Times Of Swaziland: SA IDENTIFIES NEW VARIANT, ALERTS ESWATINI

SA IDENTIFIES NEW VARIANT, ALERTS ESWATINI
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NHLANGANISO MKHONTA on 30/08/2021 07:20:00


MBABANE – As researchers in South Africa have identified a potential
SARS-CoV-2 variant of interest, the Kingdom of Eswatini has been made aware and
is now watching closely.
Director of Health Services in the Ministry of Health Dr Vusi Magagula said the
country was aware of the new developments in the neighbouring country. He said
the potential new variant was a new thing; hence its details were still limited.
It is worth noting that due to Eswatini’s proximity to South Africa, anything
happening in that country often quickly affects the kingdom as well. For
instance, when South Africa reported its first Delta variant case, it took a few
weeks then Eswatini confirmed to have the Delta variant.
So far, the country has confirmed only three variants; Delta variant
(B.1.617.2), the Beta variant (B.1.351), which was initially first discovered in
South Africa and is the most dominant, currently in the kingdom. The Alpha
variant (B.1.1.7), which was first detected in the United Kingdom (UK), is also
present in the country. Dr Magagula said the country was still working towards
having its own testing laboratories to avoid relying on South Africa. He said
currently the country was also using Kenya, where it was sending its samples for
testing.