Delta variant likely cause of third wave: Madhi

JOHANNESBURG – The Delta variant is one of the biggest contributors to Gauteng’s third wave of infections, according to vaccinologist Professor Shabir Madhi.

Madhi says the Delta variant first discovered in India is much more transmissible.

He says even though a third of people in Gauteng have immunity new variants are the reason the province continues to see a spike in COVID-19.

“Those individuals who have been previously infected, they are still susceptible to being reinfected, especially when there is a new variant that evolves that is relatively resistant but they still remain protected against severe disease which is really important,” he said.

“So past infections still make you susceptible to reinfection but not to severe disease but as you mention the other possible reason and I think we will get some data coming out from the NICD next week is that there might have been an increase especially in the transmission of the Delta variant, the variant that was first identified in India.”

South has recorded 18,762 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24-hours.

A further 215 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported bringing the total number of fatalities to 59,621 to date.