South Africa enters COVID-19 4th wave mainly driven by Omicron

JOHANNESBURG, Dec. 3  — After eight days since the announcement of the new Omicron variant, South Africa has entered the fourth wave of the pandemic with the new variant at the center of the rise in cases, Health Minister Joe Phaahla said at a briefing on Friday.
“Today as we enter the fourth wave with a new variant we can see confirmation of that. We have moved from a total of 2,465 new cases last Thursday afternoon to 11,535 yesterday afternoon and increased by 9,000 new cases per day within seven days,” the minister noted.
Phaahla said the variant has spread to seven of its nine provinces.
“As can be seen from the numbers over the last seven days and the curve depicting them, there is a much steeper upward curve than has ever been seen in the last three waves,” he said.
Phaahla disclosed that most people being admitted to hospitals were unvaccinated and younger than 40 years.
“While we are still dealing with few days and limited data, indications are that this variant is highly transmissible including infecting a few people who are vaccinated but causing mostly mild illness especially for those who are vaccinated, with hospital admissions dominated by those who are not vaccinated and young people below 40 years most of whom are not vaccinated,” he said.
He said that while it was Botswana and South African scientists who detected the new variant, it was not known where it originated from.
It also emerged that preparation was being made to ensure that hospitals were ready for the fourth wave.
The oxygen task team is currently meeting once a week to ensure there won’t be any disruptions of supply.
“The oxygen service provider has finalized the contingency plans for the 4th wave,” Phaahla added. – XINHUA