The meeting of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was originally scheduled for Sunday. (File)
Johannesburg:
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa held an emergency meeting with the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) on Saturday, amid growing global concern about the new Omicron variant potentially infecting for the first time. first discovered in this country.
The meeting was originally scheduled for Sunday.
The meeting comes as a growing number of European countries are closely following the UK’s lead in banning travel to and from South Africa and neighboring countries such as Namibia, Zimbabwe and Botswana, as well as Lesotho and Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), both inland in the South. Africa.
The latest countries to impose a ban are Mauritius, the United States, Israel, Sri Lanka and the Netherlands.
There is a lot of speculation that Ramaphosa will announce a tighter lockdown and other measures to limit the spread of the new variant.
The new COVID-19 variant B.1.1.529, first detected in South Africa this week, was designated a “worrying variant” by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday, with the name “Omicron”.
“Worrying Variants” is the WHO’s top category of worrisome COVID-19 variants.
It was first reported to WHO from South Africa on November 24, and has also been identified in Botswana, Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel.
Previously, an NCCC meeting was always broadcast nationally by Ramaphosa to announce changes to South Africa’s 5-level lockdown strategy, which is currently at the lowest Level One.
“The outcome of this meeting will provide direction on whether further consultations are needed at the level of the President’s Coordinating Council,” Minister-President Mondli Gungubele said in a statement.
“The National Coronavirus Command Council is one of a number of government structures ~CHECK~ consisting of the Presidential Coordinating Council and the Cabinet ~CHECK ~ where the scientific evidence and submissions of the economic economic and social differences inform executive decision-making,” the statement added.
“The government works closely with social partners to ensure that a balance is maintained between protecting and saving lives, enabling people to earn a living and enabling the broader economy to recover and develop”.
At an emergency media briefing convened on Thursday, South Africa’s Health Minister Joe Phaahla expressed concern about the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases over the past week, especially in the central economy of Gauteng province.
Professor Tulio de Oliveira, Director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform (KRISP), said: “This variant has a very high number of mutations, which are associated with immune avoidance and transmission. its predicted translation.
De Oliveira adds: “Initial indications from diagnostic laboratories suggest that this variant has spread rapidly in Gauteng province and may also be present in most of the other eight provinces of South Africa.
Analysts say the predicted fourth wave has arrived earlier than expected in December as the government allowed large gatherings in October ahead of nationwide local government elections in November 1.
This has led to massive protests, where people sometimes exceed the maximum regulatory quota of 2,000 and fail to comply with social distancing and mask-wearing requirements.
Virologists spoke out about this at the time, warning that allowing such mass gatherings could lead to a December lockdown.
There is also skepticism about vaccines in South Africa, including by some political parties leading agitation against vaccinations, despite aggressive government efforts to make them free. , even at religious institutions.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
