News 09:00

BULLETIN 7 January 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The EFF says the BELA Act must be implemented without delay
# A  bioinformatics specialist says the metapneumovirus outbreak in China is not a threat to South Africa
# And a US winter storm claims at least five

# The EFF says with schools reopening next Wednesday, the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act must be implemented without delay. President Cyril Ramaphosa officially signed the Act into law in its entirety last month following a three-month consultation period on two contentious clauses dealing with language and admission policies. The EFF says these landmark clauses will serve a pivotal role in undermining racist practices, which were perpetuated by School Governing Bodies using admission and language policies, to create racial enclaves in schools.

# Bioinformatics specialist at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Tulio de Oliveira, has assured that the human metapneumovirus outbreak in China poses no immediate threat to South Africans. Speaking to eNCA, De Oliveira explained that the respiratory virus is part of China’s winter surge epidemic and unrelated to South Africa’s current conditions. He explained that the virus causes mild respiratory illness but can lead to severe complications:

# Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi is set to visit General De La Rey Hospital in Lichtenburg, Ditsobotla Municipality, North West today following a flooding incident. This comes after the stormwater system failed to channel water away from the facility. The hospital is one of three facilities that experienced flooding in the province. The department’s spokesperson, Foster Mohale, says the General De La Rey Hospital has been temporarily closed and patients have been moved to nearby hospitals:

# At least five people have died in a winter storm that brought heavy snow, ice, strong winds, and freezing temperatures in parts of the US. Seven states, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, and Arkansas, have declared a state of emergency. The storm has resulted in school closures, power cuts, and more than two-thousand flights cancelled. According to The Guardian, the freezing weather has been attributed to disturbances in the polar vortex, a large, three-dimensional ring of strong winds.

# Soccer: Nottingham Forest registered their sixth consecutive victory following a three-nil win over Wolves at Molineux, to move level on points with second-placed Arsenal in the Premier League. Goals from Morgan Gibbs-White, Chris Wood, and Taiwo Awoniyi secured victory for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, who are now six points behind leaders Liverpool. This is the first time Forest has won six successive top-flight matches in the same season in 58 years. Espirito Santo says it was a tough match:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-57-cents and the euro at 19-rand-30-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-27-cents and Bitcoin trades at 101-thousand-786-dollars-7-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-638-dollars-79-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 76-dollars-8-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….