Directors of the Racing Association, Mike de Kock and Charles Savage, discuss the devastating impact of Covid-19 on the horse racing industry in South Africa, the thousands of livelihoods which depend on the resuscitation of the industry, the impending demise of the sport in South Africa and the necessary steps that will have to be taken in order to steer the industry away from rock bottom. - Nadya Swart

Although he left the country as a 16 year old, Pretoria-born Nobel laureate, Stanford professor Michael Levitt, still describes himself as proudly South African. And as you'll hear from this podcast, the brilliant academic has some insightful perspectives on how his former homeland is handling the Covid-19 crisis. Mostly positive: He praises the early lockdown and reckons gloomy forecasts of infections only peaking in September could be way off beam. The Medical Faculty and Computer Science professor reckons SA's peak may be as early as two weeks away - and while no fan of lockdowns, says the country is one of the few to have applied this blunt tool for the right reason at the right time. But SA's only living Nobel Prize science laureate (chemistry: 2013) also supports a sensible re-opening of the economy to ensure lockdown pain is not sacrificed by an economic disaster. A rational perspective on a very noisy subject - much required at a time when common sense is too often overwhelmed by blowhard punditry. - Alec Hogg

In episode 33 of Inside Covid 19, South Africa’s leading social media lawyer explains why fake news has been surging in the coronavirus crisis; the chairman of Grindrod and Spar explains why lockdown’s Level 4 needs to be dropped – and urgently; Barloworld uses Covid-19 to try pull out of a R5.35bn potentially life-saving deal for Tongaat; worrying news from New York where previously rare coronavirus-related Kawasaki disease is hitting children; and our partners at Bloomberg argue that the world needs a probe into US president Donald Trump’s often stated theory that Covid-19 started in a Wuhan lab. (Pic of the empty building site, something seen too often in SA today, by our Biznews colleague Nadya Swart.)

In today's news headlines: * As the number of Covid-19 cases heads towards 12,000, the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) has announced that its chair Dr Clarence Mini has died from complications related to Covid-19; * The Covid-19 loan guarantee scheme, with loans guaranteed by government for businesses with a turnover of less than R300m, has started taking applications; * South Africa’s National Command Council, the body overseeing the government’s response to the coronavirus crisis, is considering easing lockdown rules more rapidly as the economy tanks and poverty levels soar, three senior officials have told Bloomberg; * In other Covid-19 news making the global headlines, Wuhan will test its entire population of 11 million after the Chinese city where the pandemic began reported new infections for the first time since its lockdown was lifted. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman is the latest top official to fall ill, and Britons may not be able to travel outside the UK until September; and * With supermarkets among the few businesses allowed to operate under Covid-19 restrictions you might expect them to enjoy bumper profits. But this is not the case. Pick n Pay Stores on Tuesday the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to hit its margins and profitability this year.

The government has been praised by the World Health Organisation and many governments for its swift clampdown in containing the novel coronavirus. Prof Alex van den Heever, the Chair in Social Security at Wits university however believes the effect of the lockdown has been limited as the reproduction rate of the disease has not come down enough. Prof van den Heever says that South Africa has a worsening epidemic despite the lockdown. He told Linda van Tilburg what the government could do to stay ahead of the disease.

The Covid-19 storm has not yet landed on SA shores. The lockdown created to prepare for the peak of the virus is not without its price, and no one knows how huge that tag is going to be. And while many are calling for the lockdown to end, neither local or international scientists and politicians can predict what the possible devastation could be if the lockdown is prematurely lifted. Banker Martin Kingston of Business for South Africa is firm that Covid-19 must not be reduced to an argument whether lives should be saved or livelihoods protected. - Vanessa Marks

Dr Mariheca Otto, who was stuck in Bali when all flights to South Africa were cancelled due to the Covid-19 lockdown, has after 8 weeks been repatriated. She will remain in isolation for 14 days before she can return to her four children in Cape Town. Dr Otto spoke toLinda van Tilburg about the lessons she learnt, in both business and her personal life. One particular lesson came from being part of a social media group of South Africans in Indonesia, which made her realise how important it is to avoid what she called, ‘the haters’.

In today's news headlines: * The number of reported Covid-19 deaths reached 206 in South Africa on Monday, which is a relatively small figure of the 284,000 deaths worldwide. Andrew Lapping, the Cape Town-based chief investment officer at private investment house Allan Gray, is among the analysts who warn that Covid-19 containment measures are having a devastating effect on the long-term health of the economy; * We must be prepared to continue to live with the coronavirus among us for a year or even more, President Cyril Ramaphosa tells South Africa in his e-newsletter; * With the horse racing sector teetering on collapse as a result of Covid-19 containment measures that have halted all sporting activity, a branch of the Oppenheimer family has moved to help Phumelela, a horse racing company in deep trouble; and * The Johannesburg Stock Exchange is to offer temporary relief to companies in financial distress because of the coronavirus crisis, including cutting fees for new listings and extended payment terms.

