- Gauteng Premier David Makhura says the Delta variant is driving infections in the province.
- He says the province is dealing with the ravaging impact of that variant.
- He was speaking to the media during a vaccination drive in Johannesburg.
Gauteng Premier David Makhura says the Delta variant is driving Covid-19 infections in the economic hub of South Africa.
"All we know is that at the moment, the Delta variant is the dominant variant in our province, which is the one driving all the infections.
"Unfortunately, we knew too late to do something about it, but we know this monitoring is done at a national level, and we are assured that the NICD (National Institute for Communicable Diseases) and the team at [the University of KwaZulu-Natal are] doing it on behalf of the country, and we will get briefings from time to time just around where things are," Makhura said during a vaccination drive in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
News24 earlier reported that Gauteng recorded its deadliest week amid the third wave of Covid-19 infections, driven by the Delta variant.
Just more than 4 800 deaths from natural causes were reported between 27 June and 3 July.
The NICD confirmed that the Lambda variant has not been detected in South Africa, News24 reported.
"We know that there will always be national briefings if there is a new variant - that is a variant of interest, that gets picked, and the briefings are done.
"I am sure there is a lot of interest about the new variant, but if you ask us - what we are dealing with now is the ravaging impact of the Delta variant and the best way to deal with [it]," Makhura said.
South Africa is experiencing a third wave of the Covid-19 infections and an adjusted Level 4 lockdown is in effect.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said in his address to the nation in June that Gauteng accounted for more than 60% of new cases in the country.
As a result, he announced, among other things, that travel in and out of the province for leisure purposes would be prohibited. This does not include work, business or commercial travel, transit through airports, or the transportation of goods.
Gauteng released its district results on Thursday, which stated that as of 7 July 2021, the province recorded 729 398 cases of Covid-19, 620 704 recoveries, and 13 948 deaths.
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