ADVERTISEMENT
  • The Membership Club
  • PT Hausa
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
Monday, March 1, 2021
Premium Times Nigeria
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Opinion
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Parliament Watch
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • AGAHRIN
Premium Times Nigeria
BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad BUA Group Ad
ADVERTISEMENT
COVID-19: Coronavirus Test Sample

Coronavirus File Photo (Photo Credit: Time Magazine)

COVID-19: South Africa sees new virus variant

In recent days, South Africa has seen a strong second wave, with the government documenting about 9,000 new cases a day.

byAgency Report
December 22, 2020
3 min read

South African health officials say the nation’s new COVID-19 wave is driven by a new variant of the coronavirus. But they say if there is one overarching message about the new variant, it is this: don’t panic.

In recent days, South Africa has seen a strong second wave, with the government documenting about 9,000 new cases a day. That leaves the nation, Africa’s epicenter for the virus, with nearly 350,000 confirmed cases since March, and nearly 25,000 deaths.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said epidemiologists expect to see a further rise as many South Africans return to work in January from a month long summer holiday. However, he said there is no need for a change in strategy.

“There’s no need to panic, to think that there’s some new treatment that we’re going to need, or at this point to ask the question as to whether any of the treatment that has been used is going to be effective or not,” he said at a virtual briefing Friday.

“At the moment, it has been effective even before we knew that there was a variant. So we want to keep that as a matter of reassurance to the public,” he said.

South African Medical Association chairperson, Angelique Coetzee, said doctors have noticed one “major” difference with regard to the variant.

“Where in the past, the younger people was not really that sick, we are now seeing that people, especially overweight people, round about the age between 20 and 30, are also in ICU with severe inflammation from this virus,” she said.

Tedros Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said Monday the new variant is no stronger than the original.

“In the past few days, there have been reports of new variants in South Africa and the United Kingdom,” he said. “Viruses mutate over time; that’s natural and expected. The U.K. has reported that this new variant transmits more easily, but there is no evidence so far that it is more likely to cause severe disease or mortality,” he said.

RelatedNews

VIDEO: Nigeria to receive COVID-19 vaccines Tuesday – Official

YabaTech fixes date for Post UTME

Early data suggests great news about COVID-19 vaccine

COVID-19: Nigeria records 10 more deaths, 662 new infections

The chair of South Africa’s advisory committee on the coronavirus, Salim Karim, said Friday the nation’s top sequencing lab found this new strain in about 90 per cent of new cases. This, he stressed, is typical of viruses: they generally evolve to become more transmissible — but also, less severe.

He said the second wave is so far showing signs that it is spreading faster than the first wave. But is it stronger and deadlier? So far, he said, there are no signs of that.

He also noted that experts are studying whether the new vaccines will work on the new variant. So far, he said, the data is inconclusive. On Tuesday, the health department announced that the government had made a $19 million down payment to the international vaccine alliance. Those funds will go toward providing six million doses —which will cover about 10 percent of the population.

Dangote adbanner 728x90_2 (1)

Karim stressed that the single best strategy is to give the virus no quarter and starve it into submission.

“The current diagnostics are still effective,” he said. “Our current strategies of social distancing, hand hygiene, symptom checking, mask wearing — all of them remain the basic strategies of prevention for this virus.”

ALSO READ: COVID-19: Nigeria now in second wave – Govt

Professor Richard Lessells of the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform in Durban is one of the scientists who identified the new variant.

“It’s highly unlikely that it would have any different clinical symptoms. There’s no reason to believe that and that wouldn’t fit with our understanding. But one of our concerns is could there be a difference in the progression of the disease and a more aggressive disease course,” he said.

South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases has posted a list of frequently asked questions about the new variant on its website, www.NICD.ac.za.

Meanwhile, here’s what it comes down to: wash your hands. Keep your distance from others. Stay home, if you can. Essentially, treat this new strain the same as the old one, keep calm, and carry on.

ADVERTISEMENT

(VOA)

  • WhatsApp
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Print
  • Telegram
  • More
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Pocket

Support PREMIUM TIMES' journalism of integrity and credibility

Good journalism costs a lot of money. Yet only good journalism can ensure the possibility of a good society, an accountable democracy, and a transparent government.

