Experts make worrying Covid-19 variant discovery in South Africa
Immuno-compromised people can produce new Covid-19 variants where the virus circulates and mutates within their bodies, says professor Tulio de Oliveira, director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP).
De Oliveira told eNCA of a recent case where a person with uncontrolled HIV had Covid-19 for in excess of eight months, which led to mutations.
“What had happened is that when that person got infected with Covid-19, it could not be cleared for over 200 days. What we did was ensure this person responded to antiretroviral therapy.
“But during that time the Covid-19 virus kept evolving and creating mutations seen in the variants – not only the variant seen in South Africa but similar to those seen in UK and Brazil.”
De Oliveira said the research shows that immuno-compromised people, through other issues such as cancer or HIV, could become an almost ‘factory’ of variants.
He said that there is a silver lining in that ARV treatment can help these people clear Covid-19 at a much faster rate.
He called it a ‘wake up call’ that South Africa still needs to address its HIV problem, alongside the Covid-19 pandemic.
South Africa reported 5,361 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday (3 June), taking the total of cases reported to 1,680,373.
Deaths have reached 56,765, while recoveries have climbed to 1,567,635, leaving the country with a balance of 55,973 active cases. The total number of vaccines administered is 1,193,352 (+75,783).
However, data from the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) shows that the country’s death toll from Covid-19 is much higher than what is reported by the minister of health.
The group takes its data from excess death figures, which epidemiologists say is a good measure of the real death toll from the pandemic.
Move to restrictions
South Africa moved to an adjusted level 2 lockdown on Monday (31 May), following a spike in Covid-19 cases.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his address that an increase in gatherings was directly responsible for the increased transmission, with funerals and school sporting events highlighted as particularly problematic.
He said that the recommendations were based on the sustained increase in new cases, increased hospital admissions in almost all provinces and an increase in the proportion of positive Covid tests.
The president said that South Africans have also grown fatigued from more than a year of lockdowns and have become lackadaisical around mask wearing and social distancing.
Further restrictions are being imposed to ensure the healthcare sector is not overwhelmed and to allow as many people as possible to be vaccinated before the third wave.
The updated restrictions include:
- An evening curfew between 23h00 – 04h00;
- Non-essential establishments such as restaurants and bars must close at 22h00 to allow staff to travel before curfew;
- All gatherings are limited to 100 people indoors and 250 people outdoors;
- Where a venue is too small to accommodate these people, then no more than 50% of the venue capacity can be used;
- Funerals remain restricted to 100 people, while after-funeral gatherings remain prohibited.
- Night vigils, after-funeral gatherings and ‘after tears’ gatherings are not allowed.
Read: Doctors threaten to leave South Africa because of the NHI
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