Covid-19 weekly roundup: Travellers will be monitored for virus variants

In an effort to contain the spread of the virus variants from India and the United Kingdom (UK), the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA) has intensified the monitoring of confirmed Covid-19 cases from travellers arriving in South Africa.

This according to Professor Tulio de Oliveira, Director of the KZN Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform.

De Oliveira said there have been a number of other samples from cases with recent travel into South Africa that are currently being sequenced and results are expected within the next few days.

He said in a series of tweets that a total of 15 Covid-19 variants originating from other countries have been detected in South Africa so far.

Four cases of the dominant variant in India were detected in South Africa over the weekend and a total of 11 cases of the dominant variant in the United Kingdom have been detected.

Of the four with the dominant strain found in India, two were from Gauteng and the other two were from KwaZulu-Natal. All of which had a history of recent arrivals from India.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) released these findings over the weekend.

Quarantine more effective than a complete travel ban says experts:

A total ban on travel to and from India is not the solution but it should be a matter of identifying people that are coming from India and placing them under quarantine.

Professor Thumbi Ndung’u, deputy director of the African Health Research Institute, said countries should rather consider quarantine instead of a complete ban.

Calls for South Africa to impose a travel ban from India are growing among local politicians and the public as the country has recently become the world's new Covid-19 epicentre.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said a final determination would be handed to Cabinet, and a decision would then be communicated to the public.

Countries that have already banned Indian travellers or require quarantine include, Israel, Nigeria, Canada, New Zealand, and Germany.

Ramaphosa submits proposal for ‘Trips waiver’ on vaccine IP:

President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government has submitted a proposal to the World Trade Organization calling for a temporary waiver of certain rules set out in the Trips agreement.

The WTO’s Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, also known as Trips, is an international legal agreement that outlines the standards for intellectual property and patents.

In his weekly newsletter he said that South Africa, alongside India, submitted the proposal in an effort to facilitate wider access to technologies needed to produce vaccines and medicines.

The proposal calls to suspend intellectual property protections for products and technologies needed for the fight against Covid-19 for the duration of the pandemic.

Last week, the United States announced its limited support for the “Trips waiver”.

The waiver proposal currently enjoys the support of more than 100 countries.

Keep an eye out next week for another roundup of the top Covid-19 stories.
kelly.turner@africannewsagency.com