Health Ministry warns public about misleading message on COVID-19 variant  

14 September 2022

The Ministry of Health has noted the overstated message circulating on the social media platforms about the detection of a new sub-variant of COVID-19 Omicron called BA.2.75. 

The ministry confirms that this sub-variant (BA.2.75) was first detected in July 2022, but is of interest, and not of concern. Thus, it has not had any impact and sereverity as compared to the dominant sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5. 

We are in daily contact with the National Institute for Communicable Diseases and the Network for Genomic Surveillance teams, and there is no need for public panic because the sub-variant has not made any impact.  

The lifting of COVID-19 restrictions doesn't mean the pandemic is over, hence we encourage all unvaccinated and partly vaccinated people to vaccinate and also get booster shots at their nearest public health facility. This is because the department continues to record positive cases and deaths related to COVID-19 on a weekly basis, which confirms that we are not entirely out of the woods. 

Vaccines are available and accessible at designated sites and health facilities and provide the best protection against the pandemic. 

Issued by Foster Mohale, Spokesperson, National Health Department, 14 September 2022