Chronicle Editor
Botswana has detected a new Covid-19 variant which Bulawayo provincial medical director Dr Maphios Siamuchembu says is likely to find its way into Zimbabwe within a week.
A new sub-lineage of the Omicron, the new variant has been identified as Omicron BA.4 and BA.5.
It was detected among four vaccinated people who have a history of travelling outside Botswana.
In a statement, Botswana’s Ministry of Health and Wellness on Monday said investigations were still being carried out to determine the severity of the variant.
The new variant, which is the second to be detected in Botswana after the Omicron, comes at a time when most countries including Zimbabwe are recording a decrease in new infections as most people continue to get vaccinated.
Further investigations are still ongoing to determine the effectiveness of the Covid-19 vaccination on this new variant.
The statement said although it is common for viruses to mutate as they spread from one person to another, some mutations become responsible for high infection rates and cause severe disease.
This would be due to among others, changes in virus behaviour and characteristics.
When this happens, the new variant could be determined as a variant of concern.
But, Bulawayo and of course Zimbabwe, must not wait for the variant to be determined as a variant of concern.
While we do not advocate for the return of stringent Covid-19 preventive measures, citizens must be warned that the war against the coronavirus is far from over.
As Dr Siamuchembu said, “the virus is going to be a part of us for some time so we should be prepared to live with it”.
Living with the virus does not mean being carefree.
It means maintaining a safe distance from others (at least 1 metre), even if they don’t appear to be sick and wearing a mask in public, especially indoors or when physical distancing is not possible.
It means cleaning your hands often by using soap and water, or an alcohol-based hand rub, covering your nose and mouth with your bent elbow or a tissue when you cough or sneeze and staying home if you feel unwell.
Above all, it means getting vaccinated.
The fact that many choose to ignore is that limited behaviour change is keeping the virus alive.
Research shows that many people have concluded that the health risks of Covid-19 are not significant enough for them to change their behaviour, either because of their vaccination status, their youth, or a desire to move on from the pandemic.
Some governments have concluded that the total societal costs of lockdowns, restrictions on business and masking outweigh the benefits.
It is good to note that the Government of Zimbabwe sees the benefits of maintaining public-health responses to the virus through promoting masking in public and sanitising and above all – vaccination.
Businesses in the city centre remain relatively cautious in their Covid-19 policies even though they have typically been less forceful.
All this has seen the national recovery rate rising to 97 percent and active cases going down to 1054.
But all this hard work is under threat because of the new variant in Botswana.
“The new variant in Botswana is bad news for us, because for certain it will come to Bulawayo it’s just a matter of time.
“And it will probably come before the end of the week.
I don’t think we should panic, but we should be ready to deal with increased numbers of Covid-19 infections.
“I would like to urge people to get vaccinated to protect themselves from severe disease hospitalisation and deaths because right now, vaccinations are number one to fight Covid-19,” said Dr Siamuchembu.
Some may call Dr Siamuchembu an alarmist, but as long as Covid-19 is not eradicated, there is reason for caution.
This new variant may trigger new widespread infections and Zimbabwe must remain prepared to respond if and when that happens.
Online Reporter