Omicron Hotspot Feels Depressed When South Africa Faces Variants | World News

Pretoria, South Africa (AP) — Cloudy drizzle skies are in line with the gloomy mood of Tsuwane Institute of Technology, South Africa’s hotspot for a surge in the latest COVID-19 cases. A world that imposes new restrictions.

After a few students tested positive, the university postponed some tests, and officials in the metropolitan area of ​​Tshwane, including the capital of Pretoria, vaccinated, especially among young adults who were delayed in firing. We are promoting.

At TUT, as the university is known, few students wanted to talk about a new variety that was in dire straits. Many were not vaccinated — only 22% of South Africa’s ages 18-34 were vaccinated — and some seemed to reconsider it, especially college vaccinations. The center was closed on weekends.

Student Manqoba Zitha, who took the shot, said he encouraged his classmates to do the same.

“I’m trying to encourage them to get vaccinated, and they’re moving away from the coronavirus because it’s there, killing people, and now the numbers are increasing. You can, “Zitha said. “Now, when we watch TV, we can see people infected with the coronavirus, so they have to be vaccinated!”

Almost two years after the pandemic, the world Competing to include the latest variantsFirst identified in southern Africa, it has appeared all over the world. Countries have imposed restrictions or bans on travelers from several countries, a measure that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called very disappointing on Sunday, some in the past. We are re-imposing measures like the mask order that we expected to be.

who Named the new version of the virus “omicron” Although it was classified as a highly contagious substance of concern, Its actual risk is not yet understood.. Early evidence suggests that people already infected with COVID-19 carry an increased risk of catching it again, WHO said. It may take several weeks to find out if the current vaccine is ineffective against it.

Still, some experts hope that the vaccine will be at least to some extent effective in preventing serious illness and death and will continue to encourage people to be vaccinated.

Home to Pretoria and Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city, Gauteng is the center of a new surge. So far, doctors say the cases appear to be mild and hospitalizations have not surged.

But experts warn that the early rounds of infection are among young people, and the situation can be more serious if the new surge affects older unvaccinated South Africans. Overall, 41% of people over the age of 18 are vaccinated, but young people are particularly slow to move forward.

At least three South African universities, the University of Cape Town, the University of the Witwatersland in Johannesburg, and the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, have announced that students will be required to be vaccinated from next year. Some experts believe that further action is needed.

Mosa Mochabella, a professor of public health at KwaZulu-Natal University in Durban, said:

Demand for vaccines has been so low that the government recently demanded slower delivery to allow time to use up the current inventory of Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson shots.

In a speech to the public on Sunday, the solemn President Lamaposa urged people to be vaccinated promptly.

“Tonight, I would like to call on all unvaccinated people to go to the nearest vaccination station without delay,” he said. “If any of your family or friends are not vaccinated, we recommend that you do so.”

Although new surges have long been expected and even new varieties, the speed at which Omicron hits was a “shock” for South African health professionals.

The number of confirmed cases is still relatively small, but they are increasing at a high rate. The new spikes began after several student parties in Pretoria. The number quickly surged from hundreds to thousands a day. According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, South Africa announced 3,220 new cases on Saturday, 82% of which occur in Gauteng. This is well below the peak of the last wave, with over 25,000 confirmed daily.

90% of new cases in Gauteng are due to Omicron, said Triode Oliveira, director of the KwaZulu-Natal Research Innovation and Sequencing Platform. In a tweet, I will quote the result of the diagnostic test.

“We expected that we might see new or another variant gaining momentum in the fourth wave … but to see a variant with some mutational diversity. I didn’t really expect it, and it can be very contagious and at the same time escape or avoid immunity, “said Mochabella, an expert at KwaZulu-Natal University. “This was really a shock to us.”

Current cases are concentrated in Pretoria and Johannesburg, but tests show that Omicron is already present in all nine South African states.

Returning to TUT, 25-year-old junior high school student Nhlanhla Africa Maphosa is still trying to digest the news and what it means for his research.

“It was just last week that they checked the statistics, and they noticed that so many students were affected by COVID-19 on the main campus,” Mafosa said. “I’m not sure about statistics …. But what we can say is that high levels or a high percentage of students are infected with COVID-19.”

Meldrum reported from Johannesburg. Follow AP’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic

Copyright 2021 AP communication. all rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.



Omicron Hotspot Feels Depressed When South Africa Faces Variants | World News

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