In episode 32 of Inside Covid-19 we crunch some numbers with an actuary to find exercising regularly and eating healthily dramatically drops the prospect of being hospitalised for Covid-19; former finance minister Trevor Manuel joins a chorus calling for changes to some irrational lockdown regulations; we unpack organised business’s call to drop the lockdown level from 4 to 2; a Wits professor asks whether SA has indeed flattened the Covid-19 infection curve; and we catch up with the Bali-stranded SA doctor who has finally made it home to her four children. (the pic above of abandoned wheelbarrows is by our Biznews colleague Nadya Swart)

In this episode of Rational Radio, SA's favourite stockbroker David Shapiro is peppered with questions about investment ideas (he comes up some fresh ones including Salesforce.com) and the two pic stories in focus are: * The threat to 100 000 horseracing jobs is very real, with no guarantee a R100m Oppenheimer bailout will save the teetering sector from a Government that refuses to allow 65 people on course to conduct a race meeting; and * Business for South Africa's Martin Kingston - who heads Rothschilds in SA - addresses the tough question about the stifling Level 4 lockdown; why B4SA is calling for a lifting to level 2; and why president Cyril Ramaphosa doesn't trust his fellow citizens to act responsibly.

Prof Michael Levitt, a product of Pretoria Boy’s High whose family left for England when he was 15, is a recipient of science’s greatest honour – the Nobel Prize. As you’ll hear in the highlights of this interview with Freddie Sayers of UnHerd.com, the 72- year old professor of computer science and structural biology at California’s top university, Stanford, still possesses his South African accent. The globally respected scientist who has been tracking the Covid-19 data since January, has a critical message for the land of his birth – the lockdown is a huge mistake and countries which have applied them will be harshly judged by future generations… - Alec Hogg

In today's news headlines: * Thousands of low-risk prisoners are to be granted parole to help curb the spread of the coronavirus in correctional facilities; * African countries require a two-year debt standstill to provide governments with the fiscal space to fight the coronavirus pandemic, according to President Cyril Ramaphosa; * Phumelela Gaming and Leisure on Friday joined a slew of distressed firms to file for business rescue as horse-racing industry players urged government to rethink Covid-19 shutdown measures; * South Africa born global tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has threatened legal acton against California after it blocked Tesla from reopening its only US car plant, threatening to immediately relocate operations to other states and cease manufacturing at the factory; and * Former president Jacob Zuma has slammed President Ramaphosa, accusing his successor of hanging him out to dry by forcing him to pay his own legal bills to fight corruption-related cases. Zuma denies getting rich while he was president.

Nouriel Roubini has earned the nickname “Dr. Doom” for his pessimistic predictions – but he is often correct. Now, Roubini is predicting a bitter Greater Depression in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis. In this episode, featuring content from the Bloomberg Odd Lots podcast, we dive deep into Dr. Doom’s predictions and ask what they may mean for South Africa.

Alec Hogg engages in a dynamic discussion with Professor Ian Vlok, neuroscientist and neurosurgeon at Tygerberg Hospital, who introduces us to Quintin - 'the robot' with the potential to decrease the risk for medical practitioners while increasing their virtual presence with patients during the Covid crisis. Professor Vlok furthermore believes that the lockdown has granted the medical professionals at Tygerberg Hospital with time which they have utilised in order to be as prepared as they can be for the anticipated tidal wave of Covid-19 infections to come. - Nadya Swart

South Africa’s Covid-19 lockdown may cause 29 times more deaths in the long run than the virus. That is the stark message from Pandemic Data and Analytics (Panda) who have compiled a report that they have handed over to the Presidency. The co-ordinator of Panda, Nick Hudson says that the government’s mantra that the lockdown saves lives and that it is lives versus the economy is a false dichotomy. Poverty due to the lockdown could in the long run be a bigger killer than Covid-19. He explained to Linda van Tilburg who Panda was and said he thought the Sweden model was a good one for the second phase of the lockdown.

