NEW VARIANT COULD BE ALREADY HERE - MINISTER

MBABANE - The new sub-variant of Omicron might be circulating in the country due to the kingdom’s proximity to South Africa.

This was revealed by the Minister of Health, Lizzie Nkosi, in a press statement on Monday. The minister stated that the new sub-variant of Omicron was a variant of COVID-19. Nkosi said at the time of issuing the statement, there was no evidence that the XBB sub-variant was circulating in the country. However, due to the country’s proximity to South Africa, which confirmed a case of the variant on Saturday, she said the variant could possibly be circulating in Eswatini. She said they were monitoring the circulation through countless genomic sequencing conducted through local samples. Nkosi said emaSwati should remain calm as evidence indicated that the variant was not deadly.

Allay

“The Ministry of Health would like to allay anxiety within the public concerning the COVID-19 Omicron sub-variant XBB.1.5, which has recently been reported in a case in South Africa. There is no evidence that this variant is circulating in Eswatini. However, this is a possibility as a result of the country’s proximity to South Africa and this is being monitored through genomic sequencing of local samples,” she said. Nkosi said the sub-variant had been reported in over 70 countries, including the USA, Australia and some countries in Europe. She explained that the sub-variant was found to be more transmissible than the original Omicron variant, however, there was no evidence that it caused severe illness such as the situation observed during the Delta variant wave.

The minister stated that vaccines were still the best tool to protect people from severe illness and hospitalisation after being infected with COVID-19 that had the sub-variant. “Although vaccinated people may get infected with this sub-variant, existing COVID-19 vaccines are still effective in protecting one from severe illness and hospitalisation. There are no reports of new or unusual symptoms observed yet from this sub-variant,” she said. Further, Nkosi said the World Health Organisation (WHO), US Centre of Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in South Africa were analysing the risk and conducting genomic sequencing to understand better the behaviour of this sub-variant. The Ministry of Health will be receiving updates on the XBB.1.5 sub-variant and inform the nation as necessary, she added.

The minister assured emaSwati that the country never stopped monitoring the virus. She said the ministry continued to conduct surveillance of COVID-19 and other public health threats, thus releasing the weekly COVID-19 statement to the public through the media and government social platforms.

Testing

“Surveillance teams are conducting testing for COVID-19 and also tracing contacts as per the response guidelines. The ministry uses this data to plan for the escalation of the response once this is warranted according to the set thresholds,” she said. The minister said COVID-19 vaccines in the country were available in abundance. The country still administers the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines. She urged emaSwati to get vaccinated and those who were vaccinated were urged to take booster shots in order to boost their immunity. On the week ended January 8, 2023, the country recorded 19 cases of COVID-19.

The cases were an increase from 13 cases that were reported on the week ended January 1, 2023. To date, 74 053 people in the country contracted COVID-19 while 72 603 recovered from the virus. According to the COVID-19 weekly update that was released on Sunday, the country had zero COVID-19 admissions while 28 people were under home treatment.

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