Scary! South African health Minister Zweli Mkhize confirmed that researchers have found a new variant of Wuhan pneumonia (novel coronavirus disease, COVID-19) in the country that has similarities to the type that recently emerged in the United Kingdom and appears to be more infectious to young people.
According to the Washington Post, a South African seaside town, last week for more than 3,000 17 and 18-year-old high school students, held a large seven-day graduation party, resulting in more than 1,000 of them confirmed Wuhan pneumonia, and hundreds of others either refused to be screened, or provide the wrong cell phone number to interfere with the epidemic.
Mukaitz revealed that frontline physicians have revealed through clinical epidemiology that there are more and more young patients in the country, and that evidence suggests that the second wave of the pandemic was triggered by a new variant of the virus.
Although Mukaitz did not say whether the new variant was related to the 3,000-person party, the combination of the two has led to a surge in cases and hospitalizations in South Africa. Mukaitz said many young people were partying around without masks, making the outbreak more difficult to control.
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