Johannesburg – Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Wednesday said that while he shared the worries of South Africans about possible imports of Covid-19 variants, he believed that South Africa was a “very capable nation that knows how to deal with the burden of a variant of concern.”
India is grappling with the B.1.617 variant, which is spreading fast and appears to be escaping immune response.
India has more than 20 million confirmed Covid-19 cases and the number increases daily, with more people seeking medical help while hospitals buckle under demand.
While there are no direct flights from India to South Africa, there are fears that this variant could spread to the rest of the world fast.
The minister said that South Africans must guard against fear over the possibility of new variants being detected here on home soil.
Mkhize warned this fear could drive exclusion, mistrust and even racist rhetoric.
Last year, a new Covid-19 variant was first detected in South Africa, which led to many countries banning flights from South Africa.
He added that the country’s expert teams were on high alert to survey, detect and contain the spread of the coronavirus, with heightened awareness around travelers from countries where the new variant is dominant.
“We have not detected the B.1.617 variant as yet in South Africa. For now, we ask for calm to prevail as we continue to adhere to health protocols… as we maintain a balance in our economic activity,” said the minister’s spokesperson Lwazi Manzi.
