New Covid variant EG.5 a concern - SAMA
The South African Medical Association says a new variant of coronavirus is cause for concern.
EG.5 has been described as other variants like XBB1.16, whose chances of becoming severe were very low.
SAMA's Mvuyisi Mzukwa says the new variant's likely to cause severe symptoms for immunocompromised people, and those older than 65 years.
"The reason there is a resurgence now is multifactorial. It could be the waning down of the immunity of the vaccines, that people have abundant public health measures of prevention and the waning down of the natural immunity and travelling in and out of the country.
"Government should be encouraging citizens to vaccinate, especially those that are at high risk."
On Friday, the World Health Organisation classified EG.5 as a variant of interest.
"The virus is evolving and circulating in every country, and EG.5 is one of the latest variants of interest that we are classifying. This is what we have to prepare for," says the health body's Dr Maria van Kerkhove.
"So far, in terms of the sequencing, we need countries to continue that and sharing databases so that our technical advisory group can monitor, asses and conduct these risk evaluations and publish them regularly."
