“It has not been causing more hospitalisations,” she said.Ĭurrently, she added, the levels of Covid-19 virus particles are still very low in the country’s wastewater systems. While there is some evidence that the XBB.1.5 is more transmissible, this is relatively weak, she continued. Groome explained that the country has high levels of population immunity, and people have been exposed to subvariants of Omicron before. She added that the subvariant is only present in low levels in other countries. The proportion of XBB.1.5 is increasing and now makes up around 40% of infections,” she said. “This subvariant has been found in many other countries. She said only one case was found, but more will likely be found. He said vaccine boosters would be available to more adults within the next few days.ĭr Michelle Groome from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said the new subvariant was not unexpected. ![]() As an additional measure, he said that the wastewater from aeroplanes arriving from countries with high levels of infection would also be tested. The monitoring of South Africa’s wastewater systems will also be stepped up. Phaahla said the number of tests and the pool of specimens available for genomic surveillance was minimal. Positive PCR tests (done in a laboratory) will be sent for genomic sequencing to ascertain the subvariant in the sample. ![]()
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