HEALTH experts have urged Zimbabwe to up its genomic sequencing, following indications that Omicron will have a higher infection rate than the Delta variant.
This comes as Zimbabwe has recorded a huge spike in new infections in recent weeks following the discovery of the new variant.
For the last 10 days, the country has been averaging 4 580 new Covid-19 infections daily.
Speaking at a science cafe for media practitioners from Eastern and Southern Africa yesterday, World Health Organisation (WHO) country representative to Zimbabwe Alex Gasasira said it was important for countries to invest in research and testing to ensure a transparent reflection of the Covid-19 fight.
Gasasira said genetic sequencing rate in Zimbabwe was still low, making it difficult to trace where the country’s infections could be coming from.
“We know that countries such as South Africa, Mozambique, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Eswatini are seeing large increases in the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases,” he said.
“We may all know that for example, in Zimbabwe now, last week, we recorded 28 000 new cases. This is the highest number of cases reported in a single week’s time since the pandemic started.
“The previous highest number of cases in one week was around 15 000 and this was mid-July this year at the height of the third wave.”
Gasasira said genomic sequencing was central to the Covid-19 response.
“In Zimbabwe we are not sequencing as much as we expect. The government, ministry of Health and Child Care and partners are doing their best but we are not sequencing a large number of samples.
“This means we can only postulate that the very rapid increase in cases is because of the new variant.”
Gasasira said multiple studies were ongoing globally to understand the characteristics of the Omicron variant more scientifically and systematically. The Omicron variant is a highly mutated variant of Covid-19 whose potency and impact is feared could evade vaccine-induced immunity to the virus.
The Omicron variant has been detected in many countries globally and in all continents except for Antarctica. Gasasira said samples had been taken across the country and taken to labs that are able to do genetic sequencing.
by
Andile Tshuma
in BULAWAYO