Cabinet mulls over travel restrictions as new Covid-19 variants detected
The health ministry has proposed balanced travel restrictions as two new Covid variants have been detected in South Africa.
Cabinet was set to discuss travel restrictions after new Covid-19 variants were detected in the country.
In a statement on Saturday, health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize announced that the department started discussions over travel restrictions following the detection of two new variants which were first detected in India and the United Kingdom.
“Travel restrictions will need to be balanced against the scientific realities in order to protect the economy,” he said.
“These findings are urgently being processed by the government and announcements pertaining to travel regulations will be made after all appropriate consultations have been undertaken by cabinet.”
Mkhize did not say when the decision would be announced.
The decision comes in the backdrop of a report by the Network for Genomic Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA) having confirmed on Saturday the emergence of new Covid-19 variant B.1.1.7 (first detected in the UK) and B.1.617.2 (first detected in India).
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Two of the B.1.617.2 variant confirmed cases were found in Gauteng and two others in KwaZulu-Natal and all had a history of recent arrival from India.
“All cases have been isolated and managed according to national Covid-19 case management guidelines and contact tracing has been performed to limit the spread of this variant.”
Mkhize said: “Eleven cases of B.1.1.7 have been confirmed, eight were discovered in the Western Cape (with two having a history of travel from Bahrain), one was detected in KwaZulu-Natal and two were detected in Gauteng.”
Mkhize said the B.1.1.7 cases detected in community samples suggested that public transmission of the new variant had already set in.
“As the epidemic progresses, the detection of new variants is inevitable. The work of genomic surveillance assists us to detect the variants and understand their behaviour and to refine vaccines, so they remain effective,” he said.
Mkhize said there were several other samples from cases with a history of recent travel into South Africa that was currently being analysed and results were expected over the next few days.
“It is important to emphasise that variants can develop at any time in any country, so they do not have to be imported. We reiterate that there is no need for panic, as the fundamentals of the public health response (testing, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine) have not changed.”
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