The COVID-19 variants detected in SA could spread “quite quickly” and no-one should become complacent, warned Prof Salim Abdool Karim, in TimesLIVE report. The national Department of Health has confirmed that 11 cases of the B.1.1.7 variant — first recorded in the UK — had been detected in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, while four cases of the B.1.617.2 variant first recorded in India were detected in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
Karim, a clinical infectious diseases epidemiologist, said the B.1.1.7 variant was a fast spreading variant and what was happening in the North West, the Northern Cape and the Free State was concerning. Karim warned that the Free State and the Northern Cape could see “quite a lot of infectious quite quickly”, adding that super-spreader events would lead to fully fledged waves in the provinces.
Karim said there was no clinical evidence that suggested that if someone was previously infected previously with the 501.V2 variant from SA they would be protected if they were exposed to the variant from India. However, he said, it could be speculated from laboratory evidence that individuals who were infected with the 501.V2 variants produced antibodies that could neutralise the same virus.
Karim said he was “quite concerned” there was a “lot of complacency setting in” with many people not wearing masks.