For continued free access to the best investigative journalism in the country we ask you to consider making a modest support to this noble endeavour.

By contributing to PREMIUM TIMES, you are helping to sustain a journalism of relevance and ensuring it remains free and available to all.

Donate


TEXT AD: To advertise here . Call Willie +2347088095401...


JOIN THE CONVERSATION

  • Disqus (0)
premiumtimes



PT Mag Campaign AD

Previous Post

Pregnant women in 3rd trimester unlikely to transmit COVID to newborns — study

Next Post

SPECIAL REPORT: Nigeria’s paper mills moribund yet options for reviving them abound

Agency Report

Agency Report

More News

War crimes suspect Alieu Kosiah in the Swiss Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona. New Narratives/Leslie Lumeh

‘Kosiah raped me four times,’ Swiss court hears

February 23, 2021
Singer-turned-politician Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine. [PHOTO CREDIT: Twitter handle of Bobi]

Uganda’s Bobi Wine withdraws court case disputing presidential election results – Reports

February 22, 2021
Mogadishu on the map of Somalia

Gunfire erupts in Mogadishu as Somali government forces seal off streets

February 19, 2021
The Federal courthouse in Bellinzona, Switzerland where the war crimes trial of Alieu Kosiah is being held. New Narratives/James Harding Giahyue

Kosiah ‘ordered teacher butchered, eaten’, alleged victim tells court

February 18, 2021
Troops of the United Nations in Congo [PHOTO CREDIT: TRT World]

Killings by armed groups in DR Congo worry UN refugee agency

February 17, 2021
Rwanda on map

Terrorism trial begins of ex-‘Hotel Rwanda’ hotelier

February 17, 2021
Next Post
How Nigerian media can survive COVID -19 economic impact

SPECIAL REPORT: Nigeria's paper mills moribund yet options for reviving them abound

An Arsenal Player on the move (PHOTO CREDIT: @Arsenal)

Carabao Cup: Arsenal knocked out by Manchester City

Discussion about this post

Search

#EndSARS: Latest Updates




Polaris Bank


JAIZ Ad


NITDA Ad





Glo Ad

Subscribe to News via Email

Enter your email address and receive notifications of news by email.

Join 1,626,975 other subscribers.

Advertisement






netherland biz school Advert

Zenith Advert
ADVERTISEMENT

Our Digital Network

  • PT Hausa
  • Election Centre
  • Human Trafficking Investigation
  • Centre for Investigative Journalism
  • National Conference
  • Press Attack Tracker
  • PT Academy
  • Dubawa
  • LeaksNG
  • Campus Reporter

Resources

  • Oil & Gas Facts
  • List of Universities in Nigeria
  • LIST: Federal Unity Colleges in Nigeria
  • NYSC Orientation Camps in Nigeria
  • Nigeria’s Federal/States’ Budgets since 2005
  • Malabu Scandal Thread
  • World Cup 2018
  • Panama Papers Game
  • Our Digital Network
  • About Us
  • Resources
  • Projects
  • Data & Infographics
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • COVID-19
  • News
    • Headline Stories
    • Top News
    • More News
    • Foreign
  • Investigations
  • Business
    • News Reports
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Analysis and Data
    • Business Specials
    • Opinion
    • Oil/Gas Reports
      • FAAC Reports
      • Revenue
  • Health
    • News Reports
    • Investigations
    • Data and Infographics
    • Health Specials
    • Features
    • Events
    • Primary Health Tracker
  • Agriculture
    • News Report
    • Research & Innovation
    • Data & Infographics
    • Special Reports/Features
    • Investigations
    • Interviews
    • Markets
  • Arts/Life
    • Arts/Books
    • Kannywood
    • Lifestyle
    • Music
    • Nollywood
    • Travel
  • Sports
    • Football
    • More Sports News
    • Sports Features
  • Projects
    • Panama Papers
    • Paradise Papers
    • Parliament Watch
    • AGAHRIN
  • Opinion
  • PT Hausa
  • The Membership Club
  • Dubawa
    • Dubawa NG
  • About Us
  • Advert Rates
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Digital Store
  • DONATE

All content is Copyrighted © 2020 The Premium Times, Nigeria

Our website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.