by Loushe Jordaan Gilbert

As the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a new COVID 19 variant last week, many are left concerned about the severity of the variant dubbed EG.5 or Eris.

Public Health Specialist for the Western Cape’s department of health, Professor Hassan Mohamed said although the sub-variant is more infectious than the other variants, it’s not as severe.
“We have to bear in mind that this is a sub-variant, a variation of the omicron variant. It is easily spread from person to person, but the symptoms are not as severe as the other variants or sub-variants,” he added.

Although fears are mounting globally as more cases of the Eris variant has been identified, Mohammed said that no cases have been identified or reported in South Africa.
“We have not seen any cases of the variant yet, Covid levels are low, but this information cannot be reliable as not many people are actively getting tested for Covid 19. We have not seen an increase in hospitalisations either, but what we can say is that we are monitoring this situation closely and any and all information will be shared once it becomes available to the department of health,” he stated.

Many people are now wondering whether the Covid 19 vaccines and boaster shots will be effective against this variant. Mohamed said that although the vaccines are effective, people are still encouraged to get booster shots as this won’t prevent them from getting Covid 19, but it will help them with fighting the virus.

“We know that it is important to get booster shots and that these shots should be taking as prescribed. I have to make it abundantly clear that a vaccine and boaster shot won’t prevent people from contracting the virus, but it will make their immune system strong enough to fight the virus and reduce the symptoms,” he stressed.

Mohammed said its important to note that Covid 19 is not a thing of the past, and people should not become complacent.

“The figures indicate that Covid 19 is still in our midst, but the number of hospitalisations is still low, we have minor peaks every now and then, but we are at a very low level- this according to our calculations at the department of health,” he stated.