South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has said that a new version of the novel coronavirus
It has been identified which was spreading faster, driving the second wave of the pandemic that was passing through the country. He said people should be concerned about this new variant of the virus, but there was no reason to panic.
As South Africans headed to vacation destinations or their ancestral rural homes for the holiday season, the minister said there was concern that the novel coronavirus it was affecting many young people and those without comorbidities, who were among those most at risk in the early days of the pandemic. “We have convened this public briefing today to announce that a variant of the SARS-COV-2 virus, currently named variant 501.V2, has been identified by our genomics scientists here in South Africa,” Mkhize told reporters. the evidence that has been collected strongly suggests that the current second wave we are experiencing is being driven by this new variant, “he added.
Earlier this week, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced stricter measures in some coastal provinces, including the closure of beaches that would normally be packed by thousands of tourists, as daily infections increased exponentially last week. More than 9,000 new cases and 184 deaths were reported due to COVID-19.
“I’m afraid we have no good news for you. Our second wave is now well and truly on the rise in all of our (nine) provinces,” said Professor Salim Abdool Karim, head of government. Coronavirus Command council. He said it was too early to know if the new strain was more serious than the first or if it was reinfecting people who were infected in the first wave.
“We have two labs that are already growing the virus and we will start doing studies to answer that question. Once we have grown the virus, we will add convalescent serum from patients who recovered from the virus in the first wave to see if it neutralizes the virus. virus, “said Professor Karim. He added that studies are currently underway to see if the vaccines that have been developed would be effective against the new strain. “Importantly, the same diagnostic tests, the same strategies and the same treatments work against this variant,” Mkhize said, adding that another area of concern was that there would be an increase in cases where people returned from your vacation in January.
“We should be concerned about that, but there is no reason to panic. We have identified this new variant, but it is important to emphasize on non-pharmaceutical interventions that work: wearing masks, using disinfectants and maintaining social distancing.” worked effectively for COVID-19 and they will work just as effectively for the new variant because it is the behavior of the virus that we are really targeting, “said the minister.
Mkhize asked the media and the public not to spread misinformation about the new variant of the virus because the clinical treatment would be the same. “There has been no evidence to suggest that we should change any of the clinical treatments and if there is a need, we will discuss it at that time.” The Health Minister confirmed that there will be no additional restrictions to those already announced by Ramaphosa.
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