covid19 had been detected in south africamany other european countries followed suit most of them indicating that only their own citizens would be allowed back subject to a quarantine period phaahla said the scientists who are constantly monitoring the mutation of the virus informed the authorities so that the who and the health sector all over the world could also stay informedat no stage did our scientists say that they have evidence that this virus is more transmissible they simply said that as has been the case with other mutations some of them have had the effect of being more transmissible without also necessarily meaning that in terms of its seriousness it would have more impact on the severity of illness he saidthe scientists did emphasise that these are very early stages in terms of the specifics of how this new variant is going to unfold the minister said phaahla reiterated that there was no evidence that the current vaccines would be ineffective against the new mutationwe want to dispel any notion as has been bandied about by various commentators at no stage did the scientists who discovered this variant say that it would be resistant to the vaccines which are being utilised he emphasisedearlier south african medical research council ceo professor glenda gray came out in defence of the scientists who had flagged the new variant gray said releasing such information could assist in changing behaviour and result in reducing the spread of the virusmeanwhile a top uk scientist officially advising the government on covid19 on saturday said vaccines being administered are likely to protect against the omicron variantthis is not a disaster and the headlines from some of my colleagues saying this is horrendous i think are hugely overstating the situation professor calum semple saidthe alarm over the omicron variant has jeopardised the travel plans of thousands of foreigners in south africa especially at a time when christmas and new year are around the cornerso far the coronavirus has claimed 89771 lives in south africa along with 2952500 confirmed infections according to johns hopkins universitythe south african governments intensive efforts to increase vaccinations including setting up sites at religious institutions and making facilities available at weekends have been thwarted by extensive antivaccination campaigns