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PRETORIA - The national Department of Health says it has noted “a misleading message” circulating on social media platforms, attributed to the Ministry of Health, calling for everyone to wear a mask because of the alleged detection of a new Covid-19 variant of concern.
“The department would like to dismiss this as fake news by faceless sources whose sole intention is to create unnecessary panic,” said Foster Mohale, spokesperson for the Department of Health.
“The fact of the matter is, the World Health Organisation has issued a notification in October this year on the Omicron sub-lineages BQ.1 and XBB detected around the world as part of ongoing work to track variants by Technical Advisory Group on SARS-CoV-2 Virus Evolution (TAG-VE).
“The role of the TAG-VE is to alert WHO if a variant that can cause a more severe disease or lead to large epidemic waves causing increased burden to the health-care system is emerging and likely to pose a significant threat,” said Mohale.
He said allegations purporting that the sub-lineages will be more devastating are not supported by evidence.
“At the current moment, there is no epidemiological evidence that these sub-lineages will be of substantially greater risk compared to other Omicron sublineages. The department, working with the NICD and other scientists, continues to monitor all Covid-19 lineages, and appeals to South Africans to continue to be vigilant as they embark on festive seasons activities,” said Mohale.
“The known Covid-19 virus variants are still in circulation, and we are not off the hook from the pandemic, hence people are urged to vaccinate and take boosters shots that they qualify for, to enhance their level of immunity.”
Earlier this month, health experts in South Africa called for calm, in the wake of scientists warning that a more vicious strain of Covid could possibly be on its way.
This followed a report by researchers at the Africa Institute for Health Research in Durban, in which they warned that the coronavirus is still able to mutate, despite the current period of calm, and may produce a more vicious version in the future.
Scientists issued this warning after they studied the case of a person with Aids who was infected with the “Omicron” mutant from corona infection, and he was unable to get rid of it for six months, due to his weak immune system.
The study stated that when the virus mutant remains in the patient’s body for many months, it finds ample time to multiply, and then, the possibility of it secreting a new, more fierce mutant increases as a result of the modifications and changes that occurred in it.
Epidemiology researcher Alex Segal, the academic supervising the study, explained that the virus, which stayed for a long time in the body, caused greater inflammation in the lungs, in a situation similar to what was caused by infection with previous strains of the coronavirus.
Over time, the virus mutated and became more capable of killing cells, and if it were transmitted to others, they would have the same severe symptoms.
However, Professor of Vaccinology at Wits University Shabir Madhi, said there was no reason to believe that the next variant would or would not be more virulent.
“The study showed that mutations over time can make the virus more antibody evasive,” Madhi said.
“This is unsurprising, considering what we experienced with Omicron and its subsequent sub-lineages. Despite such mutations, the T cell immunity which is what likely drives protection against severe disease has remained relatively intact.
“This is probably even more so in countries such as South Africa where there is extensive infection-induced immunity and hybrid immunity in vaccinated individuals.”
Madhi said that while sporadic outbreaks of Covid were possible, it’s unlikely to translate into large spikes of severe disease or death.