South Africa\u2019s teams remain on high alert to survey, detect and contain the spread of COVID-19 in general, with heightened awareness of travellers from countries where variants of concern (VOCs) are dominating.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe confirm that the B.1.617 variant, circulating widely in India, has not been detected; however, the genomics teams are working on some samples and we will need to allow the time it takes to sequence before we get an answer,\u201d Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Mkhize has noted the concern expressed by South Africans over the possible recent importation of VOCs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has been a difficult area during the COVID-19 pandemic, which can often drive exclusion, mistrust and sometimes even racist rhetoric. We share our people\u2019s concerns but wish to reassure South Africans that we are a very capable nation that knows how to deal with the burden of a variant of concern,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Minister reminded South Africans that the variant B.1.351 (or 501Y.V2) remains the most dominant in South Africa.<\/p>\n
One of the samples taken from a traveller from India is the 501Y.V2.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe remain mindful of the advice from the World Health Organisation that all variants are managed the same: prevention by adhering to non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), early detection, contact tracing and testing, and quarantine or isolation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese all form part of the regulations that govern the management of COVID-19, and it has been through adherence to these regulations that we have detected and contained COVID-19 cases at ports of entry,\u201d the Minister said.<\/p>\n
Recently increasing activities have been reported as follow:<\/p>\n
Durban<\/strong><\/p>\n Three air travellers arrived from India, via Doha, on two separate occasions (one arrived on 21 April 2021 on Qatar Airlines – QR1367, and two arrived on 25 April 2021 on Qatar Airlines – QR1367) — all through King Shaka International Airport.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first passenger subsequently took ill and remains in isolation at a health care facility, whilst the other two passengers are currently asymptomatic and in isolation at paid lodgings.<\/p>\n \u201cPort Health has provided details of passengers, who were close contacts and National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has overseen the cases for sample collection, contact tracing and intensified surveillance,\u201d the Minister said.<\/p>\n On 1 May 2021, a death on board an approaching vessel was reported to Port Health by the South African Police Service (SAPS), the assistant harbour master and the vessel agent.<\/p>\n The vessel had departed India on 18 April 2021 and berthed at Maydon Wharf on 2 May 2021 with the deceased.<\/p>\n The body was subsequently transported to a State mortuary for a post mortem. Due to sampling difficulties, authorities still await the PCR test result.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, contact tracing proceeded for 21 crew members. Of these, 14 have been detected with COVID-19 and seven have tested negative,\u201d the Minister said.<\/p>\n As all the members are asymptomatic, it was elected to keep all the crew on board in appropriate quarantine or isolation conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cThe vessel has been secured and is currently under strict security in its berth until authorities decide to move it to the outer anchorage under strict security until the containment period is successfully completed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe thank eThekwini Metro, through eThekwini Centre for Disease Control, for ably managing these incidents and swiftly mobilising the containment measures at municipal level,\u201d the Minister said.<\/p>\n Gqeberha<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>On 25 April 2021, a vessel that had departed from Mombasa, Kenya, berthed in Gqeberha some 12 days after departure.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ship was granted access based on a report by the shipmaster that there were no reported illnesses on board. The following day, the shipmaster reported an ill crew member, who was immediately transferred out of the ship to a health care facility.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ill crew member, together with three other crew members who were due to depart by air to their home country, were immediately subjected to PCR tests on 26 April 2021,\u201d the Minister said.<\/p>\n Upon testing positive for COVID-19, these crew members were subsequently isolated at paid lodgings.<\/p>\n Port Health, together with Transnet National Port Authority (TNPA), instructed the shipping agency to proceed with contact tracing and testing processes, with 20 crew members on board subjected to PCR tests.<\/p>\n A further 10 crew members have been detected with COVID-19 and are isolating for 10 days at designated facilities.<\/p>\n The other 10 members that tested negative will remain in quarantine on the ship.<\/p>\n The Minister said the officials of the Nelson Mandela Bay Health District will be responsible for monitoring the crew who are in isolation and complete the containment measures.<\/p>\n The vessel has been similarly secured in port to ensure that there is no unauthorised access to and from the vessel.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is deeply unfortunate that the master of the vessel is found to have made a false declaration regarding the health status of the vessel and crew. SAPS has activated consequence management procedures and engaged the State prosecutor. We wish to put on record this ship was bound for India and it had not departed from India,\u201d Mkhize said.<\/p>\n The Minister expressed concern at the increase in detection of cases at ports of entry.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have consulted the Ministerial Advisory Committee, as well as the genomics team to guide us on the management of travellers at ports of entry during these challenging times.<\/p>\n \u201cGovernment will be determining the next steps to follow and announcements will be made on the state of variants of concern in our context and what measures will be implemented to mitigate the importation of COVID-19 in general,\u201d the Minister said.<\/p>\n COVID-19 stats<\/strong><\/p>\n Meanwhile, the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases identified in South Africa is 1 586 148.<\/p>\n The number of tests conducted to date is 10 739 813. Of these, 24 040 tests were conducted since the last report<\/p>\n On Tuesday, 59 COVID-19 related deaths were reported in: Eastern Cape 7, Free State 3, Gauteng 21, Kwa-Zulu Natal 4, Limpopo 20, Northern Cape 1 and Western Cape 3, which brings the total to 54 511 deaths.<\/p>\n \u201cWe convey our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the health care workers who treated the deceased patients,\u201d the Minister said.<\/p>\n The cumulative recoveries now stand at 1 509 656, representing a recovery rate of 95%.<\/p>\n The number of healthcare workers vaccinated under the Sisonke Protocol to date is 339 655. \u2013SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" South Africa\u2019s teams remain on high alert to survey, detect and contain the spread of COVID-19 in general, with heightened awareness of travellers from countries where variants of concern (VOCs) are dominating. \u201cWe confirm that the B.1.617 variant, circulating widely in India, has not been detected; however, the genomics teams are working on some samples […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-188006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-sanews","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188006\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}