Weekly COVID-19 update and other developments

A paper by researchers from UCT and UCL investigating the role of sex in patients infected with COVID-19 has been published in Nature Communications.

UCT’s DASS project was on the frontline of the demand for data analytics, which would impact the success of the 2020 academic year and beyond.

UCT’s Silindile Ngcobo and Hannah Simba from Stellenbosch University look at what is needed in terms of COVID-19 health responses and strategies to assist women.

As the international campaign 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children is being commemorated, researchers from UCT are working towards alleviating the abuse of women.

A grant has made it possible for two of UCTʼs vital student support services to bolster their resources during a challenging year.

Progress in South Africa’s labour market regarding gender equality hangs in the balance as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, new UCT research has revealed.

Co-hosted by UCT, the four-week BREATH: Inspire/Expire Symposium virtual event aims to showcase the growing field of medical and health humanities on the continent.

UCT student Tiang Moabelo said that he used the nationwide lockdown to rebuild his business to be more tech savvy.

A new study headed by UCT’s Professor Heather Zar promises fresh insight into understanding the determinants of SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 in children in Africa.

A team of researchers at UCT is studying the immune system’s response to COVID-19 to establish how long immunity lasts after patients recover from the virus.

COVID-19 has highlighted the need for a multi-faceted national plan for physical activity to underpin the country’s health development.

UCT students who have been volunteering at the COVID-19 front lines will now have their efforts formally recognised on their academic transcripts.

The UCT Surgical Society has partnered with Communicare to provide elderly residents with companionship during the national lockdown.

UCT’s Prof Kelly Chibale said the development of a COVID-19 vaccine provides Africa with the opportunity to join forces against the pandemic and highlight its scientific leadership.

Final-year medical students at UCT give their take on what it has been like to be back in the field amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

UCT is participating in three international COVID-19 vaccine trials alongside other national and international counterparts.

COVID-19 has afforded us the opportunity to interrogate, shape and collaborate for change.

UCT emergency medicine specialists set up a system to cope with the wave of COVID-19 patients at the Mitchells Plain District Hospital and the Heideveld Emergency Centre.

An interdisciplinary postgraduate fieldwork project showed UCT students coming together online to educate children about face masks and COVID-19.

UCT’s Staff Organisational Health and Wellness – a division of Human Resources – is at the ready to support staff members and teams in times of crisis.

During a week-long coding competition, a group of solutions-driven UCT students developed ways to support small and medium-sized enterprises during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

UCT’s emergency remote teaching and learning plan required collective buy-in from role players across the university in order to run smoothly.

Staff from UCT’s Division of Emergency Medicine are integral members of the Western Cape’s frontline COVID-19 team.

UCT’s Dr Lauren Lai King has been given an opportunity to show her mettle when she assumed the role of course convenor amid a pandemic.

UCT’s Mandla Majola was diagnosed with COVID-19. After weeks of battling to overcome the illness, he was interviewed by iALARM colleague Myrna van Pinxteren and shared his story.

A team of UCT academics have developed a special COVID-19 testing station to safeguard healthcare workers at the frontline of the pandemic.

UCT’s Wellcome Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa has awarded “pump-priming” funding for six COVID-19 research projects.

UCT News canvassed the campus community to find out from students and staff what their remote online teaching and learning experiences have been like.

The COVID-19 frontline has shifted from a purely medical interface to include less-defined community spaces as community networks confront the pandemic’s social and economic fallout.

The South African Covid-19 Modelling team is trying to better understand and predict the behaviour of the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent dramatic increases in mortality.

Two UCT alumni have established a special non-profit research organisation to keep the continent informed about the COVID-19 pandemic.

UCT’s Biopharming Research Unit, under the leadership of Prof Ed Rybicki, has received government funding to assist in the production of diagnostic reagents for COVID-19.

Initially focused on engaging high school learners on TB research, Eh!woza has turned to creating documentaries to explore the impact of COVID-19 in Khayelitsha.

Too little is being done to support young entrepreneurs and the problem begins with parents and teachers – the “forgotten stakeholders”.

Investigators at UCT are working with the South African National Blood Service and the Western Cape Blood Service to conduct the PROTECT-patient trial.

Health and safety measures have been put in place for the phased return of authorised students to campus.

Student volunteers from UCT’s SHAWCO Health have adapted and responded to the needs of their partner communities during the COVID-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdown.

The Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation based at UCT has changed its name to the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation.

Only those staff and students who have received a personal invitation to return to campus under UCT’s phased-in approach will be allowed access.

UCT’s Office for Inclusivity and Change will host a special webinar to shine a spotlight on structural racism during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Only a small group of invited students and staff with letters of authority and health clearance certification will be permitted to return to campus.

UCT’s Dr Abhaya Karki and Dr Nabeela Amien could not have imagined being part of a team that would set up a field hospital from scratch.

As the COVID-19 crisis drags on and evolves, civil society groups are responding to growing and diversifying needs – just when access to resources is becoming more insecure, writes UCT’s Prof Ralph Hamann.

In the fourth conversation of the UCT Summer School series, communities were called on to use the COVID-19 pandemic to drive social change.

A recent research paper by PhD student Matthias Krönke explores Africa’s digital divide and the continent’s readiness to embrace e-learning.

The UCT Choir’s rendition of the traditional Zulu hymn “Thuma Mina” pays tribute to all frontline workers at the coalface of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Athol Williams, a senior lecturer at the Graduate School of Business, has proposed a way to lift lockdown so that it is in the interest of the poor.

The Covid-19 crisis has reinforced the global consequences of fragmented, inadequate and inequitable healthcare systems and the damage caused by hesitant and poorly communicated responses.

The University of Cape Town’s vice-chancellor, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, will be one of the speakers at the Mail & Guardian’s free live webinar on gender equality.

Fleeker, an online business platform headed by four UCT students, was forced to innovate to ensure its clients could operate safely once lockdown restrictions were eased.

Dr Sheetal Silal, a senior lecturer in UCT’s Department of Statistical Sciences, is leading efforts to model COVID-19 in South Africa.

The anti-establishment groundswell is gaining momentum around the globe, a flag governments ignore at their peril, say futurists. People are demanding change. Now.

Associate Professor Joel Dave, head of UCT’s Division of Endocrinology, said people living with diabetes could develop a more severe form of COVID-19.

The Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation has committed to incorporating COVID-19 research at its sites in Cape Town, while continuing its HIV and TB research and trials.

Child support services and programmes should be “urgently revived” to help the country’s youngest and most vulnerable cope with the fallout of the COVID-19 lockdown.

For universities, lockdown Level 3 signals the start of some students and staff being allowed back, with certain provisos.

Through the Numeric organisation, a group of UCT alumni are helping primary school learners excel in mathematics while also training and equipping teachers.

UCT’s Residence Life Division has launched a pilot Study Buddy programme, a peer-to-peer initiative to help students reach their academic goals.

Our scientists must not practise in isolation, but be encouraged to be creative and increase our knowledge of the needs of developing economies, write Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, vice-chancellor of UCT, and Professor Thokozani Majozi from the University of the Witwatersrand.

A new initiative led by academics from UCT aims to build a Drones4Good knowledge community that will extend beyond South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

The HIATUS study, being launched by UCT’s Wellcome Centre for Infectious Diseases Research in Africa, will investigate the interaction between pandemics in the South African context.

The Student Parliament of UCT took the unprecedented step of reimagining a formal sitting as a virtual meeting with remarkable results.

UCT Registrar, Royston Pillay, has reassured the campus community that management is working flexibly around a range of deadlines amid the uncertainty of COVID-19.

Dr Marise Heyns has been travelling the length and breadth of the Western Cape province, training organisations on how to manage human remains in the context of COVID-19.

A partnership between UCT and the University of KwaZulu-Natal has delivered a special application that screens public and private sector employees’ readiness to attend work.

UCT professors Linda-Gail Bekker and Valerie Mizrahi argue that it’s unacceptable to suggest that clinical trial conduct is at a lower standard in Africa.

The risk of exclusion for children with disabilities is even higher in this time of the COVID-19 crisis.

South Africa can become a country that rationally adapts to a COVID-19-integrated world, taking into account all healthcare priorities, to the benefit of all her people.

The COVID-19 pandemic could be an opportunity to advance the free trade area in a more developmental, inclusive and mutually beneficial way for African countries, says UCT’s Faizel Ismail.

Leen Remmelzwaal, a PhD candidate in computational neuroscience at UCT, designed a dashboard that offers comprehensive coronavirus statistics. It has since gained international traction.

