President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to meet with the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) on Tuesday to discuss measures to tackle a newly found Covid-19 sub-variant.
The urgent meeting follows the detection of the sub-variant, XBB 1.5, in the Western Cape a week ago
Tulio de Oliveira, head of gene sequencing institute at the University of Stellenbosch, tweeted on December 27: “First XBB 1.5 detected in South Africa today by Stellenbosch University, Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa.”
First XBB.1.5 detected in SA today by Stellenbosch University, Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA). XBB.1.5 = 1% (1/97 of recent genomes). Isolate from 27-Dec-2022. Interesting, two others assigned as BA.2.75 with extra Spike F486P mutation. Tweet 1/2
— Tulio de Oliveira (@Tuliodna) January 6, 2023
According to the World Health Organisation, the XBB 1.5 has quickly become the dominant strain in the US and has been detected in at least 28 other countries around the world.
Although it has been said that the sub-variant, nicknamed Kraken, is highly transmissible, Ramaphosa has said South Africans do not need to press panic button.
“The Health Department and scientists would suggest preventive measures specific to the newly detected variant,” he said on Monday.
When government lifted the national state of disaster in April 2022, Ramaphosa announced that the NCCC, established in March 2020 in response to the pandemic and consisting of cabinet ministers and other stakeholders, would continue to meet.
In a separate incident, China has lifted pandemic restrictions on foreign travel, ending quarantine requirements for in-bound travellers and with it nearly three years of self- imposed isolation.
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