Africa-Press – Namibia. The Ministry of Health and Social Services is testing for a new variant found in South Africa called B.1.1.529.
According to scientists in South Africa, the new variant – with the lineage B.1.1.529 – has a high number of mutations, which are concerning for predicted immune evasion and transmissibility.
The variant was detected in Gauteng province, South Africa, Botswana and Hong Kong. Health minister Kalumbi Shangula confirmed that he is aware of the detection.
“We are constantly testing all the variants that are circulating in Namibia. However, it does not mean the variant is not in Namibia. It only means that among the samples tested, none was found to be infected with the variant,” Shangula told The Namibian yesterday.
Scientists in South Africa are studying the new coronavirus variant that is a cause for serious concern, stoking fears the country may face a potentially severe fourth wave that could spread internationally.
That country’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, in a press statement confirmed that a new Covid-19 variant, B.1.1.529, has been detected in South Africa.
“Twenty-two positive cases of variant B.1.1.529 have been recorded in the country following genomic sequencing collaborations between the NICD and private laboratories,” the institute said.
NICD acting executive director Adrian Puren said the data is limited and their experts are working with all the established surveillance systems to understand the new variant and what the potential implications could be.
“Developments are occurring at a rapid pace and the public has our assurance that we will keep them up to date,” said Puren.
Head of the Division of Public Health Surveillance and Response at the NICD, Michelle Groome, said the provincial health authorities remain on high alert and are prioritising the sequencing of Covid-19 positive samples.
According to Bloomberg, the new discovery, called B.1.1529 until a Greek letter is assigned, carries an unusually large number of mutations and is “clearly very different” from previous incarnations, Tulio de Oliveira, a bio-informatics professor who runs gene-sequencing institutions at two South African universities, said at a briefing yesterday.
“Here is a mutation variant of serious concern,” SA health minister Joe Phaahla said at the same media event. New Zealand-based infectious disease specialist Gordon Cupido said the new variant could be a problem if it evades immune response.
“It is more transmissible than the delta variant and causes moderate to severe disease. However, there is a chance that it might not be infectious enough and less infectious than delta,” he said.
The World Health Organisation said the current strategies and measures recommended continue to work against virus variants identified since the start of the pandemic.
“Evidence from multiple countries with extensive transmission of variants of concern has indicated that public health and social measures,including infection prevention and control measures, have been effective in reducing Covid-19 cases, hospitalisations and deaths.
“Authorities are also encouraged to strengthen surveillance and sequencing capacities and apply a systematic approach to provide a representative indication of the extent of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 variants based on the local context, and to detect unusual epidemiological events,” WHO urged.
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