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South Africa's COVID-19 cases surpass half a million

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's confirmed cases of COVID-19 have crossed half a million, its health ministry said on Saturday, while cases in Africa as a whole approached a million.JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's confirmed cases of COVID-19 have crossed half a million, its health ministry said on Saturday, while cases in Africa as a whole approached a million.

Africa's most industrialised nation recorded 10,107 new confirmed cases of COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, pushing the total to 503,290, the ministry said.

Just over 3 million people have so far been tested for the virus in South Africa, which confirmed its first case five months ago, and 8,153 deaths have been recorded. Africa has recorded 934,558 cases, 19,752 deaths and 585,567 recoveries, according to a Reuters tally.

South Africa imposed a nationwide lockdown at the end of March to curb the spread of the virus, but it has now eased many restrictions to boost economic activity - as have other countries across the continent, a large chunk of whose populations are poor and face hunger.

"The lockdown succeeded in delaying the spread of the virus by more than two months, preventing a sudden and uncontrolled increase in infections in late March," South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a separate statement.

As restrictions have eased, infections have spiked over the last two months.

However, the daily increase in infections appears to be stabilising, particularly in the worst-hit Western Cape, Gauteng and Eastern Cape provinces, Ramaphosa added.

The World Health Organisation's top emergencies expert Mike Ryan last week warned that South Africa's experience was a precursor for what was likely to happen across the continent.

The difficulty - if not outright impossibility - of socially distancing in Africa's poor, tightly packed urban areas, has also been an enabler for the spread of the virus.

Cases in South Africa, which has the fifth highest total in the world, have overwhelmed an already stretched healthcare system.

That presents a cautionary tale to the other African countries, whose health services are for the most part even more stretched.

During August, the National Ventilator Project will deliver 20,000 locally-produced, non-invasive ventilators to where they are most needed, Ramaphosa said, as the government continues to mobilise additional facilities, equipment and personnel in provinces still experiencing an increase in infections.

(Reporting by Nqobile Dludla; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Paul Simao)

Connie Culp, 1st US partial face transplant recipient, dies

Connie Culp, the recipient of the first partial face transplant in the U.S., has died at 57, almost a dozen years after the groundbreaking operation.Connie Culp, the recipient of the first partial face transplant in the U.S., has died at 57, almost a dozen years after the groundbreaking operation.

The Cleveland Clinic, where her surgery had been performed in 2008, said Saturday that Culp died Wednesday at the Ohio clinic of complications from an infection unrelated to her transplant.

Dr. Frank Papay, who is the chair of Cleveland Clinic’s dermatology and plastic surgery institute and was part of Culp's surgical team, called her “an incredibly brave, vibrant woman and an inspiration to many."

“Her strength was evident in the fact that she had been the longest-living face transplant patient to date," Papay said in a statement. “She was a great pioneer and her decision to undergo a sometimes-daunting procedure is an enduring gift for all of humanity.”

Culp’s husband shot her in the face in 2004 in a failed murder-suicide attempt for which he was imprisoned for seven years. The blast destroyed her nose, shattered her cheeks and shut off most of her vision. Her features were so gnarled that children ran away from her and called her a monster,

The Associated Press previously reported.Culp underwent 30 operations to try to fix her face. Doctors took parts of her ribs to make cheekbones and fashioned an upper jaw from one of her leg bones. She had countless skin grafts from her thighs. Still, she was left unable to eat solid food, breathe on her own, or smell.

In December 2008, Dr. Maria Siemionow led a team of doctors in a 22-hour operation to replace 80% of Culp’s face with bone, muscles, nerves, skin and blood vessels from a donor, Anna Kasper. It was the fourth face transplant in the world, though the others were not as extensive.

After the operation, her expressions were a bit wooden and her speech was at times difficult to understand, but she could talk, smile, smell and taste her food again. In 2011, Siemionow said Culp had “a normal face" after doctors refined the droopy jowls and extra skin they purposely left to make checkup biopsies easier.

“She’s smiling, she’s perfect. When she jokes, she kind of flickers her eyes. Her face is vivid. You can see emotions,” Siemionow said.

Also in 2011, a Texas man severely disfigured in a power line accident underwent the nation's first full face transplant.

Culp made several television appearances and become an advocate for organ donation. Two years after her operation, Culp met with the family of Kasper, the donor, who had died of a heart attack. Culp told The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer: “They’re just really nice people.”

Kasper’s 23-year-old daughter, Becky Kasper, said she could see part of her mother in Culp, though their bone structures were different.

“I can definitely see the resemblance in the nose,” she said. “I know she’s smiling down on this, that she’s very happy.”

