JOHANNESBURG, 4 Dec. (DPA / EP) –
The South African Ministry of Health has formally declared this Saturday the start of the fourth wave of coronavirus infections amid an increase in cases due to the incidence of the omicron variant.
The National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NICD) has reported 16,366 new infections this Saturday as a result of 68,703 COVID tests carried out, which implies a positive rate of 23.8 percent, slightly lower than the 24.3 percent on Friday.
A head of the Scientific and Industrial Research Council, Ridhwaan Suliman, has explained in statements to the eNCA chain that the number of tests does not explain the rapid increase in infections. “In fact, if we had done more tests, the rate would be even higher,” he said.
Meanwhile, the “number two” of the Ministry of Health, Sibongiseni Dhlomo, has affirmed that the country is officially in the fourth wave and that hospital admissions show that only two percent of cases correspond to vaccinated patients. “A whopping 98 percent are unvaccinated,” he noted.
Meanwhile, the Vooma Vaccination campaign continues, an initiative to vaccinate the population in shopping centers and public transport interchanges.
The world is closely watching the situation in South Africa after the detection of the omicron variant – formally B.1.1.529 – considered “worrisome” by the World Health Organization.
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