Tag: pandemic

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) is a flagship South African public health organisation, and this book, by its first executive director and virologist Dr Barry Schoub, paints a portrait of its development, despite many challenges, towards becoming an internationally renowned partner in the struggle for global health.

In 2018, Alastair McAlpine, a palliative paediatrician in Cape Town, decided to share some inspiring thoughts from the children in his care. He posted: "I asked some of my terminal paediatric palliative care patients what they had enjoyed in life, and what gave it meaning. Kids can be so wise, y’know. Here are some of the responses". Their simple yet profound answers went viral, found their way into homes across the world and touched the hearts of millions.

Amidst the disruptive changes brought on by industry 4.0, the past two years has seen the world being faced with the worst global pandemic in just over a century - plunging both individuals and organisations into a state of chaos, uncertainty and instability whilst radically reshaping life as we knew it.

The word of the year in 1999 was 'Y2K'.  In 2007 it was 'subprime'. And then in 2016 it was 'Brexit'. 2017 saw the emergence of 'Fake news', and in 2019 it was 'Climate emergency'.

ALONG with responsible, like-minded, and frightened South Africans, we looked on in growing horror two weeks ago as parts of our county were engulfed by acts of public violence, flames, and wanton looting. More tragic is that so many lives have been lost.

According to Peter Attard Montalto (head of Capital Markets Research at Intellidex) the violence and looting that took place in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in July 2021 cost the national retail sector R5 billion, 800 non-shopping centre stores were looted, 100 stores were burnt out, and 200 shopping centres were looted, and many destroyed. How can the country recover from such devastation - and when still enduring more than a year of lockdown and a pandemic? The answer must lie in economic and individual freedom.

Our world has changed. The aspects that we have accepted as daily occurrences, and those that we have taken for granted, are no longer possible.

An interview with Yasmine Wilson, Associate, Norton Rose Fulbright, and Dr Ivor Blumenthal, CEO, ArkKonsult, discussing the impact of COVID-19 on force majeure clauses in contracts.

Will the corona virus (COVID-19) constitute a force majeure event under South African law? The answer to that is it depends.

An interview with Raynold Tlhavani, Partner Webber Wentzel, and Dr Ivor Blumenthal, CEO, ArkKonsult, discussing business interruption insurance in the light of impact of COVID-19.