NEWSFLASH NEWS AGENCY 20 March 8 am
You are listening to ……..………. The time ………… I am……….……..….… with the news.
In the bulletin:
# Repo rate cut is good news for consumers and the agriculture sector
# SA’s number of confirmed coronavirus cases is expected to pass 200
# And, wreckage found may contain clues in Garden Route family tragedy
# Agricultural economist Dawie Maree says the decision by the South African Reserve Bank to cut the repo rate by a full percentage point is good news for consumers and agricultural producers. The rate now stands at five-point-25-percent. Maree says producers have experienced adverse agricultural conditions over the last few years, and consumers are also feeling the economic pinch at this stage:
Play sound: ENG-MareeOnMoney
# Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize says the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in South Africa is expected to go beyond 200. He engaged with medical doctors on the virus at the SA Medical Association’s offices in Pretoria yesterday evening. Mkhize says there is currently no vaccine against the virus but trials are expected in June. He adds that they are looking at how to increase testing capabilities:
Play sound: ENG-MkhizeOnTesting
SA Medical Association chairperson Angelique Coetzee says it is important that the medical sector works together to fight the virus:
Play sound: ENG-CoetzeeOnPartnership
# George police have recovered wreckage from the sea which was seen by a drone operator at Voëlklip, Herolds Bay. Southern Cape police spokesperson, Malcolm Pojie, says investigations into whether it is part of the vehicle that crashed over the cliffs last October, with Heidi Scheepers, her six-year-old daughter and two-year-old son in, are underway. Only the bodies of the mother and son have been found.
# The number of deaths in Italy from the coronavirus now stands at three-thousand-405, surpassing China’s total where the virus originated last year. There have been 220-thousand cases of the virus worldwide with more than nine-thousand deaths. The BBC reports that a lockdown imposed earlier this month in Italy has been extended. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte says the country will not be able to return immediately to life as it was before, even when the measures end.
# Golf: South African player Victor Lange has tested positive for the coronavirus. Lange received his diagnosis this week, having played on the Professional Golf Association’s Tour’s Latin America circuit. The 26-year-old was tested when he returned to South Africa from Mexico. Lange says he has no symptoms but remains under quarantine and with medical supervision at his home in Johannesburg.
# Financial Indicators: The dollar is trading at 17-rand-43-cents and the euro at 18-rand-65-cents. One British pound costs 20-rand-7-cents. Gold is selling at one-thousand-474-dollars-32-cent a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 28-dollars-20-cents a barrel.
# And finally: The Willowton Group has partnered with Pick n Pay to donate over 750-thousand bars of soap to young learners and selected old-age homes and frail care centres across the country. The donation is worth around five-million-rand and is aimed at promoting good hand hygiene and help curb the spread of the coronavirus. The schools received the bars of soap before they were closed on Wednesday.
That is the end of this bulletin, our next newscast will be at ………