Minister of Health of South Africa

2023 - 1 - 11

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Image courtesy of "Reuters"

South Africa not tightening COVID rules over China, subvariant (Reuters)

South Africa does not see the need to implement any new COVID-19 restrictions either at home or for arrivals over an infection surge in China and the ...

Initially it battled to secure vaccines as rich countries hoarded the available shots, but it now has large volumes in stock. Register for free to Reuters and know the full story JOHANNESBURG, Jan 10 (Reuters) - South Africa does not see the need to implement any new COVID-19 restrictions either at home or for arrivals over an infection surge in China and the detection of the first case of Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 locally, its health minister said.

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No need to reimpose COVID restrictions in SA - Health Minister (News24)

There is no need to reimpose COVID-19 restrictions in South Africa or any restrictions on travelling, especially relating to visitors from China.

It has been in the US since October and while there is some evidence that it is slightly more transmissible, this evidence is weak. There is nothing proving that the variant will increase severity in illness," she said. Just because this variant is dominant elsewhere, does not mean that it will become dominant here. Another panelist in the media briefing, Dr. - There should be increased surveillance of testing. According to Phaahla, although Omicron is dominant in China and the country has been showing increased rates of infections and fatalities during the month of December 2022, South Africa has been advised by the Ministerial Advisory Committee that there is no need to impose travelling restrictions on tourists entering South Africa from China.

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South Africa will not impose travel restrictions, says Health Minister ... (Independent Online)

The minister said they have engaged scientists, the World Health Organization and the ministerial advisory committee, who suggested that there is no need to ...

We will do wastewater testing on aircraft from China, the United States or any country with rising infections to check for the virus. We will step up our communication and messaging for people to get vaccinated or a booster," he said. "We were not imposing any restrictions or travel requirements for China, the United States or any country with rising infections," said Phaahla when briefing the media virtually about Covid-19.

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WATCH | Health minister provides an update on Covid-19 in South ... (TimesLIVE)

Health minister Joe Phaahla and his deputy Sibongiseni Dhlomo are expected to provide an update on Covid-19 in the country.

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the “The ministry will use this opportunity to respond to a number of topical issues, including a new variant (XBB.1.5) which has dominated the media space and created panic in the past few days,” the department said. Health minister Joe Phaahla and his deputy Sibongiseni Dhlomo are expected to provide an update on Covid-19 in the country.

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Government responds to new Covid mutation in South Africa (BusinessTech)

Health minister Joe Phaahla says that there is no need for travel restrictions or any internal restrictions – like lockdown – to deal with a new subvariant ...

Globally there has been a 25% increase in Covid infections since the start of December, with 14 million new infections. “It’s only when there have been significant mutations in the makeup of the virus that it becomes a new variant.” He also stressed that the mutation wasn’t a new variant, as has been reported, but rather a subvariant of the Omicron virus.

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South Africa sees no need for new Covid restrictions for now - health ... (Bizcommunity.com)

health minister Joe Phaahla said that adjustments would soon be made on rules for booster doses and timing between such doses...

Last week, South Africa detected its first case of the XBB.1.5 Omicron subvariant of Covid, but it is not expected to cause an increase in hospitalisations, South African infectious disease expert Michelle Groome said at the same briefing. Reuters, the news and media division of Thomson Reuters, is the world's largest multimedia news provider, reaching billions of people worldwide every day.Go to: However, the country will increase Covid testing and reinvigorate its vaccination campaign in light of rising global infections, he said at a media briefing.

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Image courtesy of "South African Government News Agency"

No new COVID-19 restrictions as new Omicron sub-variant detected (South African Government News Agency)

Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla says for now, government will not impose any internal restrictions as a result of the emergence of a newly found sub-variant ...

“Our vaccination ministerial advisory committee will soon make adjustments to qualification for booster [vaccination] per age and also the timelines between the boosters. While the various sub-variants have shown different levels of transmissibility, there has thus been no marked change in severity of illness,” he said. “We have consulted our Ministerial Advisory Committees and also the World Health Organisation … “[That] is why we have not seen up to this stage any major changes in our epidemiology in terms of the rates of infections, also in terms of admissions to hospitals and even the rate of fatalities from the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said. “We believe that the fact that the dominant variant of concern in China and in the world remains the Omicron and that the immunity of South Africans from vaccination and natural immunity is still very strong, puts us in a better position and in less risk. and in both cases the advice that we have received is that there is no need to impose any travel restrictions on any country, including the People’s Republic of China and that we also do not need to re-impose any restrictions internally in our country.

Minister Joe Phaahla on recent COVID-19 developments | South ... (South African Government)

On the 7th of January, the Genomic Surveillance Unit at Stellenbosch University, a member of the Network for Genomics Surveillance in South Africa (NGS-SA) ...

- Re-invigoration of the vaccination campaign for COVID-19 with improved communication and messaging. In the last week of December new cases declined in all the mentioned countries except in China. And that is why we have not seen any changes in rates of infection, hospital admission and deaths While the various sub-variants or sub-lineages have shown different levels of transmissibility, there has been thus far no marked change in the severity of illness. In December, globally there was 25% (14.5m) in new cases and 12% (46.6k) in deaths reported as compared to November 2022. Genomics surveillance has also been continuing under the Network for Genomic Surveillance of South Africa, based at Stellenbosch University.

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