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Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Tulio de Oliveira: South Africa needs international help to curb spread of new variant

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One of South Africa’s leading virus experts, Prof. Tulio de Oliveira, has made a plea to billionaires and financial institutions to support South Africa to help control the newly discovered Covid-19 variant so it does not spread to the rest of the world.

De Oliveira, who is the Director of the Centre for Epidemic Response & Innovation says this new variant is really worrisome at the mutational level. He says South Africa and Africa will need support (financially, public health, scientific).

The new variant, which is currently known as B.1.1.529, was detected earlier this week, following genomic sequencing collaborations between the NICD and private laboratories.

There is concern that this variant, which has many mutations, will be more transmissible and may evade immunity.

De Oliveira says there is still time to control it by avoiding super spreader events and adhering to all health protocols. He says despite the worrying nature of this variant, vaccination remains the key tool to prevent severe disease from the virus.

 

 

Liesl Smit
Liesl Smit
Liesl is the Smile 90.4FM News Manager. She has been at Smile since 2016, with nearly 20 years experience in the radio industry, including reading news, field reporting and producing. In 2008 she won the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Award, Western Cape region. liesl@smile904.fm

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