Universities, scientists in major COVID-19 push

South Africa’s tertiary education sector has delivered a resounding response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Professor Ahmed Bawa, chief executive officer of Universities South Africa (USAf), confirmed “there’s a huge amount going on” and his organisation was collating a list of country-wide initiatives by tertiary education institutions related to COVID-19.

Management, academics and students at several institutions, including the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Venda and Nelson Mandela University, among others throughout the country, have been involved in initiatives to curb the pandemic and address its effects.

It follows a call last month by Higher Education, Science and Innovation Minister Dr Blade Nzimande to tertiary institutions, including USAf, the South African College Principals Organisation and the departments of health and higher education to coordinate a sector response to the pandemic.

The Department of Science and Innovation has established a research team made up of the South African Medical Research Council, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the Human Sciences Research Council to focus on scientific research and interventions to combat the epidemic.

On 23 March Nzimande said work on the development of a vaccine for the virus had begun at the University of Cape Town in association with the CSIR and the Biological and Vaccines Institute of Southern Africa.

World-renowned HIV scientist and infectious diseases epidemiologist Professor Salim Abdool Karim said the country’s medical brains trust was playing a crucial role in developing a vaccine and conducting “solidarity” clinical trials for COVID-19 treatment as part of the World Health Organization (WHO) Public Health Emergency Solidarity Trial.

Medical schools

While a 50-member committee chaired by Abdool Karim is advising Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize on steps to take during the pandemic, at least 30 scientists, researchers and clinicians from eight of the country’s medical schools are collaborating with counterparts from nine other countries on medical trials, testing certain treatments on COVID-19 patients to find out whether the drugs identified by the WHO are effective in reducing or minimising the effects of the disease.

“The virus spreads so fast. We had to take drastic action to try to stop it, as the main worry was that if 20% of the population or, let’s say, one-fifth was going to require medical care or be put on a ventilator, it would put strain on medical facilities as we don’t have the requisite number of ventilators; we wanted to avoid such a situation,” said Abdool Karim, the CAPRISA Professor for Global Health in the Department of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

Dr Jeremy Nel, co-principal investigator with Professor Helen Rees at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), said WHO conceived and designed the trials being implemented in partnership with national ministries of health from around the world, and multiple universities from across South Africa.

“To the best of my knowledge, no other African country has yet commenced with the Solidarity trial, although many have expressed interest.”

Asked about progress in terms of treatment, Nel said currently there is no known effective anti-viral treatment for COVID-19 and this was to be expected given the relatively short period since the virus was discovered.

Shabir Mahdi, professor of vaccinology at Wits, said South Africa was part of a broader network being coordinated by WHO to explore different vaccines to reduce COVID-19 cases and possibly confer herd immunity. While it usually takes as long as 10 years to license vaccines from the time of first going into human trials, scientists around the world were working around the clock to accelerate the process.

What universities are doing

Beyond medical research, other universities are making a contribution. The University of Venda entered the battle against COVID-19 by producing more than 100,000 litres of hand sanitiser which was given to students and distributed to residents in neighbouring villages.

Hand sanitiser was also on the production line at Nelson Mandela University in the Eastern Cape where the university’s chemical technology institute, InnoVenton, is producing about 300 litres a day, while the department of pharmacy’s pharmaceuticals division in the health sciences faculty is set to produce another 400 litres.

After Netcare 911, one of the country’s emergency medical healthcare providers, called on the 3-D printing community to assist with head rings for face shields for use by medical staff treating patients with COVID-19, several teams at Wits from the Digital Incubator at the Tshimologong Precinct, the School of Mechanical, Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering along with the Transnet Centre of Systems Engineering and the Transnet Matlafatšo Centre collaborated on producing a 3-D laser cut solution that saved time and met an urgent healthcare need.

The team plans on making 200 to 500 shields a day to provide protective gear for medical staff.

COVID-19 Africa dashboard

Another innovation at Wits was a COVID-19 dashboard with new data features, including snapshot views of how the pandemic is spreading in Africa, as well as statistics showing world trends. The dashboard, launched on 22 March by Professor Bruce Mellado from the Wits School of Physics and senior scientist at iThemba LABS, is maintained daily and updated within minutes of the government’s announcements of the latest statistics.

It provides historical data of relevant parameters, provincial and other breakdowns and has undergone several upgrades since its release.

“Many of the upgrades have been requested by scientists and journalists countrywide to improve the presentation of the South African data. Currently the site averages about 10,000 views a day,” said Mellado.

One of the upgrades is the addition of a dashboard for the African continent that includes a detailed account of cases, mortality and recoveries for all African countries. This has led to collaboration with the Botswana International University of Science and Technology to develop the first COVID-19 dashboard for Botswana, using data from the National Emergency Operation Centre of Botswana.

Tawana Kupe, vice-chancellor of the University of Pretoria, said students were involved in the initiative to make protective gear and equipment for the national medical aid provider using 3-D technology, and that he has seconded a staff member at the request of the presidency to join a team conducting modelling studies for the continent.

“We must all support the national effort to bring the pandemic under control and contribute to the process of returning to a normal life,” he said.