The author of Kasinomics GG Alcock believes that the secret to more jobs and economic growth in South Africa lies in the Informal sector. He is passionate about bringing awareness, regulations and support from the government and the formal sectors to help these businesses realise their potential. Through research for his company Minanawe Marketing, GG has gained a great understanding of these Informal markets and the huge potential they hold. - Lizzie Cornwell

The list of big businesses in South Africa that are struggling to keep their doors open is growing. It includes Edcon, the owners of Edgars and Jet, that voluntarily placed itself under business rescue, as with Comair and SA Express, while Associated Magazines closed its doors, to name a few. A survey by Statistics South Africa revealed that 42% of the country's businesses are struggling and that they have run out of financial resources to continue operating during the Covid-19 lockdown. PJ Veldhuizen, a Cape Town lawyer from Gillen and Veldhuizen, which specialises in business rescue and directors' liability, says companies in financial distress should not remain in lockdown paralysis. "It's time for businesses to honestly assess their positions and consider options." In an interview with Linda van Tilburg, he said the moratorium granted by the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission during the lockdown period does not apply to third parties, which leaves any business under stress and their directors wide open.

In episode 31 of Inside Covid 19, an in-depth interview with neurosurgeon Prof Ian Vlok on Tygerberg Hospital’s Covid-19 robots – and why local medics believe the country needs to urgently open up; a warning by the actuaries at Panda that the unintended consequences of the lockdown will kill 29 times more people than the virus; how the new world of office work will be very different to the pre-Covid-19 norm; and a message to struggling companies from a business rescue practitioner who advises them to take the tough decisions sooner rather than later.

Thys du Toit, one of the founders of Coronation Fund Managers, and the chairman of Rootstock Asset Management has made an impassioned appeal to President Cyril Ramaphosa to urgently open the economy to avoid a massive economic and social catastrophe after the Covid -19 pandemic. In this hard-hitting interview with Biznews editor-in-chief Alec Hogg he among others takes a swipe at corruption that's still eating at our economic table, with state capture and Steinhoff perpetrators still not brought to book. He believes we'll win the war on Covid-19 and the real heroes will be those who create jobs. - Stanley Karombo

In today's news headlines: * The number of Covid-19 deaths in South Africa now exceeds more than 150 and the number of confirmed cases has risen to more than 7,800 - relatively small numbers compared to the United States and countries in Europe; * SA business confidence plunged to an all-time low in April, as Covid-19 containment measures brought economic activity to a near standstill; * A major security risk has been identified with Zoom, after Zoom hackers hurled porn at South African parliamentarians; and * US equities climbed alongside stocks in Europe on Thursday, while Sappi was the best performer on the Johannesburg stock exchange.

Alec Hogg catches up with stream lead for Business for South Africa, Stavros Nicolaou, to discuss the PPE stock that has been secured, the necessity of good morale among our country’s frontline workers and the projected economic contraction of 17% - as calculated by BSA. - Nadya Swart

A brilliant commentary by former FNB CEO, Michael Jordaan on the challenges and especially the opportunities you can grab if you are courageous enough to face the brutal reality of your business and your life. And if you do this it becomes a lot easier to make the right decision, Jordaan tells Biznews editor-in-chief Alec Hogg in this frank discussion about the immediate future and beyond Covid-19. -  Stanley Karombo

In episode 30 of Inside Covid 19, granular research by Business4SA concludes the economy could contract by a staggering 17% this year; we hear from money manager Thys du Toit whose plea to the president to open up the country went viral; a UK professor explains why our species has become so obsessed with fake news in this time of coronavirus; and growing evidence that in Africa, virus-instigated lockdowns do more harm than good. - Alec Hogg

There are many conspiracy theories about the coronavirus; that it was started in a lab in China and did not originate from a wet market in Wuhan; that 5G can spread the virus, to name a few. We seem to be more drawn to conspiracy theories during the coronavirus outbreak; and there are many doing the rounds in South Africa, which are readily shared on social media platforms. But why are people on social media platforms so keen to spread conspiracy theories? Dr Daniel Jolley, a chartered psychiatrist and senior psychology from the University of Northumbria in the UK who specialises in conspiracies, explains why people believe in them. - Linda van Tilburg

In today's news headlines: * Former president Jacob Zuma and Duduzane Zuma, his son who worked for the Gupta family, have produced their version of a reality TV show. The first episode of Zooming with the Zumas focuses on how Duduzane managed the clandestine extraction of current deputy president David Mabuza to a medical treatment facility in Russia; * A Morgan Stanley backed fund has plans to invest R5bn of newly raised cash in mid-sized South African companies hit by a shrinking local economy and the coronavirus pandemic, reports Bloomberg; * British American Tobacco will begin negotiations with the South African government instead of taking legal action to overturn a national ban on cigarette sales now in its sixth week; and * The World Bank has come to Zimbabwe’s rescue, finding $7m to help it fight the coronavirus pandemic despite the nation being in arrears with the Washington-based lender.