For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Madiba.

Making headlines: Ramaphosa to visit battered province amid calls for State of Disaster; Almost 2 000 power outages for Joburg residents over 5 days; And, Botswana, South Africa working to gain behavioural knowledge of new Covid sub-lineages

Ramaphosa to visit battered province amid calls for State of Disaster

President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to visit battered KwaZulu-Natal today as the provincial executive council calls for the declaration of a State of Disaster following damaging storms.

Ramaphosa is expected to conduct an assessment and receive a comprehensive update on the unfolding crisis.

He said the situation called for an effective response by government in partnership with communities.

Ramaphosa is expected to be accompanied by Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and Police Minister Bheki Cele.

Almost 2 000 power outages for Joburg residents over 5 days

There have been close to 2 000 power outages in Johannesburg since Friday as a result of downpours.

According to City of Johannesburg acting Environment and Infrastructure Services MMC Leah Knott, City Power has dealt with 1 944 outages across Johannesburg since Friday. Of those, 260 were related to the Hursthill substation.

The City is "closely monitoring outage backlogs" according to Knott, and more technicians and contractors have been deployed to deal with the crisis as fast as possible.

City Power has indicated the outages have been mainly caused by the surge in demand, which has led to cable faults and infrastructure failures on the City's aged power grid.

And, Botswana, South Africa working to gain behavioural knowledge of new Covid sub-lineages

World Health Organization experts are currently working with scientists and researchers in Botswana and South Africa to deepen analysis of Covid-19 sub-lineages which have so far been identified in four people in Botswana and 23 in South Africa.

The identified sub-lineage variants are BA.4 and BA.5.

Outside Africa, BA.4 and BA.5 cases have been confirmed in Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the UK.

WHO regional director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti explained that currently there were no significant epidemiological differences observed between the new sub-lineages and known sub-lineages of the Omicron variant which include BA.1, BA.2 and BA.3 sub-lineages.

She noted that there was no cause for alarm at the emergence of the new sub-variants, adding that the WHO had not yet observed a major spike in cases, hospitalisations or deaths.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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