UCT student Ilyaas Amien’s free, online maths tutoring service, Tutonic, is helping high school students around the country access help and guidance from student tutors.

Lockdown is changing how we lead, who we lead and how others respond to our leadership, writes UCT’s vice-chancellor, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng.

In celebration of Africa Month, UCT will be participating in a series of virtual symposiums on “Africa’s innovations in the global fight against COVID-19”.

Attendees of the online joint special session of the UCT Transformation Forum and University Social Responsiveness Committee reflected on the COVID-19 pandemic and the way forward.

The Children’s Institute at UCT and Media Monitoring Africa invite you to apply to attend free online training on reporting on violence against children.

Those working from home may find themselves catching up with paid work late at night or when their children have so-called screen time, writes UCT’s Associate Professor Ameeta Jaga.

UCT alum and Coronapp co-founder, Tamir Shklaz, is at it again – this time shifting his focus and skills to the critical need for personal protective equipment.

UCT’s student-run newspaper, VARSITY, has adapted to changes brought on by COVID-19 in order to continue to provide a platform for conversation, creativity and collaboration.

A joint special session of the UCT Transformation Forum and University Social Responsiveness Committee will be held on Friday, 22 May, in response to COVID-19.

UCT’s chief operating officer, Dr Reno Morar, has assured staff members that their return to work on campus will be done in a controlled, principled way.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning, Associate Professor Lis Lange says remote online learning was the only feasible alternative to salvage the academic year.

Research funding and a return to laboratories and studios were central to DVC Professor Sue Harrison’s message during the Vice-Chancellor’s online special assembly.

Final-year medical students, academically vulnerable students and those needing to access campus labs to complete their studies will be the first to return to campus.

Addressing a virtual staff assembly, UCT Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng assured her audience that the university will more than just survive the COVID-19 crisis

More than 28 million elective surgeries could be cancelled or delayed globally this year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Knowledge Translation Unit at UCT’s Lung Institute has produced a series of COVID-19 resources targeted at under-resourced communities.

Researchers on the Fairwork project have highlighted how gig workers in South Africa are unable to access the same government assistance as other workers.

UCT alumni have designed a rig to increase production of the bottle spacers that administer metred medication dosages to patients struggling to breathe.

Ingrid van der Merwe, head of the Careers Advisory Service at UCT’s Careers Service, offers some practical advice for students navigating COVID-19.

As we approach Africa Day, we need to consider how our continent can thrive in an ‘After COVID-19’ world, writes Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng.

UCT electrical engineering student Rowyn Naidoo is close to finalising an affordable, smart UVC light system that disinfects surfaces, the air and large rooms – and even face masks.

Dr Dale Rae’s research offers compelling glimpses into how sleep affects health, mental health and performance, and why quality sleep is vital for COVID-19-induced anxiety.

If President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ‘inclusive new economy’ is to be crafted to suit the new global reality following COVID-19, it must prioritise people with disabilities.

UCT post-doctoral research fellow Gabrielle Kelly comments on the challenges facing older people in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a recently published journal article, UCT’s Professor Keertan Dheda and fellow authors look at some controversies and challenges of COVID-19 in the country.

UCT’s Associate Professor Elana Moore and PhD student Nonzuzo Mbokazi say that the COVID-19 pandemic will deepen existing glaring racial disparities among children.

The Baxter Theatre appeals to theatre lovers to contribute at least R30 per month in an effort to keep “the people’s theatre” going during the nationwide lockdown.

“Recorded alone but singing together” is how UCT alumni-led choral group VOX Cape Town got around lockdown for a special Freedom Day performance.

UCT’s Prof Jeremy Seekings, Prof Nicoli Nattrass and PhD student Lena Gronbach set out in detail how the new COVID-19 grant can be implemented.

Isolation in the wake of COVID-19 lockdown further burdens under-resourced and vulnerable mothers. But mental and physical resources are at hand, thanks to Messages4Mothers.

UCT’s Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching has seen a surge in MOOC participation since global lockdowns came into effect.

SHAWCO has launched the #BeKindOnline initiative to help support some of the Mother City’s most vulnerable communities during lockdown.

Athol Williams, an ethical leadership expert at UCT, comments on the type of leaders needed during the COVID-19 pandemic and for life thereafter.

