OR Tambo International Airport. Photo: Neil McCartney
NATIONAL NEWS - Calls are mounting for South Africa to close borders for Indian descendants due to the deadly coronavirus strain B.1617 wreaking havoc in the country.
The World Health Organisation on Monday announced the world had recorded more diagnoses of Covid-19 in the past two weeks than the first six months of the pandemic, with India and Brazil accounting for more than half of those numbers.
The EFF on Wednesday joined calls for the South African government to place restrictions on all travellers from and to India.
The party said that failure to do so was a blatant failure by the government to follow global trends of the virus and “act accordingly to protect life”.
Ship from India quarantined in Durban port after 14 crew test positive for Covid
5 May 2021 11:36 AM Covid-19 travellers
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Crew members on board a ship that travelled from India have been quarantined at the port of Durban after more than half of them tested positive for Covid-19.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says a death on board the cargo vessel promoted authorities to test the 21 crew members after the ship docked at Maydon Wharf in Durban on Sunday 2 May.
14 crew members have been detected with Covid-19 and seven have tested negative.
According to Minister Mkhize, all the members are asymptomatic and will remain on board in appropriate quarantine or isolation conditions.
According to the report, the most likely drivers of a third wave include behavioural changes after the end of the last wave, ongoing viral mutations, seasonal factors and reinfection due to the waning of immunity conveyed by previous infection.
Third wave scenarios
The modelling data further indicated that a third wave will likely peak lower than the second wave, provided that no new variants emerge, while hospital admissions are also expected to be lower.
Those in younger age groups are expected to have fewer hospital admissions than during the second wave.
Gauteng is expected to be the hardest-hit province, since it is home to more than a quarter of South Africa’s population.
MEDICAL staff inoculate police personnel with the vaccine against Covid-19, inside a government school, in Hyderabad. Picture:Noah Seelam AFP
Expert confirms Covid-19 âIndian variantâ case being investigated in Cape Town is South Africaâs 501Y.V2 Variant
By Karen Singh
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DURBAN: A Covid-19 âIndian variantâ case, under investigation by the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) at Tygerberg Hospital, has been confirmed as not being the B.1.617 variant rapidly spreading through India.
Professor Wolfgang Preiser, who heads the Medical Virology Department of Pathology at Stellenbosch University and the NHLS at the hospital, said while he could not elaborate further about the case, treating clinicians had brought the possibility the variant could be from India, to their attention.