People wait to be tested by medical staff in a mobile coronavirus test unit at the South African Department of Health in Johannesburg.
Photographer: Guillem Sartorio / Bloomberg
Photographer: Guillem Sartorio / Bloomberg
The new coronavirus strain identified in South Africa appears to be more transmissible than previous variants and has accelerated the onset of a second wave of infections, according to a member of a panel of scientists advising the country’s minister of health.
However, there is no evidence that it causes a more severe or different form of the disease, and hospitalization and mortality rates as a proportion of the number of infections are lower than during the first wave in July and August, said Ian Sanne, a medical doctor. infectious diseases and head of Right to Care, a non-profit organization that offers treatment to people with HIV and associated diseases.
“We saw data on viral loads being higher in patients who have the variant,” he said in an interview on Thursday. “The variant is more transmissible, the second wave has been substantially impacted.”
The emergence of the 501.V2 variant, which Sanne says may have originated elsewhere before being identified in South Africa last month, caused a political dispute between South Africa and the United Kingdom, where a similar mutation is increasing infection rates.
UK Health Minister Matt Hancock said the South African variant is more dangerous, prompting the UK to halt flights between the two countries. South Africa’s Minister of Health, Zweli Mkhize, called Hancock’s comments “unhappy” and is not supported by evidence.
To learn more about the dispute, click here
The variant is dominating infections in the South African coastal provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape and, to a lesser extent, the Western Cape, said Sanne.
“Nobody expected this second wave so soon, and because of the variant, it happened. The team, nurses, doctors and others are under enormous pressure, ”said Marc Mendelson, head of the infectious diseases and HIV drugs division at the Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.
Although more young people appear to be developing severe forms of the disease, it is still unclear whether this is due to the variant or to the more comprehensive tests and the holiday season, he said.
There is no evidence that the Covid-19 vaccines that have been approved do not work against the new strain. As of December 30, the South African variant had been reported in four other countries. The UK variant was found more widely, with reports spanning 31 other countries, territories and areas around the world.
– Assisted by Loni Prinsloo
(Adds impact on healthcare professionals in the third last paragraph)