No need to impose any travel restrictions yet, says Department of Health on new variant

NOXOLO MIYA

noxolo.miya@inl.co.za

Johannesburg - Dr Joe Phaahla, Minister of Health, and Deputy Minister, Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, held a media briefing on Tuesday to provide an update on the Covid-19 situation in South Africa.

In the briefing, Phaahla highlighted that there was no need to impose any travel restrictions on any country yet, amid growing cases of the new variant worldwide.

"The new variant XBB.1.5 has been detected more in the US, where its prevalence is rated at about 6,8% of the circulating sub-variance. It is also important to emphasise that it is a sub-variant or a sub-lineage of an omicron variant of concern."

"We have consulted our ministerial advisory committees, the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, and also the regional office in Brazzaville, and in both cases, the advice that we received was that there was no need to impose any travel restrictions on any country, including The People's Republic of China, and that we also do not need to reimpose any restrictions in our own country," said Phaahla.

Locally, the new variant, XBB.1.5, was discovered in the Western Cape following the testing of a sample.

Phaahla explained that while the case was detected in the Western Cape, the patient could have been from anywhere in the country.

The experts confirmed that there were no increases in cases, deaths, or hospitalisations in the country.

Head of the Division of Public Health Surveillance and Response at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Dr Michelle Groome, said the latest findings were not surprising.

Groome added that XBB.1.5 may not become a dominant variant.

"Certain sub-variants dominated in other countries, and that may not be the case in South Africa. There are quite low levels of this (variant) in Europe at the moment and in other countries as well. I think we need to realise that each country is different. We have very high levels of population immunity. There are many people in Canada who have been exposed to different variants and sub-variants of Omicron since it was first detected," she said.

Groome added that there was some evidence that the new variant could be more transmissible than previous variants. However, the evidence available at this stage was fairly weak.

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