Reference: By RON TODT, Associated Press 18 hrs ago; 1st August 2020 

Tamar Braxton breaks silence on hospital stayTamar Braxton breaks silence on hospital stay

Tamar Braxton has called for people to "normalise" acknowledging mental health struggles after she was hospitalised for a suspected overdose.Tamar Braxton has called for people to "normalise" acknowledging mental health struggles after she was hospitalised for a suspected overdose.

The 43-year-old singer was rushed to hospital earlier this month after she was found unresponsive by her boyfriend David Adefeso at the Ritz-Carlton Residences at LA Live in Los Angeles.

And two weeks after her hospitalisation - which saw her transferred to a separate hospital with mental health specialists - Tamar has now broken her silence in a lengthy Instagram post.

Tamar began by thanking those who have supported her since the ordeal by writing: "Thank you to each and every individual who has prayed for me, thought of me, sent me their love and has showered me with their support. In this present moment, it is my only responsibility to be real with myself and to be real with the ones who truly love me and care for my healing.

I have without fail, shared with you my brightest days, and I know that sharing with you what has been my darkest will be the light for any man or woman who is feeling the same defeat I felt just only a week ago."

The singer went on to explain why her mental health had been suffering, as she said she had been "taken advantage of, overworked, and underpaid" in her career for over a decade.

She added: Over the past 11 years there were promises made to protect and portray my story, with the authenticity and honesty I gave.

I was betrayed, taken advantage of, overworked, and underpaid. I wrote a letter over 2 months ago asking to be freed from what I believed was excessive and unfair. I explained in personal detail the demise I was experiencing.

My cry for help went totally ignored. However the demands persisted. It was my spirit, and my soul that was tainted the most.

There are a few things I count on most to be, a good mother, a good daughter, a good partner, a good sister, and a good person. Who I was, begun to mean little to nothing, because it would only be how I was portrayed on television that would matter.

It was witnessing the slow death of the woman I became, that discouraged my will to fight.

I felt like I was no longer living, I was existing for the purpose of a corporations gain and ratings, and that killed me."

And Tamar closed her post by urging people to "stop associating" mental illness with "shame and humiliation".

She wrote: "Mental illness is real. We have to normalize acknowledging it and stop associating it with shame and humiliation.

The pain that I have experienced over the past 11 years has slowly ate away at my spirit and my mental."

The 'Braxton Family Values' star was admitted to hospital on July 16 after her boyfriend David called 911 and said he believed Tamar had been drinking and taking prescription pills.

A representative for Tamar said at the time: "Tamar has had a very tough and emotional day. More information will be coming in the next few days. Please pray for her." 

Reference: Bang Showbiz 1 day ago: 31st July 2020

Statue of Crimean War heroine Mary Seacole fetches £101k at auction

A bust of a heroine of the Crimean War who was voted the Greatest Black Briton has sold at auction for £101,000.A bust of a heroine of the Crimean War who was voted the Greatest Black Briton has sold at auction for £101,000.

Mary Seacole, who rivalled Florence Nightingale for her feats in the war, was the daughter of a Scottish soldier and Jamaican mother and born in 1805.

She later went to England and when she heard of the plight of the soldiers in the Crimea she volunteered to help but was turned down.

Undeterred, Seacole funded her journey and remained in the Crimea until 1856.

When she returned to England destitute, commanders in the Crimea raised money for the nurse, who was awarded the British Crimean medal, the Turkish Medjidie and the French Legion of Honour.

She died in 1881 and was voted Greatest Black Briton in an online poll in 2004.

The 30cm-high terracotta half bust, in which Seacole wears her war medals and a row of pearls, was modelled by the Victorian artist Count Gleichen in 1871.

It was sold at Dominic Winter Auctioneers in South Cerney, Gloucestershire, where it had an original estimate of between £700 and £1,000. 

Chris Albury, from the auction house, said: “Needless to say, we are in shock. We had thought it might go over £20,000 due to the intense interest but we are as flabbergasted as the vendor.

“The news of where it is going next and its eventual home is icing on the cake to a wonderful story.”

Ecstatic to have won the final bid for the bust of #MarySeacole by Count Gleichen! This grand piece will be featured in our upcoming film on her and then set out for display in London where it belongs. 

The winning bidder is Billy Peterson, of the film company Racing Green Pictures, which plans to make a film of Ms Seacole’s life.

After filming, it will be given to the Mary Seacole Trust and housed at the Florence Nightingale Museum.

By Claire Hayhurst, PA 2 hrs ago 1st August 2020 By Claire Hayhurst, PA 2 hrs ago 1st August 2020