South Africa: scientists to meet over new Covid variant

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to hold a meeting with the National Coronavirus Command Council on Tuesday to discuss the new variant detected in the country this week, local media reported.

The new Covid subvariant, known as XBB.1.5, is an offshoot of the globally dominant Omicron Covid variant and is highly transmissible. It was also recorded in the United States and the United Kingdom.

President Ramaphosa confirmed Tuesday’s meeting to local journalists and urged South Africans not to panic.

“We are agile enough to want to have that meeting tomorrow, and thereafter there will be information that will be shared with the rest of the country,” he told Eyewitness News on Monday.

South Africa is the most affected by covid-19 in Africa with more than three million recorded cases, including more than 103,000 deaths.