New variant identified in SA, restriction of movement needed ‘urgently’ - Health Dept
South Africa’s health officials have sounded the alarm on a new variant of the Covid-19 virus circulating in the country.
It’s understood the Delta variant is responsible for the bulk of new infections, especially in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
It has also been identified in the Western Cape.
This week, the country recorded staggering cases with a daily increase of almost 20,000 cases for several consecutive days.
On Saturday, Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi called an urgent press briefing to deliver the bad news.
“Previously we had communicated that the third wave peak is unlikely to surpass the second wave peak so we were not seeing these numbers in terms of modelling but this was based on the assumption in case South Africa does not get a new variant.
“Unfortunately this is no longer the case. Our scientists after their sequencing experiments have discovered that we have a new variant that is prevalent in our country.”
Data shows the Delta variant, which was first identified in India, is more transmissible and presents a higher risk of reinfection.
Scientists agreed that it’s also likely to overburden the healthcare sector.
“The good news is that the vaccines may still be effective against it,” Kubayi added.
But she warned tighter restrictions are looming.
“After the discovery of Delta, we’ve had extensive discussions with NCCC [National Coronavirus Command Council] and out of that an announcement will be made.
“There is a common understanding that the current lockdown regulations are insufficient to deal with the current situation, especially in Gauteng,” she said.
Kubayi was joined by Koleka Mlisana, the co-chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee, who admitted new restrictions were needed urgently.
“If we want to reduce the transmission rates, we’re going to need to make sure that actually we get into hard restrictions, tighter restrictions,” she said.
“We need to be very decisive and go to an extent of saying ‘how do we restrict movement of persons and how are we going to do that?’ And that needs to be done very urgently.”
