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- Researcher and virologist Prof Tulio de Oliviera says there is no need to panic amid reports of a "new" Covid-19 variant.
- De Oliviera says EG.5 is a lineage of the Omicron variant and is nothing new.
- SA Medical Association chairperson Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa says Omicron EG.5 has a high transmission rate. However, this does not mean it has severe symptoms.
Researcher and virologist Prof Tulio de Oliveira says there is no need for panic amid reports of a "new" Covid-19 variant.
De Oliveira told News24 on Monday that because EG.5 is a lineage of the Omicron variant, it was not new and did not pose a threat to any group of people.
Omicron EG.5 has been nicknamed "Eris", which has caused people to think it is a new strain and caused unnecessary panic. He said the "scientists" behind the nickname were not recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other relevant structures.
"They give it these new names and cause confusion that it is a new variant," he said.
"We are alert, but we are not specifically concerned about [EG.5]."
De Oliveira said South Africa had not experienced a new wave of Covid-19 related infections since 2022.
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He added that while people who are immunocompromised and older than 65 were at a higher risk of infection with all the Omicron lineages, they should not practise non-pharmaceutical interventions or get vaccinated on account of Omicron EG.5.
He said:
Last week, the WHO released an initial risk evaluation on the EG.5 and said it posed a low public health risk based on the available evidence.
"While EG.5 has shown increased prevalence, growth advantage, and immune escape properties, there have been no reported changes in disease severity to date," it stated.
SA Medical Association (SAMA) chairperson Mvuyisi Mzukwa explained that viruses mutate to stay alive.
"They mutate and create something new out of the old. For them to continue living, they need to adapt and change their proteins, so they adapt to the new environment," he said.
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He said while Omicron EG.5 was dominant in countries, including China and the United States, it was unclear where it originated.
"We discovered Omicron, but it didn't mean that it originated in South Africa," he said.
He said the Omicron EG.5 was more transmissible but did not show more severe symptoms.
Mzukwa cautioned that South Africa was not out of the woods yet and urged people who experienced known Covid-19 symptoms to protect those around them.
