Vaccination remains the bedrock to protect against any variant or sub-variant of Covid-19, said Health Minister Joe Phaahla on Tuesday, noting that no travel restrictions or any other restrictions will be reintroduced at this stage.
Phaahla was briefing the media after the meeting of the National Coronavirus Command Council on Tuesday, where the newly detected omicron sub-variant, XBB 1.5, was discussed.
The minister said his department is monitoring the situation and noted that globally there has been an increase in Covid-related fatalities since the sub-variant was detected in December.
“The new Covid-19 variant, XBB.1.5, was identified in South Africa in December but was reported this year. Vaccination remains the bedrock to protect against any variant or sub-variant of Covid-19 and no travel restrictions or any new restrictions [will be reintroduced] at this stage,” Phaahla said.
“The variant of concern, which remains dominant in the world, remains the omicron variant. This variant has had more than 100 sub-variants. The XBB 1.5 variant that has been detected in Stellenbosch is also a sub-variant of the omicron variant. Thus far, there has been no indication in change in severity of illness.
“The NICD [National Institute for Communicable Diseases] will increase waste water testing including from aircrafts from high-burdened countries. Currently, these will be China but possibly the US and any other country with rising infections.”
In recent days, the Department of Health made a renewed call for the public to wear face masks, observe social distancing, get vaccinated and receive booster shots.
Phaahla added that the vaccination campaign will be reinvigorated and qualification for booster shots will be readjusted to possibly include all adults. This will, however, be finalised in the next few days.
He said in the last week of December, there were more than 3-million new infections globally and at least 10 000 deaths. However, though the infections have dropped, China continues to record rising numbers.
In 2020, when the pandemic hit local shores, more than 100 000 lives were lost and thousands others were hospitalised.
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