Director of research at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Professor Tulio de Oliveira, says the coronavirus variant, Delta plus, which was first identified in India is more transmissible.
However, De Oliveira says there is no scientific evidence that it causes more diseases.
He says if the virus is more transmissible, it overwhelms the health system as seen in Gauteng.
“What we know about the vaccines, a lot of infections happened with Delta. Yes they do work. For an example that is one of the reasons why the cases went so quickly down in India. Also came some results from the United Kingdom that have both Delta variant and a large number of individuals vaccinated. The vaccine seems to be very effective against hospitalisation and severe disease.”
In May, the Health department confirmed that it has detected the presence of coronavirus variants dominant in India and in the UK in South Africa.
Variant
India declared a new coronavirus variant to be of concern, and said nearly two dozen cases had been detected in three states.
The variant, identified locally as “Delta plus”, was found in 16 cases in the state of Maharashtra, Federal Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan told a news conference.
The ministry said Delta plus showed increased transmissibility and advised states to increase testing.
On Monday, India vaccinated a record 8.6 million people as it began offering free shots to all adults, but experts doubted it could maintain that pace. -Additional reporting by Reuters
