Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
Coronavirus: In South Africa, there have been 15,036 new cases of Covid-19, taking the total reported to 1,928,897. Deaths have reached 59,900 (+122), while recoveries have climbed to 1,709,999, leaving the country with a balance of 158,998 active cases. The total number of vaccines administered is 2,684,999 (+2,289).

• Backlash: South Africa’s move to lockdown level is being met with swift backlash from businesses – particularly from the alcohol and restaurant industries which will be hardest hit by the decision to ban sales and sit-downs for two weeks. Restaurants say that deliveries will not save their bottom lines, pointing out that, unlike in 2020, there is no longer any TERS or financial support from the government to help them. Liquor traders and brewers, meanwhile, say the fourth full ban on alcohol will lead to job losses and more livelihoods destroyed. The industry is mulling legal action over the move. [News24]

• Burnout: Reports from healthcare workers on the frontline of the third wave paint a bleak picture of what’s going on as Covid-19 cases surge in the country. Paramedics report being overloaded with callouts to patients, unable to find space in hospitals and using up available oxygen in the process. They report that hospitals are in chaos, and ICU beds are in short supply – and often end up having patients in their vehicles for hours at a time, further delaying their ability to attend to other calls. Earlier reports point to doctors having to choose which patients to treat, sometimes leaving others to die. Healthcare workers are suffering from fatigue. [EWN]

• Billions lost: Reports that two South African brothers, Raees and Ameer Cajee, skipped the country with an estimated R51 billion in bitcoin are extraordinary, according to attorney Gerhard Botha, who represents a group of investors which, at last count, had the largest combined claim against Africrypt at a total of R66. million. The largest of these lodged a claim of over R41 million. How much was really lost is still in question, with various reports pointing to figures between R1.1 billion and R10 billion. The brothers have denied stealing or absconding with the money. They maintain that Africrypt was hacked and that evidence will show that they were a victim of theft. [MyBroadband]

• Calculating: Investigative reporters, legal and forensic researchers, advocates and deep diggers at the Zondo Commission are going through the mountain of evidence presented at the commission, and have calculated the value of government and SOE contracts scored by Gupta enterprises. The number on record at the commission is just over R49 billion – however, another contract worth R7.8 billion is now also coming to light, taking the total to R57 billion. The figure does not include other corruption that occurred at SOEs at the time, and represents contracts ‘tainted by Gupta State Capture’. [Daily Maverick]

• Markets: South Africas rand was flat at the close of the week, with investors weighing conflicting signals from the US Federal Reserve that pushed the dollar away from two-month highs. Local investors were left to mull the higher inflation rates announced on Wednesday while balancing the growing pandemic and third wave complications in South Africa. On Sunday, president Cyril Ramaphosa put the country back into lockdown level 4, which is expected to reverberate through the economy in the coming weeks. On Monday, the rand starts the week trading at R14.16/$, R16.89/ and R19.68/£.