Should Joburg residents worry about Hantavirus? ANC demands answers
South Africa has announced its plans to do contact tracing.
Black News 
The leading political party in Johannesburg says it is worried about a potential health crisis after a man confirmed to have Hanta virus was flows to Sandton for treatment.
The man, who is a British national, was from Ascension Island in the South Atlantic for treatment in Joburg while another Dutch tourist, who was on board the MV Hondius, was flown from the island of St Helena to the City of Ekurhuleni, where she was supposed to board a flight to the Netherlands. She later collapsed and died at the Kempton Park hospital.
In a statement on Tuesday, ANC regional secretary, Sasabona Manganye said the party is concerned about a potential health crisis in the City.
“No public warning was issued. No visible health intervention occurred at our borders. Johannesburg is an inland city.
“We are not a port and our people deserve a full account of how this happened.
“We are raising serious concerns about the confirmed presence of a Hantavirus case in our city, linked to an international cruise ship outbreak that has already claimed multiple lives.”
Can Joburg contain this virus?
Manganye said the ANC in the region is concerned that South Africa’s medical system may not be able to handle this disease should an outbreak occur.
“This virus, not endemic to South Africa and largely unfamiliar within our public health environment, has been associated globally with severe respiratory illness and high fatality rates. Its arrival within our borders, under circumstances that remain inadequately explained, raises urgent questions that cannot be answered by a press release.
“These developments have generated widespread public concern. Johannesburg residents are questioning how individuals linked to a confirmed outbreak were permitted to enter and move freely within the country, including through OR Tambo International Airport, one of Africa’s busiest transit hubs.”
Lack of clarity
Manganye said there are more questions than answers in relation to the landing of two patients with Hantavirus in South Africa.
“What protocols governed the entry of these patients into South Africa, particularly given that the originating vessel was denied docking access in Cape Verde?
“Through what processes and authorities were these individuals permitted to travel from St. Helena into Johannesburg, including within a commercial aviation environment?” said Manganye.
Chances of human-to-human transmission
According to reports, there is a low risk of human-to-human transmission of this virus. But South Africa’s minister of health Aaron Motsoaledi told Newzroom Afrika that there are different strands of the virus.
“This virus has more than 38 strains so it is difficult even for me to know all of them but we know all of these strains they do not cause a similar syndrome of them cause what they call Hanta pulmonary syndrome.
“We are saying for it to move from one person to the other it needs close contact that is why we are going to screen those people who could have come into close contact with this patient, that will mean the nurses at the hospital in Kempton Park and nurses and doctors and other health workers.”
Motsoaledi said government will also screen people who were sitting with the Dutch woman on the plane from St Helena to OR Tambo.
“That is why we are going to have to involve World Health Organisation (WHO) because this was a multi-national trip.”
