Cape Town - The Covid-19 Delta variant has been detected as dominant in the Breede Valley and Theewaterskloof municipalities, as well as in 19 wastewater treatment plants in the Cape Town metro.
Scientists from the SA Medical Research Council (SAMRC) detected the presence of the highly infectious strain in wastewater from several towns in the province, using their wastewater surveillance & research programme (WSARP) early warning system.
“For the past two months, SAMRC scientists have been screening for the presence of mutations associated with the Alpha and Beta variants in wastewater using qRT-PCR technology, and found both the Alpha and Beta variants, with the Beta variant being predominant,” said Dr Rabia Johnson, deputy director of the SAMRC’s biomedical research & innovation platform (BRIP).
“This week, however, the team acquired the reagents to also test for the Delta variant, and detected it as the dominant variant in towns in the Breede Valley – Worcester, Rawsonville, Touws River and De Doorns, Theewaterskloof – Bot River and Villiersdorp – as well as in 19 wastewater treatment plants in the Cape Town Metropole,” she said.
The scientists highlighted that although it was not yet known whether heavily trafficked routes played a role in Covid-19 transmission, several of the towns where the Delta variant had been found fell along one of the biggest national roads in the country.
According to the team, during the past few weeks, they had seen sharp increases in the levels of SARS-CoV-2 viral loads in most of the wastewater treatment plants.
As at Wednesday, the province had recorded a total of 339 632 Covid-19 cases, 25 343 active cases and 12 733 deaths.
The City on Wednesday encouraged eligible residents to register for the vaccine, while those over 60 were encouraged to present themselves to vaccination sites regardless of whether they’ve registered or received an SMS.
“The metro has experienced 8 418 new Covid-19 infections this past week, which brings the total number of cases to 185 846 since the start of the pandemic. This is a 43% increase in new cases as compared to the previous week,” mayco member for health Zahid Badroodien said.
“Symptoms for mild disease due to infection with Delta variant can include cold-like symptoms such as a headache, runny nose and sore throat.”
Register for the vaccine by dialling the free USSD code *134*832# or sending the word “REGISTER” to 0600 123 456 via WhatsApp.
Cape Times