Spraying the cabin during a demonstration onboard Air France’s Boeing 777-300 at OR Tambo International Airport. Picture: Neil McCartney
The SA government is not following the global trend of curbing travellers from China, which now has millions of new Covid-19 cases, and is only urging South Africans to “keep on vaccinating” against the deadly virus.
National health department spokesperson Foster Mohale said the department was closely monitoring the Covid situation in China and other parts of the world and would issue an alert if the country needed to take extra precautions.
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“Thus, there is no need for the public to panic,” Mohale said.
“We urge people to vaccinate and get booster shots to enhance their immunity against variants and sub-variants of the pandemic.”
There are no restrictions yet on any travellers to South Africa arriving from China, Mohale said yesterday.
International Air Transport Association director-general William Walsh said several countries were introducing Covid testing and other measures for travellers from China, despite the virus already circulating widely within their borders.
Walsh said it was extremely disappointing to see this “knee-jerk” reinstatement of measures that have proven ineffective over the last three years.
“Research undertaken around the arrival of the omicron variant concluded that putting barriers in the way of travel made no difference to the peak spread of infections,” he said.
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Walsh said restrictions delayed that peak by a few days.
“That’s why governments should listen to the advice of experts, including the World Health Organisation, that advise against travel restrictions.
“We have the tools to manage Covid without resorting to ineffective measures that cut off international connectivity, damage economies and destroy jobs.
“Governments must base their decisions on ‘science facts’, rather than ‘science politics’,” Walsh added.
Professor Glenda Gray, president of the South African Medical Research Council, said SA needed to keep an eye on hospital admissions and waste water surveillance.
“The waste water surveillance will now be critical as testing rates are low. We should have data out this week,” she said. Gray said it was important for people to get regularly vaccinated in the meanwhile.
The National Institute of Communicable Diseases reported the omicron variant continued to dominate in September (98%), October (98%) and November (99%) last year, while the delta variant was detected at a low frequency until July, and once in October.
Johannesburg general practitioner Dr Leon Odendaal said there were many cases of colds and sinus being reported that may be cases of Covid.
“Not everyone is being tested so we don’t always have all the results,” he said.
He said one of his colleagues recently admitted an elderly man to ICU for pneumonia who then tested positive for Covid.
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Democratic Alliance (DA) shadow MEC of health Jack Bloom said he wasn’t worried because there was a high level of immunity in South Africa, due to vaccinations and previous infections.
“However, those who are immunocompromised or elderly should exercise a degree of caution and stay away from large indoor gatherings with poor ventilation,” he said.
Public health specialist Rene Sparks said although SA should not panic, the country should not abandon the good practices engaged in during the height of the pandemic.
“We need to take ownership of our health and wellbeing by following the advice and getting vaccinated, as well as following the patterns or trends at a global level,” she said.
Spark added the country had to continue building its health system, including civil society’s response to pandemic preparedness.
On Tuesday, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases reported 88 new cases. Last month, 2 350 cases were recorded, compared to the 23 884 cases reported in the same period in 2021.
The countries to step up Covid measures for travellers from China include:
The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Technical Advisory Group on Virus Evolution (TAG-VE) met on Tuesday to discuss the Covid outbreak in mainland China.
The China CDC analysis showed a predominance of omicron lineages BA.5.2 and BF.7 among locally acquired infections. BA.5.2 and BF.7 together accounted for 97.5% of all local infections as per genomic sequencing.
No new variant or mutation of known significance is noted in the publicly available sequence data.
The TAG-VE is also evaluating the rapidly increasing proportion of XBB.1.5 in the US and other countries. An updated risk-assessment of XBB.1.5 is in progress.
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