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By Sihle Mlambo 
1 hour ago
Johannesburg – Health Minister Zweli Mkhize sent a stern warning to young people to get in shape after local scientists discovered a new variant of Covid-19 that is driving South Africa’s second wave.
The new Covid-19 strain, which is called variant 501.V2, first emerged on the Nelson Mandela Bay subway, but scientists say they don’t know where it originated.
Scientists say the new variant has seen more young people without comorbidities become critically ill from Covid-19. They also said that most of the new infections have been in young people.
During a virtual press conference on Friday, Mkhize called on young people to wear masks, disinfect their hands, practice social distancing and other non-pharmaceutical interventions against the spread of the virus.
“Our doctors have also warned us that things have changed and that young people, who were previously healthy, are now becoming seriously ill.
“Despite all these warnings in recent weeks, we continue to see recent videos on social media of young people partying in large numbers, including some playing kissing games during the holidays.
“Our youth are not wearing masks and are clearly so intoxicated that they have jettisoned caution and don’t mind observing the rules of the state of disaster. It cannot be that our youth can only adhere to life-saving measures by being watched, ”said Mkhize.
He also said that it is time for young people to understand that the virus not only poses a risk to older people, but also to themselves.
“We call on parents, caregivers and young people to understand that now it is not just a matter of thinking about others, but that you yourself run the same risk of dying from Covid-19.
“We cannot go through what we went through in the early days of the AIDS pandemic when mothers and grandmothers buried their children; this is the most heartbreaking phenomenon.
“Young people are urged to be concerned and find alternative ways to have fun safely this holiday season,” Mkhize said.
Minister of Basic Education, Science and Technology Minister Blade Nzimande said they were making R44m available to researchers for further research on the new variant.
Professor Tulio De Oliviera, director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research Sequence and Innovation Platform (KRISP) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said they discovered the new variant around November in Nelson Mandela Bay, but emphasized that scientists did not know where the variant came from.
He said it initially spread to other parts of the Eastern Cape, the Western Cape and the KZN, but was now present in all nine South African provinces.
In KZN, he said that the new variant was already present in seven of the 11 municipal districts.
De Oliviera said genome surveillance was a critical component to the public health response and helped detect and trace the new virus lineage.
Professor Abdool Karim, chairman of the ministerial committee, said that the new variant was in all nine provinces and had already noticed a rapid spread of the new variant in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and KZN.
He said it was too early to tell and more research was needed to determine whether this new variant was more serious than the first one that came from Europe, but it was important for people to adhere to the non-pharmaceutical interventions of wearing masks, washing hands and social distancing.
“This is an opportunity for us to improve preventive measures. We don’t need to change any of these strategies, ”he said.
MESS
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