South Africa Records First Case Of New Covid-19 Variant ‘Eris’

The first incidence of the novel COVID-19 variant EG.5 or Eris in South Africa has been confirmed by the National Department of Health.

Eris has since been identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the most current COVID-19 mutation of interest.

Although the WHO claims the variant is not expected to raise any concerns, it is likely to result in an increase in infections.

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The Department informed SABC News that the incidence was verified in a sample from the Gauteng area.

Hospitalisations and COVID infections are increasing in the US, Europe, and Asia.

Eris is a subvariant of the Omicron lineage that originally emerged in November 2021.

The symptoms of Eris are similar to those of other COVID-19 variants, including fever, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle aches, headache, and sore throat.

The Health Department is urging South Africans is get vaccinated.

The World Health Organization (WHO) last week explained that EG.5 is a descendent lineage of XBB.1.9.2, which has the same spike amino acid profile as XBB.1.5.

“EG.5 was first reported on February 2023 and designated as a variant under monitoring in July,” the WHO said at the time.

“The largest portion of EG.5 sequences are from China, the US, Republic of Korea, Japan, Canada, Australia, Singapore, the UK, France, Portugal and Spain. Globally, there has been a steady increase in the proportion of EG.5 reported in recent weeks.”

The WHO director-general, Tedros Ghebreyesus, said medical experts are currently tracking several variants including EG.5.

“The risk remains of a more dangerous variant emerging that could cause a sudden increase in cases and deaths,” he said.

He further urged countries to maintain surveillance for Covid-19 and to detect significant changes in the virus, as well as trends in disease severity and population immunity.

The main symptoms of this rising sub-variant are similar to previous Omicron symptoms. One such symptom is a sore throat, it can also trigger inflammation of the membranes lining the nose and sinuses, which is an immune response, and can lead to a runny nose, sneezing.

Coughing with or without phlegm, headache, hoarse voice, muscle aches and an altered sense of smell were also listed as some of the symptoms.