South Africa: New Variant of Covid-19 Spreading Rapidly in SA - Scientists and Government Closely Monitoring and Considering Implications
18 December 2020
By Mark Heywood & Anso Thom
Yesterday evening, with much of South Africa having shifted from lockdown to holiday shutdown, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize and members of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Covid-19 called an unexpected press conference to inform and present to the public new scientific developments and evidence that has been discovered on Covid-19 .
The briefing on Friday, 18 December, was addressed by Mkhize, Higher Education, Science and Technology Minister Blade Nzimande, Prof Tulio de Oliveira (director of KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform, or KRISP, at the University of KwaZulu-Natal) and Professor Salim Abdool-Karim, both members of the Consortium of Genomic Scientists.
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South Africa: Minister Zweli Mkhize Confirms 8 725 More Cases of Coronavirus Covid-19
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New Covid-19 variant could explain rapid spread across the Western Cape
By Marvin Charles
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Cape Town - The provinceâs Health Department head says a new variant of Covid-19, the discovery of which was announced last week, could explain increased infections across the Western Cape during the second wave of the pandemic.
Dr Keith Cloete said: âThe announcement on the new variant explains the rapid increase in cases we have seen in the Garden Route, and across the rest of the province now.
âThese rapid increases have put much more strain on the private and public health system compared to the first wave in June/July. The movement of holiday makers increases the risk of spreading the virus more rapidly,â said Cloete.