The number of cases of SARS-CoV-2 in South Africa has increased by more than 50% in 24 hours, according to official data released yesterday, Thursday, as the country faces a new wave of the pandemic, attributed to two Omicron sub-variants.
The National Institute of Infectious Diseases recorded 9,757 infections in the country, a number up 50 percent from the 6,170 counted the day before Wednesday. According to the same source, the test positivity rate jumped to 25.9%, the highest level in recent months. In the last 48 hours, 7 patients have succumbed due to COVID-19.
South Africa, officially the country hardest hit by the pandemic of the new coronavirus across the black continent, is experiencing a new outbreak, the Centre for Epidemic Innovation and Response (CERI) warned at the end of April.
The country of nearly 60 million people, where the percentage of the population fully vaccinated remains below 45%, officially counts some 100,350 deaths due to COVID-19 out of a total of 3.8 million cases of SARS-CoV-2. In early March, the country went 48 hours without any deaths due to COVID-19, which had not happened since 2020. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in early April the lifting of all pandemic restrictions.
According to the World Health Organization, two Omicron sub-variants, whose infectivity remains to be determined, are being blamed for the new pandemic outbreak.
"The South African scientists who identified Omicron at the end of last year informed about two other Omicron subtypes, BA.4 and BA.5, which are causing a sharp rise in cases in South Africa," said the WHO Director-General, Tedros Adanom Gebresus, the day before yesterday, Wednesday.
Yesterday the South African government made it clear that mask use remains mandatory for children going to school, the day after it announced that the measure was being lifted, which it blamed on "unfortunate and regrettable human error", apologising for the "confusion".
Source: protothema.gr
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