Covid-19 weekly round-up: Why the UK holds firm on keeping SA on the travel red list

The United Kingdom (UK) has revealed that the reason why South Africa remains on the Covid-19 red list for travel is due to the “continued presence” of the Beta variant, however local experts have said the data shows otherwise.

Director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (KRISP), Professor Tulio de Oliveira, said his team is working on a paper showing that the Delta variant has completely replaced Beta.

In series of Tweets, the UK High Commission in Pretoria said: “We recognise positive developments in SA - cases going down, data on variants of concern improving and vaccinations rising. While a small number of cases, we remain concerned about the continued presence of Beta given its potential ability to circumvent vaccines”.

The Department of International Relations and Co-operation, said in a statement that the news was shocking considering South Africa’s progress in combating the Covid-19 pandemic.

Minister Naledi Pandor said they have been working with stakeholders to intensify efforts to have South Africa removed from the list.

There are currently over 60 countries that are on the UK’s red list.

If travellers have been in a country on that list within the last 10 days they will only be allowed to enter the UK if they are a British or Irish National, or if they have residence rights.

Meanwhile, the United States is set to reopen its borders in November to fully vaccinated air travelers from 33 countries, including South Africa.

Unvaccinated account for 98% of Covid-19 deaths in the Western Cape

During the height of the third wave peak in the Western Cape, the province’s health department gathered data showing that 98% of people over the age of 60 who died from Covid-19 were not fully vaccinated.

The department released the statistics over the weekend and said it is clear that vaccines are highly effective, and that getting the jab will help protect you from ending up in hospital or dying.

The statistics were captured during the week of 14 – 20 August when the province was in its peak of the third wave.

Over 2 400 people contracted Covid-19 in the province that week, of which 92% of people were not fully vaccinated.

And 96% of people who required hospitalisation were not fully vaccinated.

The department said, a person is considered fully vaccinated more than 14 days after the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine or 28 days following a dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

SA is exiting Covid-19 third wave

All South African provinces are continuing a downward trend in new Covid-19 cases and the country should exit its third wave within the coming week if this trend continues.

This according to senior researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Dr Ridhwaan Suliman.

He says that Gauteng and Limpopo have exited their third waves with the North West and Mpumalanga set to follow shortly.

The country has been on lockdown Level 2 since President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last Sunday that restrictions on gatherings and the movement of people would be eased.

Within the next week the country will hear from the government again, as the president said the current restrictions would be reviewed.

Suliman said Covid-19 cases have decreased by 35% week-on-week and hospitalisations are down by 23%.

The majority of new cases are from KwaZulu-Natal with 23%, followed by Western Cape with 17%.

kelly.turner@africannewsagency.com