The South African variant of the coronavirus has caused an “amazing and terrifying” infection spike in the country already hardest hit by the virus in Africa, according to 

The United States this week joined countries in slamming their doors on travellers from South Africa, which has itself closed its land borders and tightened lockdown regulations.

But the variant known has N501 Y V2 has already been detected in 32 countries. They include neighbours Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi where expatriate workers in South Africa took the virus home when they went to celebrate the festive season with families.

South Africa has not received a vaccine to start an immunisation programme and is unlikely to do so before the second quarter of 2021.

So far, the country has recorded 1,437,798 cases of Covid-19, with 43,105 fatalities.

Doctors this week made the encouraging announcement that the American-made Novavax vaccine was 60 percent effective against the South African variant in tests.

But Witwatersrand University Dean of the Faculty of Health Scientists Shabir Modhi, who directed the tests, added that anyone with mild to low antibodies after contracting earlier strains of Covid-19 were prone to reinfection by the variant.

Another big vaccine news day. J&J vaccine has 72% efficacy in US, which drops to 57% in South Africa, probably due to B.1.351 variant. With Novavax’s similar results yesterday, it’s a wake-up call about viral evolution. Story w/ @noah_weiland & @SharonLNYT https://t.co/iqDpirj5z8— Carl Zimmer (@carlzimmer) January 29, 2021

Not deadlier, but more contagious

Medical experts say the variant is not deadlier than the original coronavirus. However it is 50 percent easier to catch.

Dr Richard Lessels of the KwaZulu/Natal Research and Innovation Sequencing Platform says more than 90 percent of the new cases diagnosed in South Africa are the new variant.

“It is amazing and terrifying how quickly it came to dominate. We are in the beginning stages of watching this and other new variants becoming more dominant around the world.”

This is exacerbated by the inequity of availability of vaccine between rich and poor countries.

No-one safe until everyone safe

President Cyril Ramaphosa has joined World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in castigating rich countries for stockpiling vaccines while poor countries go without.

They maintain no-one is safe until everyone is safe.

Ghebreyesus calls it “a crisis of morality”.

California medical specialist Dr Jorge Rodriques puts a more pragmatic spin on failing to vaccinate the global population: “Replication means mutation which means resistance to medication which means variants.”

He notes that the Novavax trials in South Africa showed 60 percent effectiveness against the local variant in healthy patients and 50 percent in HIV positive people who tested.

Hospitals overrun

South African hospitals are overrun by the new wave of infections.

Imtiaz Sooliman of the charity Gift Of The Givers says people are driving six hours to fetch oxygen which is in short supply.

“Some people are dying in their cars while waiting to get into hospital or don’t make it through the casualty wards,” he says.

Specialist Phumla Mayanda says people believing misinformation about the danger of infection in hospitals are attempting treatment at home.

By the time they desperately seek admission, their oxygen levels have decreased fatally.

This article first appeared on RFI. Noteom

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Ramaphosa calls for international solidarity against COVID 19 and says Ghebreyesus has shown exceptional leadership from the earliest stages of the pandemic.

President Donald Trump is threatening to withhold US funding to what he calls the China-centric World Health Organisation.

He says the WHO, which warned about coronavirus six days after it was identified in China, called it wrong.

WHO director general Tedros Ghebreyesus urged an end to political point scoring over COVID 19.

His position is supported by AU Commission chair Moussa Faki Mahamat, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and Namibian President Hage Geingob.

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Their statement follows on the expression of support for WHO director general Tedros Ghebryesus by a range of African leaders.

The EFF rounds not only on President Donald Trump but also on British premier Boris Johnson for downplaying the significance of the COVID 19 pandemic.

It commends the WHO head Tedros Gebreyesus for issuing warning that helped contain the spread of the pandemic.

Calling for international cooperation the EFF says the enemy is not a foreign country or a people but a virus that will certainly kill us all.

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The the UN health agency boss says concentrating on the COVID19 outbreak is no excuse for taking the foot off the gas on EBOLA.

The WHO emergency committee of experts is meeting in Geneva today to decide if the EBOLA outbreak in the DRC is still a global emergency.

More than 2300 people have died since the outbreak started in August 2018.

WHO Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus says there hasn’t been a case in the past three day and only three reported cases this past week.

However any single case could reignite the outbreak, so the WHO remains in full response mode. 

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The UN health body’s emergency committee determined in Geneva yesterday that making such a declaration would have unwanted consequences for the Central African giant where more than 1400 people have died from the deadly hemorrhagic disease since last July.

WHO Director General Tedros Ghbreyesus acknowledges that EBOLA is very much an emergency for those affected by it.

The WHO emergency committee says the spread of the disease into Uganda is an extraordinary event of deep concern.

But the danger of it spreading into Rwanda and South Sudan is limited.

The declaration of a public health event of international concern, which would trigger more funding but also a travel ban, is not warranted. 

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A five-year-old Congolese boy, who travelled with his family into Uganda, has the hemorrhagic disease that has killed nearly 1400 people since last July in the second-worst outbreak on the planet.

There have been scares about EBOLA moving from the Eastern DRC into neighboring Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.

This first confirmed case was announced in a tweet from World Health Organisation Director General Tedros Ghebreyesus.

It was quickly detected but much will depend on the speed and efficiency of the Ugandan response.

More than 2 000 Congolese have been sickened by the latest outbreak of the disease.

This number has accelerated in recent weeks because of rebel attacks on medical facilities and resistance from suspicious local communities.

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There hasn’t been a new case reported since June 6 and the vaccination program has been completed but vigilance has to be strengthened.

WHO chief Tedros Ghebreyesus tells journalists in Kinshasa there are encouraging signs the Ebola outbreak many be brought under control.

Ghebreyesus says 2 200 people have been vaccinated, and that case management and tracing contacts of victims have gone well.

But it’s not over until it is over. Even if one case crosses into neighboring Congo  and gets to an urban area, that could trigger another epidemic.

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