JOHANNESBURG (AP) – South Africa’s normally joyous and lively Christmas celebrations have been dampened by the spike in new cases and deaths from the country’s variant of COVID-19.
A record 14,305 news cases have been confirmed in the past 24 hours, and there is no sign that South Africa is peaking, threatening the country’s health systems, experts said.
South Africa has a total of 968,563 confirmed cases, including 25,983 deaths, by far the most cases in all of Africa. Africa’s 54 countries, representing 1.3 billion people, have collectively reported more than 2.59 million cases, including more than 61,000 deaths, according to figures released Friday by the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The 7-day moving average of daily new cases in South Africa has more than doubled in the past two weeks from 8.65 new cases per 100,000 people on December 10 to 18.25 new cases per 100,000 people on December 24.
The South African variant, 501.V2, is more contagious than the original COVID-19 virus and is dominant in the country.
To combat the resurgence of the disease, South Africa has imposed measures including closing many major public beaches, mandating masks in public areas, limiting alcohol sales to four days a week, and enforcing a curfew from 11 pm to 4 am. The rate at which the disease is spreading has prompted experts to push for stricter measures.
“We do need to think about additional restrictions so that people understand how serious the current situation is,” said Dr. Richard Lessells, infectious disease expert, to The Associated Press. “Because many hospitals in many parts of the country are already extremely stretched.”
Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize, in a Christmas message The country urged all South Africans on Friday to take preventive measures to slow the spread of the virus. Mkhize also released a message on Christmas Eve declining a suggestion by the British Health Secretary that the South Africa variant had contributed to the Britain variant.
Mkhize said statements by UK Health Minister Matt Hancock had created the impression that the South African variant was a major factor in the UK’s second wave.
“This is not correct. There is evidence that the British variant developed earlier than the South African variant,” said Mkhize.
There is no evidence to suggest that the South African variant is more transmissible, causes more serious illness or increased mortality than the Britain variant or any other variant that has been sequenced in the world, Mkhize said.
He also said he was against travel bans.
“It is the widespread opinion of the scientific community that, given the current circumstantial evidence, the risks of travel bans outweigh the benefits, and that it is possible to limit variants while supporting international travel,” he said.
“Banning travel between the UK and South Africa is an unfortunate decision,” Mkhize said in his statement. “There is no evidence that the South African variant is more pathogenic than the British variant to make this step necessary.”
Mkhize noted that South Africa is part of a group of “leading countries in genomic surveillance: Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, South Africa and the United Kingdom.”
Leading genomic research in South Africa is Professor Tulio de Oliveira, who leads a team of scientists studying the genomic sequencing of the new variant.
“I spend Christmas in my lab,” de Oliveira told AP. “We will be working on this research throughout the holiday season.”
Other African countries are also facing a resurgence of the disease.
Nigeria has also reported a new variant of the virus and is fighting a resurgence of the disease. The country had reported more than 81,200 cases on Friday. The 7-day moving average of daily new cases in Nigeria has increased over the past two weeks from 0.21 new cases per 100,000 people on December 10 to 0.40 new cases per 100,000 people on December 24.