
<p><strong><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">Topline</span></strong>: The prevailing mood was of anxiety and fear of another hard lockdown when the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, announced that he would be addressing the nation on Wednesday evening. However, his address was more of an appeal to citizens to not “relax” just yet, as the virus has not yet been beaten. The president also made some amendments to the current Alert Level One of the lockdown. &nbsp;</p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">Key Facts&nbsp;</span></strong></h3>



<ul><li>To prevent a resurgence of the Covid-19 virus, Ramaphosa announced that the government would be extending the National State of Disaster by another month to December 15. This is to ensure that all necessary prevention measures remain in place.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Ramaphosa announced that the country would once again be opening up international travel to all countries. This, after international travel was restricted to and from countries with high infection rates and limited to only South Africa’s big main airports: King Shaka, OR Tambo, and Cape Town International Airport.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>In addition, South Africa will also be&nbsp;restoring the normal trading hours for the sale of alcohol at retail outlets as opposed to the strict rules that only allowed South Africans to buy alcohol&nbsp;from Monday to Thursday, between 9AM and 5PM. &nbsp;</li><li>The President has further called on South Africans to embark on five days of mourning from November 25 to 29 to remember the victims of both Covid-19 and gender-based violence. The national flag will fly at half-mast from 6AM to 6PM (SAST); he also requested people to wear black armbands as a&nbsp;sign of mourning.&nbsp;&nbsp;<br></li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">Crucial Numbers&nbsp;</span></strong></h3>



<ul><li>As chairperson of the African Union, Ramaphosa established the Covid-19 African Vaccine Acquisition Task Team. He said it is estimated that Africa will need around $12 billion and 750 million doses of an effective vaccine.&nbsp;&nbsp;</li><li>Ramaphosa also noted the preliminary agreement between South Africa’s biggest pharmaceutical manufacturer, Aspen Pharmacare, and US drugmaker Johnson &amp; Johnson (J&amp;J). The two companies announced on November 2 that they would be producing the candidate Covid-19 vaccine in&nbsp;Port Elizabeth, South Africa.&nbsp;</li><li>“Aspen has the capacity to manufacture 300 million doses of the candidate vaccine at its Nelson Mandela Bay plant. This is a life-saving medical product that will be needed across the world, which will be manufactured by South African workers,” Ramaphosa said.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</li></ul>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><strong><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">Crucial Quote &nbsp;</span></strong></h3>



<p>Ramaphosa has once again appealed to South Africans to not stop adhering to preventative measures just because the country is at Alert Level One. He further stated that as the country moves into a hot festive season, more people will want to see their family and friends but people should not get complacent.  <br><br>“Wearing a mask every time we leave home is far, far better than a second wave. It is also far better than a return to lockdown and better than having to shut down the economy. A number of outbreaks have been linked to indoor gatherings where there is poor ventilation and no social distancing,” Ramaphosa said.  </p>



<h3 class="wp-block-heading"><span class="has-inline-color has-vivid-red-color">Further Reading</span></h3>



<p><a href="https://www.forbesafrica.com/current-affairs/2020/11/10/not-envisaging-lockdown-level-5-south-africas-health-minister/" data-type="URL" data-id="https://www.forbesafrica.com/current-affairs/2020/11/10/not-envisaging-lockdown-level-5-south-africas-health-minister/">‘Not Envisaging Lockdown Level 5’: South Africa’s Health Minister</a> <em>(FORBES AFRICA)</em></p>


SAFRICA-HEALTH-VIRUS

South African President Extends National State of Disaster By A Month And Appeals To The Country To Not Get Complacent


<p>Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) broke his <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/08/politics/biden-victory-congressional-republican-reaction/index.html" target="_blank">silence</a> about the election on Monday, declining to acknowledge President Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden and defending Trump’s court challenges, though McConnell did not endorse outright Trump’s voter fraud conspiracy theories.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h4>



<p>On the Senate floor, McConnell&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4922052/senator-mcconnell-president-trump-within-rights-challenge-election-results-court" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said Trump</a>&nbsp;is “100% within his rights” to open legal challenges into allegations of voter fraud, arguing the courts should weigh these accusations and Trump should not be shamed into conceding to Biden in the meantime.</p>



<p>McConnell said states should count all legal ballots and reject illegal ballots, echoing Trump’s baseless claim that last week’s election was riddled with illegal voting, and he said the process should be observable by all sides, possible alluding to a false claim circulating among Trump and his allies that pollwatchers were&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2020/11/06/trump-and-allies-keep-claiming-republican-poll-watchers-were-banned-thats-a-lie/?sh=2fb971f244da">banned in some states</a>.</p>



<p>Unlike Trump and some of his allies like Rep.&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1325658048585752581" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Matt Gaetz</a>&nbsp;(R-Fla.), McConnell did not repeat any specific fraud allegations or falsely imply Trump was the rightful winner, possibly leaving an exit for himself if the president’s legal challenges are unsuccessful.</p>



<p>He scolded media outlets for projecting a Biden victory and said no state has officially certified its results yet, though in most recent presidential races, news outlets have traditionally called a winner and both candidates have&nbsp;<a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/4024228/what-time-do-the-losing-candidates-usually-concede-the-long-and-short-of-election-night" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">accepted the outcome</a>&nbsp;well before the weeks-long election certification process wraps up.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h4>



