The World Health Organisation (WHO) has flagged two new Omicron sub-variants that are responsible for an increase in the number of Covid cases in South Africa.
The global health agency on Wednesday also stressed the need for increased testing to monitor Covid mutations and their spread.
The two new sub-variants – BA.4 and BA.5 – of the dominant Omicron variant are the “reason for a spike in cases” in the country, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Dr Tedros, however, added that it was “too soon to know whether these new sub-variants can cause more severe disease than other Omicron sub-variants”.
He said the “early data suggest vaccination remains protective against severe disease and death”.
The WHO chief also told the media that the sub-variants were identified “because South Africa is still doing the vital genetic sequencing that many other countries have stopped doing”.
“In many countries, we’re essentially blind to how the virus is mutating. We don’t know what’s coming next,” warned Dr Tedros.
South Africa has reported more than 100,000 Covid deaths and nearly 3.8m confirmed positive cases. By some estimates, the Covid pandemic has hit South Africa harder than any other country in Africa.
Less than 45 per cent of the country’s adult population has received both vaccination doses.
As soon as Covid restrictions were lifted, South Africa witnessed a steep increase in cases, according to WHO data.
Even though global Covid cases and deaths have dropped to their lowest levels since March 2020, the WHO chief has warned that “these trends, while welcome, don’t tell the full story” and added that the findings showed “testing and sequencing remain absolutely critical”.
There have been 3,802,198 confirmed Covid cases and 100,377 deaths in South Africa between 3 January 2020 and 4 May this year, according to WHO data.
“As of 30 April 2022, a total of 34,881,319 vaccine doses have been administered,” the health agency noted.
