By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The first case of the brand-new COVID-19 subvariant, Eris, in South Africa has been confirmed by the National Department of Health.
Foster Mohale, a spokesman for national health, claimed that a sample retrieved from a patient in Gauteng contained the new type.
The World Health Organization (WHO) last week explained that EG.5 is a descendent lineage of XBB.1.9.2, which has the same spike amino acid profile as XBB.1.5.
“EG.5 was first reported on February 2023 and designated as a variant under monitoring in July,” the WHO said at the time.
“The largest portion of EG.5 sequences are from China, the US, Republic of Korea, Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore, the UK, France, Portugal and Spain. Globally, there has been a steady increase in the proportion of EG.5 reported in recent weeks.”
The National Institute For Communicable Diseases (NICD) noted that a sample of a sublineage of EG.5 was also detected back in June, but added that there is no indication that its incidence is rising in current testing.
Eris was first detected back in 2021 but was only recently declared a variant of interest by the World Health Organisation.
As of August, the variant had been detected in over 50 countries, but is rapidly becoming the dominant virus in countries like the USA, in Europe and in Asia.
According to Wits Professor of Vaccinology, Shabir Madhi, the new Covid variant shouldn’t be anything to get too worried about.
Madhi said that Eris is more transmissible and may be what experts call “antibody evasive”, but “for all intents and purposes, it is unlikely to cause a surge of severe disease cases in South Africa”.
This is because a large number of people in the country have immunity – either from previous infection or through vaccination.
Director of the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation at Stellenbosch and the KZN Research Innovation & Sequencing Platform, Professor Tulio de Oliveira, said the EG.5 variant is nothing to be concerned about.
De Oliveira – who alerted the world to Omicron – said that new variants are detected all the time and that the “Eris” designation isn’t an official name given by the World Health Organisation. He cautioned against “crying wolf” over new lineages and variants, warning that it could dull the public’s reception to a more “important” mutation.
The NICD said that “although it has been designated a variant of interest, the WHO considers the variant to be of low public health risk”.
According to chairperson of the South African Medical Association, Dr Mvuyisi Mzukwa, the South African public at large is also being urged to mask up – especially if they are experiencing any symptoms – and to wash hands and sanitise frequently to prevent the spread of the new variant.
Mzukwa added that a possible reason for the resurgence right now could be because immunity from the previous vaccines and boosters could be “winding up”.
As such, South Africans are encouraged to go for their vaccines and booster shots to limit the chance of infection.
Madhi said that South Africa has limited its Covid testing, so it is not clear exactly how widespread the new Eris variant may be.
He said that there hasn’t been any change in the number of South Africans being hospitalised due to Covid-19, and in fact, the current influenza season has been far deadlier.
However, if hospitals start noticing a rise in Covid cases, more testing will be done to determine which variant is driving the increase.
The main symptoms of this rising sub-variant are similar to previous Omicron symptoms. One such symptom is a sore throat, it can also trigger inflammation of the membranes lining the nose and sinuses, which is an immune response, and can lead to a runny nose, sneezing.
Coughing with or without phlegm, headache, hoarse voice, muscle aches and an altered sense of smell were also listed as some of the symptoms.