New Year's eve in Kathu, Northern Cape, was an uneventful one - especially with the new lockdown regulations

A front-line worker at one of the biggest hospitals in Gauteng said the number of Covid patients being admitted to the hospital was steadily increasing and that a vaccine was the only way to help ease the burden in hospitals.

Anti-apartheid activist and a former leader of the Pan-Africanist Congress and Black Consciousness Movement Dr Nchaupe Aubrey Mokoape will be laid to rest on Friday.

A former SAPS colonel jailed in connection with the theft of firearms, which were then sold to gangs on the Cape `Flats, is in a witness protection programme after being paroled earlier this year.

As SA recorded a new daily high of confirmed coronavirus cases on New Year's Eve, President Cyril Ramaphosa led a candle-lighting ceremony in Cape Town to commemorate those who have lost their lives to the virus.

We're hitting the ground running in 2021 as many of last year's big news stories spill over into the new year

Just how much the coronavirus pandemic changed our world was evident at popular holiday destinations in SA on New Year’s Eve.

Insurers generally don’t honour a claim if you were doing anything illegal at the time - so what about if you have an accident between 9pm and 6am, when you shouldn’t be on the road at all, thanks to the latest Disaster Management Act curfew?

A recent social media remark was that 2020 had been the longest 12 years of our lives - which is not far off if you recall everything that happened.

More than 82.9 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 1,809,744​ have died, according to a Reuters tally.

South Africa has recorded more than 18,000 positive coronavirus tests in the last 24-hour cycle, setting a record high on the final day of the year.

President Cyril Ramaphosa will light a candle on New Year's Eve to commemorate the South Africans who have lost their lives to Covid-19.

Disagreement over whether KwaZulu-Natal has the resources to cope with Covid-19 patients continued on Thursday as Sama bemoaned a “dire shortage” of medical staff, oxygen and PPE in the province.

Life Healthcare Group has dismissed as fake WhatsApp messages saying three of its hospitals in Gauteng are closed for admissions and that no cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) will be done on Covid-19 patients.

However, it will only treat 10% of the country's 58 million people.

These are some of the new terms we learnt during the pandemic.

When the clocks strike midnight on New Year's Eve, France will be under curfew and its citizens plan to celebrate with gourmet food rather than large groups of friends.

SA has not delayed the procurement of the Covid-19 vaccine, deciding to acquire it in a manner that would not put the country at financial risk

As Asia says goodbye to 2020 - a tumultuous year that saw the planet roiled by a deadly pandemic - celebrations will be smaller, shorter and more muted amid fears of coronavirus flare-ups.

The father of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday he was in the process of applying for a French passport to maintain his ties with the European Union after Brexit.

Eskom has suspended load-shedding, saying the demand for electricity has dropped ahead of the long weekend.

The outgoing University of Cape Town ombud's parting letter to the institution reveals a tense relationship with management.

Convicted murderer Samuel Little, who confessed to strangling 93 people and was considered by the FBI to be the most prolific serial killer in US history, died on Wednesday at a California hospital, the state corrections department said. He was 80.

"We understand the curfew, but ordering us to sleep at 21h00 is disrespectful. We are not Bheki Cele's children."

Police minister Bheki Cele issued a stern warning for those who break the curfew on New Year's Eve.

As scores around the country went into isolation when the Covid-19 pandemic first hit SA, many will go down in history as heroes who decided to put their masks on, go out and make a positive difference.

Have you bought your candles?

A private hospital in Pretoria has set up a 10-bed holding area in the undercover parking lot to cope with an increasing number of people seeking medical care.

It is possible that the same people who carried out a heist in Pretoria on Tuesday struck again near Soweto on Wednesday.

Close to 18,000 new Covid-19 cases have been recorded over the past 24 hours, setting a new record for the number of infections in a day.