Concerns mount as Covid-19 infection rate doubles in South Africa

Leading epidemiologist says the country was likely to have 10,000 cases daily by Sunday in the fourth wave that would be reached by Thursday, Gauteng province alone counts for 72 per cent of infections

South Africa’s new cases of coronavirus doubled in a day, mounting pressure on the government to review the limitations on public gatherings for unvaccinated people.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases announced Wednesday evening that the infections for the preceding 24 hours were 8,561, up from 4,373 a day earlier.

Experts pointed out that the projection by leading epidemiologist Dr Salim Abdool Karim on Monday that South Africa was likely to have 10,000 cases daily by Sunday in the fourth wave that would be reached by Thursday.

The economic hub of Gauteng province accounts for 72 per cent of the current infections.

As organisers of a number of events continue to either call off or postpone their functions indefinitely, calls are mounting for the government to review the limitations on public gatherings for unvaccinated people.  

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last Sunday that there would be no change to the current lowest Level One of the country’s five-level lockdown strategy. This still allows substantial numbers at both indoor and outdoor gatherings, which needed to be reduced,  analysts suggested.

Ramaphosa made the announcement after the discovery of the Omicron variant, which has now been discovered in some other countries as well. The president said the decision would be reviewed after a week, with some saying that an increase in lockdown restriction levels is unavoidable despite the risk to the economy which had just started to recover.

Omicron outbreak in Norway

At least 50 people in and around Norway’s capital have been infected with omicron and the cases are connected to a company’s Christmas party in an Oslo restaurant, officials said Thursday.  

Omicron case in US

The US recorded its first confirmed case of the omicron variant Wednesday –in a vaccinated traveller who returned to California from South Africa. Dr Anthony Fauci, the United States’ top infectious-disease expert, announced this. “We knew it was just a matter of time before the first case of omicron would be detected in the US,” he said. US President Joe Biden was to kick off a more urgent campaign for Americans to get booster shots on Thursday.

New treatment

The UK’s medicines regulator on Thursday approved a new antibody treatment against COVID-19, which it believes will also be effective against new variants such as Omicron. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said Xevudy or sotrovimab is for people with mild to moderate COVID-19 who are at high risk of developing severe disease. 

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