{"id":42400,"date":"2023-01-07T18:30:14","date_gmt":"2023-01-07T18:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-finds-its-first-case-of-most-transmissible-covid-variant"},"modified":"2023-01-07T19:45:51","modified_gmt":"2023-01-07T19:45:51","slug":"sa-finds-its-first-case-of-most-transmissible-covid-variant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-finds-its-first-case-of-most-transmissible-covid-variant","title":{"rendered":"SA finds its first case of most transmissible Covid variant"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>South Africa has found its first case of a coronavirus infection caused by the new, highly transmissible XBB.1.5 variant.<\/p>\n

Maria Van Kerkhove, Covid-19 technical lead at the World\u2019s Health Organisation, this week called XBB.1.5 \u201cthe most transmissible sub-variant\u201d detected so far in the pandemic.<\/p>\n

Nicknamed the “kraken variant” by some for its ability to spread, so far there hasn\u2019t been significant differences in severity identified between cases caused by XBB.1.5 and those from other variants. The WHO plans an updated assessment on the variant\u2019s risks in the coming days.<\/p>\n

The variant was discovered in gene sequencing carried out by researchers at Stellenbosch University from a December 27 sample, Tulio de Oliveira, head of a gene sequencing institute at the university, said on Twitter.<\/p>\n

XBB.1.5 has quickly become the dominant strain in the US and has been detected in at least 28 other countries, according to the WHO.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s yet to be identified in China, which is currently undergoing a surge in infections after relaxing strict controls that limited the impact of previous waves of Covid in the country. No impact on cases, hospitalisations or deaths have been seen in South Africa so far, de Oliveira said.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. South Africa has found its first case of a coronavirus infection caused by the new, highly transmissible XBB.1.5 variant. Maria Van Kerkhove, Covid-19 technical lead at the World\u2019s Health Organisation, this week called XBB.1.5 \u201cthe most transmissible sub-variant\u201d detected so far in the pandemic. Nicknamed the “kraken variant” by some for its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":42399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[274,315,613,275,1931,4273],"class_list":["post-42400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-covid-19-2","tag-south-africa-2","tag-stellenbosch-university","tag-variant"],"yoast_head":"\nSA finds its first case of most transmissible Covid variant - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"South Africa has found its first case of a coronavirus infection caused by the new, highly transmissible XBB.1.5 variant ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-finds-its-first-case-of-most-transmissible-covid-variant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SA finds its first case of most transmissible Covid variant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"South Africa has found its first case of a coronavirus infection caused by the new, highly transmissible XBB.1.5 variant ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-finds-its-first-case-of-most-transmissible-covid-variant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-07T18:30:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-07T19:45:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673103619.14.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-finds-its-first-case-of-most-transmissible-covid-variant#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-finds-its-first-case-of-most-transmissible-covid-variant\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"SA finds its first case of most transmissible Covid variant\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-07T18:30:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-07T19:45:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-finds-its-first-case-of-most-transmissible-covid-variant\"},\"wordCount\":220,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-finds-its-first-case-of-most-transmissible-covid-variant#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1673103619.14.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-South-Africa\",\"covid -19\",\"South-Africa\",\"stellenbosch university\",\"variant\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-finds-its-first-case-of-most-transmissible-covid-variant#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-finds-its-first-case-of-most-transmissible-covid-variant\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/sa-finds-its-first-case-of-most-transmissible-covid-variant\",\"name\":\"SA finds its first case of most transmissible Covid variant - 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