No sign South Africa COVID-19 variant can resist vaccine –WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared that there is no sign that the South African COVID-19 variant currently sweeping across the country can resist virus vaccines.

This was contained in a statement issued on Wednesday by WHO’s technical chief, Maria Van Kerkhove who also added that those infected with different variants of the virus presented same symptoms of the disease and there was no severity.

However, Maria said that the COVID-19 variant had increased transmission with regards to how many people one can infect.

“We have no indication that there’s an impact on the vaccines that are being rolled out. That’s very good news. That’s the information we have so far, and studies are ongoing,” she said.

READ ALSO: South Africa’s Covid-19 cases hit one million mark as new wave soars

This came after South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, announced the re-imposition of another COVID-19 lockdown.

Ramaphosa said the move was to limit further spread of the virus and would adjust the previous level 3 regulations to keep the economy open as possible.

According to him, the order will also allow the government to focus on social distancing measures in a bid to ease the pressure on hospitals.

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