Health experts are closely monitoring the behaviour of the Covid-19 sub-variant in terms of transmissibility and severity.
According to the Department of Health, the new sub-variant was detected in eight laboratory-confirmed cases in Limpopo and Gauteng.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases' (NICD) weekly respiratory pathogens surveillance report based on the data collected up to 28 January, reported that it had detected 16 cases of influenza, nine cases of respiratory syncytial virus, 10 cases of SARS-CoV-2, and seven cases of Bordetella pertussis (a contagious respiratory illness).