<p>“President Trump is 100% within his rights to look into allegations of irregularities and weigh his legal options,” McConnell said&nbsp;<a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4922052/senator-mcconnell-president-trump-within-rights-challenge-election-results-court" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Monday</a>. “If any major irregularities occurred this time of a magnitude that would affect the outcome, then every single American should want them to be brought to light.”</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">TANGENT</h4>



<p>McConnell accused Democrats of hypocrisy for demanding a concession from Trump. He pointed to the fact that Al Gore did not concede to George W. Bush until Dec. 13, 2000 — though&nbsp;<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/13/gore-concedes-presidential-election-to-bush-dec-13-2000-287285" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">that concession was stalled</a>&nbsp;due to a recount process that sparked a Supreme Court challenge — and he suggested Democrats never accepted the results of the 2016 election. In reality, 2016 challenger Hillary Clinton&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/11/09/politics/hillary-clinton-concession-speech/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">delivered a concession speech</a>&nbsp;the morning after Election Day, though she still maintained later on that&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/nyregion/hillary-clinton-russia-hacking-election-trump.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Russian interference</a>&nbsp;was partly to blame for her loss.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



<p>Trump has not conceded to Biden yet, instead lodging baseless allegations of voter fraud and inaccurately suggesting he would have won if not for a unified Democratic effort to rig the race. His campaign has launched legal challenges in multiple states alleging voter fraud and violations of poll-watchers’ right to observe the counting process, but several of these lawsuits were swiftly rejected last week due to a lack of evidence, and most experts believe these legal efforts are&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/election-2020-what-are-the-trump-legal-claims-11604876612" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">unlikely to alter</a>&nbsp;the results of the election. Some close Trump allies like his wife Melania and son-in-law Jared Kushner have privately encouraged the president to concede,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/08/politics/jared-kushner-donald-trump-concession/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CNN reported</a>, though the White House&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/11/08/us/election-results/a-white-house-official-disputed-reports-that-kushner-had-advised-trump-to-concede" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">denied this claim</a>.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">BIG NUMBER</h4>



<p>That’s the number of Republican Senators who have congratulated Biden. Moderate Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Ben Sasse (R-Nev.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) have all acknowledged Biden’s win, though more doctrinaire congressional Republicans have sided with Trump and refused to accept the election’s results.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h4>



<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewsolender/2020/11/09/these-are-the-republicans-who-have-acknowledged-bidens-victory/?sh=63cbf5bacedc">These Are The Republicans Who Have Acknowledged Biden’s Victory (Forbes)</a></p>



<p><em>-By Joe Walsh, Forbes Staff</em></p>


Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) Holds Media Opportunity With Newly-Elected GOP Senators

McConnell: Trump Has ‘Every Right’ To Challenge Election Loss


<p>Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have have <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(20)30934-4/fulltext" target="_blank">found</a> a link between Google searches and Covid-19 cases that could help experts predict and respond to Covid-19 outbreaks sooner — this link was evident up to 16 days before the first cases were reported, which could give officials an edge when allocating resources to areas in need. </p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h4>



<p>Researchers found a strong relationship between certain Google search terms, examined using Google Trends, and Covid-19 outbreaks in parts of the U.S.,</p>



<p>There was a strong relationship between some keywords — including “Lysol,” “Face mask,” “loss of smell,” and “coronavirus testing center” — and outbreaks in an area, sometimes up to 16 days before cases were first reported.&nbsp;</p>



<p>The data, which is publicly available, could be used by officials to respond more quickly to outbreaks — “any delay in information could lead to missed opportunities to improve preparedness,”&nbsp;<a href="https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/analyzing-web-searches-can-help-experts-predict-respond-to-covid-19-hot-spots/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">says</a>&nbsp;Dr. Bydon, the study’s senior author.</p>



<p>Typically, traditional methods of surveillance, which include testing and public health reporting, lag behind the actual incidence of disease, which Dr. Bydon says makes this finding a “great way of helping to understand where future hot spots will emerge.”&nbsp;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



<p>In recent years, numerous studies have identified internet surveillance, particularly through keyword search trends, as a useful tool in predicting outbreaks of infectious disease. The information is cheap, if not free, to gather and available in real time, a significant change to traditional methods that can sometimes take weeks to gather and process accurately. This makes it a useful supplement to existing public health surveillance.</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">TANGENT&nbsp;</h4>



<p>Google tried — and&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/10/can-learn-epic-failure-google-flu-trends/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">failed</a>&nbsp;spectacularly — to predict flu outbreaks based on search trends a little over a decade ago. It serves as an important reminder that such predictive mechanisms can, and do, fail, and should be used to supplement, and not replace, existing surveillance.&nbsp;</p>



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h4>



<p><a href="https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(20)30934-4/fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Correlations Between COVID-19 Cases and Google Trends Data in the United States: A State-by-State Analysis</a>&nbsp;(Mayo Clinic Proceedings)</p>



<p><a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.wired.com/2015/10/can-learn-epic-failure-google-flu-trends/" target="_blank">What We Can Learn From the Epic Failure of Google Flu Trends</a> (Wired)</p>



<p><em>-by Robert Hart, Forbes Staff</em></p>


Tag: Newletter

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

South African President Extends National State of Disaster By A Month And Appeals To The Country To Not Get Complacent

McConnell: Trump Has ‘Every Right’ To Challenge Election Loss

Google Searches Can Help Predict Covid-19 Hot Spots