Shangula calm amid two Kraken variant cases
Health minister says Namibian situation ‘stable’
The country currently has no single person hospitalised for Covid-19, including the two cases of the XBB.1.5 sub-variant.
Namibia had by yesterday recorded two cases of the new coronavirus sub-variant XBB.1.5 - nicknamed Kraken, which is said to be the most immune-evasive and highly transmissible.
However, health minister Dr Kalumbi Shangula said there is no need to panic over this as it has not resulted in any hospitalisation yet, and at present there are no Covid-19 related hospitalisations.
“Our situation is stable. So far, we don’t have people hospitalised for Covid-19. We are not overly concerned about this, even though we are still registering new cases. We are well prepared in case it gets worse.
“We have adjusted our capacity as we fought different waves of Covid-19 and we have addressed the bed and oxygen shortages as well as the issue of manpower,” Shangula said.
Dr Maria van Kerkhove of the World Health Organisation (WHO) last Thursday said the sub-variant is rapidly replacing other variants around the country and its transmissibility is concerning; however, they do not anticipate further waves of death.
“We don’t have any data on severity yet on a clinical picture, but we also do not have an indication that severity has changed with XBB.1.5. That is something that we are watching very closely through studies and experimental studies in the laboratory, but also in real world data when we look at hospitalisation rates around the world amongst people that are infected with this sub-variant,” she said.
SA, Nigeria record cases
By Friday, the sub variant had been detected in 29 countries so far and it is expected to be tracked to more nations in the coming weeks when more testing is done.
According to several media reports, the proportion of infections caused by XBB.1.5 has remained lower than other variants.
South Africa and Nigeria have also recorded cases of the new sub-variant in the last week and while China has seen a surge in new Covid-19 cases recently, the Asian nation has yet to record cases of the new sub-variant.
Meanwhile, Shangula urged Namibians to get vaccinated against Covid-19 to help stave off a possible health crisis. International experts are, however, concerned that the new sub-variant may escape immunity from prior vaccinations.
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However, health minister Dr Kalumbi Shangula said there is no need to panic over this as it has not resulted in any hospitalisation yet, and at present there are no Covid-19 related hospitalisations.
“Our situation is stable. So far, we don’t have people hospitalised for Covid-19. We are not overly concerned about this, even though we are still registering new cases. We are well prepared in case it gets worse.
“We have adjusted our capacity as we fought different waves of Covid-19 and we have addressed the bed and oxygen shortages as well as the issue of manpower,” Shangula said.
Dr Maria van Kerkhove of the World Health Organisation (WHO) last Thursday said the sub-variant is rapidly replacing other variants around the country and its transmissibility is concerning; however, they do not anticipate further waves of death.
“We don’t have any data on severity yet on a clinical picture, but we also do not have an indication that severity has changed with XBB.1.5. That is something that we are watching very closely through studies and experimental studies in the laboratory, but also in real world data when we look at hospitalisation rates around the world amongst people that are infected with this sub-variant,” she said.
SA, Nigeria record cases
By Friday, the sub variant had been detected in 29 countries so far and it is expected to be tracked to more nations in the coming weeks when more testing is done.
According to several media reports, the proportion of infections caused by XBB.1.5 has remained lower than other variants.
South Africa and Nigeria have also recorded cases of the new sub-variant in the last week and while China has seen a surge in new Covid-19 cases recently, the Asian nation has yet to record cases of the new sub-variant.
Meanwhile, Shangula urged Namibians to get vaccinated against Covid-19 to help stave off a possible health crisis. International experts are, however, concerned that the new sub-variant may escape immunity from prior vaccinations.
[email protected]
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