INDIA VARIANT SUSPECTED TO BE IN SA

MBABANE - Government is not intending on closing its borders with South Africa.

This is despite reports that a traveller from India tested positive for COVID-19 after landing in South Africa on Monday. Worth noting is that the COVID-19 variant causing havoc in Indian, which is still being investigated for the spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths in that country, has not yet been confirmed to be in South Africa, however, investigations are still ongoing. According to the Sunday Times, a person who recently travelled from India to SA was being treated for COVID-19 in a KwaZulu-Natal hospital, but it is not yet known which variant of the virus the person contracted.

Infection

Dr Caroline Maslo, Senior Clinical Adviser and Head of Infection Control of Netcare’s hospital division in KwaZulu-Natal, confirmed the information on Monday evening and said the patient was in isolation, according to Sunday Times. “Though Covid-19 screening is performed at South African border posts, this unfortunately cannot fully rule out new cases and potentially new variants entering our country, either directly from their country of origin or through connecting routes,” said the doctor in an interview with Sunday Times. South Africans expressed their concern over the reports on Twitter, enquiring why their government was not closing borders with India because they were now susceptible to their (Indian) variants. When asked if the country would close its borders on India or South Africa, the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Nhlanhla Nxumalo, said these were the talks which would be deliberated on at Cabinet level.

“Currently, Eswatini has not banned any country. However, the reports that a person who had travelled from India was being treated for COVID-19 in South Africa are worrying. As a ministry, it is high time we consider acting on the reports and review our travelling restrictions for travellers from Brazil and India, where this new variant is found. It is fundamental that we act on these reports before this variant comes to the country,” said Nxumalo. The PS said currently, they would consider reverting to the 72-hour COVID-19 test results for travellers.

Preventive

When asked what government was planning to do to guard against the Indian variant, Minister of Health Lizzie Nkosi said they needed to continue with the normative preventive measures in their ports of entry.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: