LIVE | Covid-19 in SA: Death toll at 24 285 as number of cases now sits at 901 538

WRAP | New variant of Covid-19 has been discovered - and it appears to be spreading faster

Health minister Zweli Mkhize says a new variant of Covid-19 has been discovered by the country’s top scientists, which was driving the second wave and causing critical illness among patients who have no comorbidities.

Researchers have also said the virus appears to be spreading much faster during the second wave.

The new variant, however, will not require new measures of prevention or treatment, researches said, emphasising that physical distancing and proper hygiene remained crucial.

Mkhize was briefing the media on scientific developments on Covid-19. The briefing was co-hosted by higher education minister Blade Nzimande.

The KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (Krisp), based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, has made the discovery.

Mkhize said a particular variant of the Covid-19 has “dominated” recent virus samples, and the second wave is being driven by this variant of the virus.

He said a similar variant of the virus has been discovered in the UK. He said President Cyril Ramaphosa and some health stakeholders have been briefed on the latest developments.

Member of the government’s Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC), Professor Salim Abdool Karim, said the new developments do not spell good news, but it was important for the public to be informed about its severity.

Krisp’s Professor Tulio de Oliveira said the objective of researchers was to get a grasp of how the new strain is behaving, saying it was “very possible” that it had increased likeliness of transmissions. It is also important, he said, to increase sampling of infections in places that are taking the strain of the second wave.

Karim explained that the second wave has “well and truly overshot” the peak that was initially seen in the Western Cape. Similarly, he said, the second wave seems to be rapidly rising in KwaZulu-Natal.

He said researchers wanted to see whether there have been more deaths due to the new variant, but said the early data was inconclusive at this stage.

Karim said viruses generally evolve to become less lethal over time. Covid-19, he said, had been “relatively stable” during the first wave. He said preliminary data says the virus is spreading faster in the second wave.

He said further data showed there is a higher amount of virus - known as the viral load - in each swab that is now taken. This may translate into a higher rate of transmission.

The new variant has likely spread across SA, he said

Karim said it is, however, unclear where this new variant came from and why it ended up in Nelson Mandela Bay - which has been badly hit in the second wave.

He said it is also unclear whether it is more severe and whether people can be reinfected by it. He said the second wave was “well and truly established” in all provinces now.

“The [variant] does seem to be spreading fast, but we can deal with it,” Karim said, adding that the same prevention measures and treatment remained the same.

- Kerushun Pillay

The Health Minister says youth are not wearing masks and "throw caution to the winds" - he calls on youth to understand that they are equally at risk of dying of Covid-19. 

Mkhize says the vaccines are effective in dealing with the variant. He says they will rely on scientific evidence before any decisions are taken. 

He says the current resurgence plan will not be affected by the new variant. 

The health minister adds that they will not be proposing any new restrictions that are associated with this new variant. He says no recommendations will be made on any new restrictions. He says the discovery does not necessitate additional measures to be taken. 

Mkhize emphasises that even though it might be a variant, the situation can be handled. He says there is no evidence to suggest a need to change clinical treatment. He says they will continue to treat in the way that they have been treating before. 

"There is no need to panic...at the moment the treatment has been effective even before we knew there was a variant."

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize comments on the second wave....

"We knew it was coming, but none of us expected it to come as quickly as it did. That took us off in a bit of a challenge," he says.

Mkhize says it is coming at a time during which behaviour is likely to worsen the numbers. He says they have noticed complacency with wearing of masks and observing of health protocols.

RECAP | New strain of Covid-19 has been discovered - and it appears to be spreading faster

MAC member Professor Salim Abdool Karim explained that the second wave has “well and truly overshot” the peak that was initially seen in the Western Cape. Similarly, he said, the second wave seems to be rapidly rising in KwaZulu-Natal.

 He said researchers wanted to see whether there have been more deaths due to the new strain, but said the early data was inconclusive at this stage.

Karim said viruses generally evolve to become less lethal over time. Covid-19, he said, had been “relatively stable” during the first strain. He said preliminary data says the virus is spreading faster in the second wave.

He said further data showed there is a higher amount of virus - known as the viral load - in each swab that is now taken. This may translate into a higher rate of transmission.

The new strain has likely spread across SA, he said

Karim said it is, however, unclear where this new strain came from and why it ended up in Nelson Mandela Bay - which has been badly hit in the second wave.

He said it is also unclear whether it is more severe and whether people can be re-infected by it. He said the second wave was “well and truly established” in all provinces now.

RECAP | New strain of Covid-19 has been discovered - and it appears to be spreading faster

MAC member Professor Salim Abdool Karim explained that the second wave has “well and truly overshot” the peak that was initially seen in the Western Cape. Similarly, he said, the second wave seems to be rapidly rising in KwaZulu-Natal.

 He said researchers wanted to see whether there have been more deaths due to the new strain, but said the early data was inconclusive at this stage.

Karim said viruses generally evolve to become less lethal over time. Covid-19, he said, had been “relatively stable” during the first strain. He said preliminary data says the virus is spreading faster in the second wave.

He said further data showed there is a higher amount of virus - known as the viral load - in each swab that is now taken. This may translate into a higher rate of transmission.

The new strain has likely spread across SA, he said

Karim said it is, however, unclear where this new strain came from and why it ended up in Nelson Mandela Bay - which has been badly hit in the second wave.

He said it is also unclear whether it is more severe and whether people can be re-infected by it. He said the second wave was “well and truly established” in all provinces now.

Karim says it will still be studied whether the current vaccines will work on the new virus. He says although there is reason for concern, the variant is something that can be dealt with.

He says it is not clear where it originated from. He says it could have originated anywhere.

"What we do know is that we first found it in Nelson Mandela Bay," Karim says.

Karim says this is an unusual new variant as it contains several mutations. It has been reported in other countries including the UK.

JUST IN | Karim says further data showed there is a higher amount of virus - known as the viral load - in each swab that is now taken. This may translate into a higher rate of transmission.

BREAKING | Karim says the second Covid-19 strain is spreading faster

Professor Salim Abdool Karim has explained that the second wave has “well and truly overshot” the peak that was initially seen in the Western Cape. Similarly, he said, the second wave seems to be rapidly rising in KwaZulu-Natal.

 He said researchers wanted to see whether there have been more deaths due to the new strain, but said the early data was inconclusive at this stage.

Karim said viruses generally evolve to become less lethal over time. Covid-19, he said, had been “relatively stable” during the first strain. He said preliminary data says the virus is spreading faster in the second wave.

He says the preliminary data suggests that the virus dominating in the second wave is spreading faster. The severity is still unclear. 

He says the virus is stable although there may be one or two changes identified in its genetic structure. 

Professor says it is not clear if the 2nd wave has more or less deaths

Professor Karim says there is a rise in cases in all provinces. The second wave is truly established in all provinces, he says. 

Krisp’s Professor Tulio de Oliveira said the objective of researchers was to get a grasp of how the new strain is behaving, saying it was “very possible” that it had increased likeliness of transmissions.

RECAP | New strain of Covid-19 ‘driving second wave’ - Mkhize

Health minister Zweli Mkhize says a new strain of Covid-19 has been discovered by the country’s top scientists, which was driving the second wave and causing critical illness among patients with who have no comorbidities.

Mkhize was briefing the media on scientific developments on Covid-19. The briefing was co-hosted by higher education minister Blade Nzimande.

The KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform (Krisp), based at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, has made the discovery.

 Mkhize said a particular variant of the Covid-19 has “dominated” recent virus samples, and the second wave is being driven by this variant of the virus.

 He said a similar strain of the virus has been discovered in the UK. He said President Cyril Ramaphosa and some health stakeholders have been briefed on the latest developments.

Member of the government’s Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC), Professor Salim Abdool Karim, said the new developments do not spell good news, but it was important for the public to be informed about its severity.

De Oliveira says during the first wave, they went back to the contact of the first individual and that was surveyed and where the virus came from in SA

De Oliveira says this programmes helps to survey the virus as it happens in partnership with the NHLS and the NICD. He says there is one genomic centre in each of the labs. There is one at Inkosi Albert Luthuli

He says they use genomics to identify where the virus comes from and to understand the spread of the virus.

De Oliveira says to discover to discover the virus caused by Covid-19, genomics was used to look for probes in the genes of the virus and to develop vaccines.  

Professor Karim hands over to Prof. Tulio de Oliveira who is presenting results from Krisp. He says genomics has been a potent tool in fight against Covid-19.

Ministerial Advisory Committee co-chair on Covid-19 Professor Salim Abdool Karim addresses media 

Minister Zweli Mkhize has invited Blade Nzimande to brief on  Genomics and Bioinformatics Centre at UKZN who conduct the research on the new strain. Nzimande says they are fully supportive of the initiative.

He starts his address by announcing that a new SARS-CoV-2 virus strains has been identified in SA

Mkhize has begun his address…

Zweli Mkhize set to address the media on Covid-19 measures at 18:00

Health minister Zweli Mkhize, along with members of the government’s Covid-19 Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) are set to brief the media on new scientific developments and evidence discovered on the virus.

Already, the government has imposed strict measures to curb a spike in the number of daily cases in the country, which includes a clampdown on public gatherings and a closure of most beaches.

The government has expressed concern over an increase in the number of infections among teenagers, with the post-matric Rage festivals being fingered as possible so-called superspreader events.

There have also been concerns around public gatherings and revelry during the festive season, where large groups were seen to be failing to wear protective masks or observe physical distancing.

Follow the briefing live on News24. 

Covid-19 vaccine delivery to poor countries to start in early 2021: WHO

The World Health Organisation and partners said Friday that the Covax facility, created to ensure equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines worldwide, expected to begin delivering jabs early next year.

Announcing the agency had secured nearly two billion doses of vaccine candidates, the WHO said in a statement that this would "enable all participating economies to have access to doses in the first half of 2021, with first deliveries anticipated to begin in the first quarter of 2021."

"The light at the end of the tunnel has grown a little bit brighter," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual press conference.

-AFP

FACTBOX | Latest on worldwide spread of the coronavirus

An unrelenting US coronavirus surge pushed besieged hospitals further to the brink as the country prepared to ship nearly six million doses of a new vaccine on the cusp of winning regulatory approval, while a fresh virus cluster in Sydney saw Australian states impose movement curbs.

Swiss coronavirus cases surpass 400 000, deaths top 6 000

Coronavirus infections rose by 4 478 in a day, data from Swiss health authorities showed on Friday, as the government met to discuss imposing more stringent restrictions on public life.

The total number of confirmed cases in Switzerland and neighbouring principality Liechtenstein increased to 403 989, the death toll rose by 120 to 6 003, and 184 new hospitalisations kept pressure on the healthcare system.

- Reuters

South Korea reports 1 062 new coronavirus cases - KDCA

South Korea reported 1 062 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the second highest since it confirmed its first infection in January, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

The daily numbers were above 1,000 for the third straight day for the first time since the start of the pandemic, the KDCA data showed.

- Reuters

Singapore airport goes sub-zero for Covid-19 vaccine transport plan

As the door of the vaccine transport cart opens at Singapore's Changi airport, the sub-zero temperatures inside collide with the warm, tropical air, creating a carpet of steam like hot breath on a winter's day.

These carts known as cool dollies, recently acquired by logistics firm dnata, are part of a government-led plan to leverage the city-state's position as an air cargo hub and to ensure Covid-19 vaccines can be distributed around the region.

The city-state of 5.7 million has said it expects the first shots of Pfizer-BioNTech's coronavirus vaccine to arrive in the Southeast Asian transport hub this month after Singapore became the first country in Asia to approve the vaccine.

But beyond its own needs, Singapore has in recent months been beefing up its so-called "cool chain" capabilities, to ensure vaccines like Pfizer's that need to be stored in extreme cold can be smoothly transported.

- Reuters

Sri Lanka: Outrage over forced cremation of Muslim Covid victims

Muslims in Sri Lanka are outraged over the forced cremation of a 20-day-old Covid-19 victim last week against the family's wishes, the latest in more than a dozen such cremations in the Buddhist-majority country since the pandemic erupted.

Ignoring the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) guidelines which permit both burials and cremations, Sri Lanka in March made cremation mandatory for people who die or are suspected to have died from the coronavirus infection.

On 9 December, baby Shaykh was forcibly cremated in a cemetery in Borella, the largest suburb of Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo – the youngest among 15 Muslims to be cremated, thereby denying them Islamic funeral rites.

- Al Jazeera

Russia reports 28 552 new coronavirus cases, 611 deaths

Russia reported 28 552 new coronavirus cases on Friday, including 6 937 in Moscow, taking the national case tally to 2 791 220 since the pandemic began.

Authorities also reported 611 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the official death toll to 49 762.

- Reuters