South Africa has been recognised globally for its success in flattening the curve, which came as a result of President Ramaphosa responding quickly to the crisis, writes Prof Alan Hirsch.

UCT academic, acclaimed author and poet Athol Williams wrote Oaky and the Virus, a free and fun educational children’s book about COVID-19.

UCT’s Faculty of Health Sciences has established a COVID-19 Research Task Team to communicate on research undertaken during the pandemic.

UCT has prioritised remote teaching and learning for students with disabilities during lockdown.

Online teaching in the most unequal country in the world is highly problematic, writes UCT’s Associate Professor Joanne Hardman.

Rising to a challenge, a team of UCT engineering and science students have designed a portable hand sanitiser-making device that uses surplus alcohol during prohibition.

UCT’s Professor Herman Wasserman assesses the media, government and the public’s performance when it comes to reporting and sharing the facts on COVID-19.

UCT’s Global Surgery division has developed an information dissemination platform on the coronavirus outbreak for communities without access to smart technology or data.

The coronavirus pandemic provides an opportunity for innovation and new scientific discoveries, say UCT academics.

UCT doctoral candidate Leen Remmelzwaal built COVID-19 Stats SA to keep data on the pandemic clear and unbiased for all South Africans.

Stay informed, entertained, healthy and engaged during the nationwide lockdown with these free online resources.

Researchers have found that the nutritional shocks on young children whose families have lost their income as a result of the lockdown may have long lasting effects.

VC Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng – in a special online conversation with alumni – will share the latest COVID-19 research initiatives currently under way at UCT.

UCT's Professor Robin Wood supports South Africa's COVID-19 lockdown programme but calls for more testing.

UCT’s Dr Kate Webb has co-authored an international response to a study on hydroxychloroquine for treating COVID-19 that may be ‘a rush to judgement’.

Working from home can soon pall when your workspace isn’t conducive to productivity and healthy living. Tap into these health and safety routines and practical ergonomics.

UCT’s Professor Ed Rybicki answered some frequently asked questions regarding the novel coronavirus and the widespread effects of this pandemic.

As COVID-19 infection and morbidity rates increase, UCT’s Prof Ed Rybicki shared some insights into the race to develop a vaccine against the lethal virus.

In light of COVID-19, researchers say that the South African government should implement a temporary increase in the existing child support grant to support struggling households.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgent need to upgrade informal settlements, said UCT researcher Dr Warren Smit.

UCT’s Institute for the Humanities in Africa has launched Corona Times, a space where engaged scholars offer expert commentary that explores ways to grasp the effects of COVID-19.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent national lockdown, UCT’s ICTS provides some handy tips to spot any potential cyberattacks while working from home.

Over 100 UCT Faculty of Health Sciences students have volunteered to staff the COVID-19 hotline at Tygerberg Hospital’s Disaster Management Centre.

Information and soap are precious commodities in townships in a time of COVID-19, and SHAWCO Health members went all out to distribute both before lockdown.

Experts in the UCT community say that establishing a routine and practising mindfulness can help staff and students survive working and studying from home.

UCT researchers are developing a privacy-centred smartphone app using blockchain technology that could become key to managing future outbreaks of COVID-19.

A group of volunteers with a UCT student at the helm will continue supporting the elderly during the 21-day nationwide lockdown.

Associate Professor Kevin GF Thomas, head of UCT’s Department of Psychology, shares advice for managing mental health struggles during this period.

UCT sports physician and exercise scientist Dr Jeroen Swart talks about isolation and keeping elite athletes on track during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What histories of past epidemics show is that the biggest danger during pandemics is not necessarily the causative agents, but how people respond to them.

In South Africa, the majority of consumers are unable to fill up a trolley in the best of times, let alone finance a serious stockpile.

Coronapp, built by two UCT alumni, is a centralised repository for information on the COVID-19 disease in South Africa.

The Daniel Samuel Maseko Memorial Scholarship has donated funds to help students in financial need with transportation to get back home.

The Baxter Theatre Centre has decided to cancel all performances at the theatre with immediate effect. They will reopen at the end of April 2020.

Leanne Brady, Embedded Researcher & PHD Candidate in UCT’s Health Policy and Systems Division shares some insights on COVID-19.

UCT’s Emeritus Professor Howard Phillips says in the wake of COVID-19, important lessons can be learned from the Spanish flu epidemic.