenty-two of her residents have died of COVID-19.
“It really highlights the biggest problem ... the haves and the have-nots,” Shamam said.
As for whether wealthy countries with a surplus of vaccine have gotten the message, Nkengasong said: “I am hopeful, but not necessarily confident.”
Covid: WHO renames UK and other variants with Greek letters
Dhaka, June 1 (UNB)--From now on the WHO will use Greek letters to refer to variants first detected in countries like the UK, South Africa and India.
According to BBC, the UK variant for instance is labelled as Alpha, the South African Beta, and the Indian as Delta.
The WHO said this was to simplify discussions but also to help remove some stigma from the names.
Read: India's COVID-19 tally reaches 28,175,044 with 127,510 new cases
Earlier this month the Indian government criticised the naming of variant B.1.617.2 - first detected in the country last October - as the "Indian variant", though the WHO had never officially labelled it as such.
"No country should be stigmatised for detecting and reporting variants," the WHO's Covid-19 technical lead, Maria Van Kerkhove, tweeted. She also called for "robust surveillance" of variants, and for the sharing of scientific data to help stop the spread.
Letters will refer to both variants of concern, and variants of interest. A full list of names has been published on the WHO website.
These Greek letters will not replace existing scientific names. If more than 24 variants are officially identified, the system runs out of Greek letters, and a new naming programme will be announced, Ms Van Kerkhove told STAT News in an interview.
"We're not saying replace B.1.1.7, but really just to try to help some of the dialogue with the average person," she told the US-based website. "So that in public discourse, we could discuss some of these variants in more easy-to-use language."
Read: Global Covid cases top 170.5 million
On Monday, a scientist advising the UK government said the country was in the early stages of a third wave of coronavirus infections, in part driven by the Delta, or Indian variant.
It is thought to spread more quickly than the Alpha (UK; Kent) variant, which was responsible for the surge in cases in the UK over the winter.
Vietnam, meanwhile, has detected what appears to be a combination of those two variants. On Saturday, the country's health minister said it could spread quickly through the air and described it as "very dangerous".