President Cyril Ramaphosa has confirmed the national coronavirus command council (NCCC) will meet to discuss the new variant detected in South Africa this week but there is no need to panic.
Speaking to journalists at the ANC’s headquarters, Luthuli House in Johannesburg, on Monday, he said government received a Covid-19 report on Sunday which would be discussed by the NCCC on Tuesday.
“We are meeting tomorrow [Tuesday]. At that meeting we will receive a report from the department of health as well as scientists to tell us what this is about and what is unfolding.”
The government was also monitoring the global situation.
“We have decided we need to be agile, we need to be proactive and look at this quickly and as soon as we can. There will be an announcement tomorrow [Tuesday].
“I have said there is no need to panic, there is no need for people to be concerned.
“Some people have said ‘are we going to have restrictions, the lockdown and all that?’ — far from that. We just need to be informed about what’s happening with this variant and we will be able to impart the information to the the country,” he said.
The NCCC was established in March 2020 in response to the pandemic. It consists of cabinet ministers and other stakeholders.
When government lifted the national state of disaster in April 2022 Ramaphosa announced the council would continue to meet.
South Africa identified its first case of the new highly transmissible XBB.1.5 variant at the weekend.
TimesLIVE quoted Maria van Kerkhove, Covid-19 technical lead at the World Health Organisation (WHO), as having referred to XBB.1.5 as “the most transmissible sub-variant” detected so far.
The variant was discovered in gene sequencing carried out by researchers at Stellenbosch University from a December 27 sample, tweeted Tulio de Oliveira, head of a gene sequencing institute at the university.
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.
It’s yet to be identified in China, which had a surge in infections after relaxing controls that limited the effect of previous waves of Covid-19. No effect on cases, hospitalisations or deaths have been seen in South Africa so far, De Oliveira said.
TimesLIVE
NCCC meets on Tuesday to discuss new Covid-19 variant — Ramaphosa
Image: Freddy Mavunda.
ANC president answered questions from the media following his delivery of the annual January 8 statement in Mangaung on Sunday. Subscribe to TimesLIVE Video here: https://www.youtube.com/user/TimesLive Comment Moderation Policy: https://www.timeslive.co.za/comments/
President Cyril Ramaphosa has confirmed the national coronavirus command council (NCCC) will meet to discuss the new variant detected in South Africa this week but there is no need to panic.
Speaking to journalists at the ANC’s headquarters, Luthuli House in Johannesburg, on Monday, he said government received a Covid-19 report on Sunday which would be discussed by the NCCC on Tuesday.
“We are meeting tomorrow [Tuesday]. At that meeting we will receive a report from the department of health as well as scientists to tell us what this is about and what is unfolding.”
The government was also monitoring the global situation.
“We have decided we need to be agile, we need to be proactive and look at this quickly and as soon as we can. There will be an announcement tomorrow [Tuesday].
“I have said there is no need to panic, there is no need for people to be concerned.
“Some people have said ‘are we going to have restrictions, the lockdown and all that?’ — far from that. We just need to be informed about what’s happening with this variant and we will be able to impart the information to the the country,” he said.
The NCCC was established in March 2020 in response to the pandemic. It consists of cabinet ministers and other stakeholders.
When government lifted the national state of disaster in April 2022 Ramaphosa announced the council would continue to meet.
South Africa identified its first case of the new highly transmissible XBB.1.5 variant at the weekend.
TimesLIVE quoted Maria van Kerkhove, Covid-19 technical lead at the World Health Organisation (WHO), as having referred to XBB.1.5 as “the most transmissible sub-variant” detected so far.
The variant was discovered in gene sequencing carried out by researchers at Stellenbosch University from a December 27 sample, tweeted Tulio de Oliveira, head of a gene sequencing institute at the university.
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.
It’s yet to be identified in China, which had a surge in infections after relaxing controls that limited the effect of previous waves of Covid-19. No effect on cases, hospitalisations or deaths have been seen in South Africa so far, De Oliveira said.
TimesLIVE
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