This comes after South African officials worked with speed to detect, contain and respond to the cases of Hantavirus in the country.
Briefing media on the outcomes of the Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday, 6 May, Minister in The Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said Cabinet commended the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) for diagnosing two Hantavirus cases within 24 hours of the patients’ admission at a Gauteng hospital.
Members were also briefed on the circumstances surrounding the transfer of the patients from the MV Hondius cruise ship to a South African medical facility.
A rare Hantavirus case was confirmed in South Africa in a critically ill British national, who was a passenger aboard the cruise ship, which was travelling to the Canary Islands via Cape Verde from Argentina. The woman later died in South Africa and her husband, who was also infected, passed away in St Helena.
Another woman from the same cruise ship collapsed at OR Tambo International Airport and also passed away.
Cabinet has commended the Department of Health for the speed and effectiveness they conducted contact tracing for people who came into contact with the Hantavirus patients before the diagnosis was made.
According to Health Minister, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, the total number of people who were traced and who could have come in contact with the deceased were 62. Some 42 of them have already been traced and they are being observed.
Ntshavheni moved to allay public fears of a potential outbreak due to the prevalence of rats in some municipalities, noting that scientists have confirmed that Hantavirus has not been detected in any rodents in South Africa or the African continent.
R1.5 billion boost for local vaccine production
Cabinet welcomed a R1.5 billion financing package between Biovac and the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group to establish Africa’s first end-to-end, multi-vaccine production plant.
Ntshavheni said the plant, expected to be completed by 2028, will produce oral cholera vaccines, and later expand to include vaccines for polio, pneumonia and meningitis.
“Once fully operational, the site will have a production capacity of up to 40 million doses annually, significantly bolstering Africa’s healthcare resilience and supply chain security. The project is also expected to create more than 340 skilled jobs and around 7 000 indirect jobs, while promoting technology transfer, innovation and long-term health resilience across the continent,” the Minister said.
Progress in Foot-and-Mouth Disease control
Cabinet also welcomed progress in the Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccination programme, with 2.59 million cattle vaccinated to date.
Cabinet noted the arrival of two million vaccine doses from Türkiye as part of the first tranche of a six million dose order.
“The Department of Agriculture is distributing the vaccines to provinces using a targeted, science-based allocation model informed by animal risk and population data,” Ntshavheni said.
In addition, a further five million doses have been ordered from Argentina through Onderstepoort Biological Products and are ready for export, pending the finalisation of the required import procedures. – SAnews.gov.za
