South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has said that four cases of the Indian variant of coronavirus have been detected in the country, but there was no cause for panic as all such cases were quarantined. “The four cases of B.1.617.2 (Indian variant of coronavirus) have been detected in Gauteng (2) and KwaZulu-Natal (2) and all have a history of recent arrival from India. All cases have been isolated and managed according to the national COVID-19 case management guidelines and contact tracing has been performed in order to limit the spread of this variant,” Mkhize said in a statement on Saturday.
The minister’s statement was released amid growing concerns in the last fortnight about the Indian variant spreading after the crew of two ships travelling between the two countries tested positive for the virus. “We reiterate that there is no need for panic, as the fundamentals of the public health response (testing, contact tracing, isolation and quarantine) have not changed,” Mkhize…