ESWATINI MONITORING NEW COVID-19 SUB-VARIANT - MINISTER

MBABANE - The Minister of Health, Lizzie Nkosi, says the country is closely monitoring the recently discovered sub-variant of Omicron, which is a variant of COVID-19.

This comes after there has been an increase in the number of countries that are detecting the XBB.1.5 sub-variant of Omicron. The XBB.1.5 is a recombinant of two BA.2 sub-lineages, which are BA.2.10.1 and BA.2.75 sub-variants. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), outside of China, it had been detected in 28 other countries worldwide. The Omicron sub-variant was originally detected in October 2022.

It has not been listed as a variant of concern, but a variant of interest to date. The WHO said on Wednesday, that the XBB.1.5 was one of the most transmissible Omicron sub-variants that had been detected to date. It spreads rapidly because of the mutations it contains, allowing it to adhere to cells and replicate easily.  

Increase

It is on the increase in the United States of America (USA) and Europe, and recently been identified in more than 25 countries. Most recent data from the Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention, stated that the sub-variant of omicron, named XBB.1.5, had raised concerns about another potential wave of COVID-19 cases, following the busy holiday travelling season.  The CDC projected that about 40 per cent of confirmed US COVID-19 cases were caused by the XBB.1.5 strain, up from 20 per cent a week ago.

Minister Nkosi stated that the country was constantly conducting tests against old and new variants of COVID-19, through genomic sequencing. The country still sends samples to South Africa for testing for COVID-19 variants. This is because the laboratory at the Lubombo Referral Hospital is not yet fully equipped for this medical exercise.

Nkosi said the ministry was aware of the variant, but they were working closely with the local WHO Office as well as the CDC. She said emaSwati should not be alarmed by the circulating news about the variant. “We are closely monitoring the sub-variant. If there is anything to be communicated, we will announce; at the moment there is nothing to worry about,” she said.

The minister said in as much as the daily COVID-19 cases were low, they never stopped monitoring the virus and its behaviour. She stated that COVID-19 was still a virus of concern and urged emaSwati to always be cautious and apply all the COVID-19 safety measures like, washing of hands, constant sanitising with alcohol-based sanitisers and keeping social distancing. Nkosi added that emaSwati should remain calm and not be alarmed by fake news about the variant.

She highlighted that yesterday, there was a message that was circulating about the variant. Nkosi said the ministry would announce on credible media platforms once the variant had been detected in the country or neighbouring countries. “People should scrutinise information they consume through these online platforms,” she said. To date, the country has 74 034 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 72 590 people recovered and 1 422 passed away due to the virus. On the week ended December 31, 2022, the country confirmed 13 cases of the virus. The cases decreased from the 29 cases that were confirmed on the week ended December 24, 2022. In terms of vaccination, 404 743 people have been fully-vaccinated, which translates 35.7 per cent of the population.

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