South Africa, the country officially hardest hit by COVID-19 on the continent and which has been experiencing a lull in recent months, has entered a new wave of the pandemic, the Center for Epidemic Innovation and Response (CERI) warned. on Tuesday.
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“The 5th wave has arrived. Take care of yourself,” warned the genome research center, led by virologist Tulio de Oliveira, who became famous for discovering the beta and omicron variants, on Twitter.
The number of new infections in the last 24 hours is still higher than in recent days, with 5,062 cases, 15 deaths and 83 hospital admissions, according to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD).
With a ratio of 6.3 new cases per 100,000 population and a positivity rate of over 10% (16.9%), “based on previous waves, these are thresholds that indicate a continuous increase,” added Ridhwaan Suliman, a researcher at Council for Scientific, on Twitter; and Industrial Research (CSIR), a government research institute.
The numbers recorded over the past few days are the highest in almost three months and significantly higher than two weeks ago.
Health Secretary Joe Phaahla expressed his “concern” last week.
In early March, the country experienced a 48-hour period without any Covid-19-related deaths for the first time since 2020. President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in early April that all legal restrictions related to the pandemic would be lifted.
The last wave of the disease had resulted in greater transmission of the virus but less severe cases.
South Africa, where less than 45% of the adult population of nearly 60 million is fully immunized, has recorded more than 3.7 million cases and about 100,350 deaths.