COVID-19: Health Officials And Scientists Say South Africa May Be Entering 5th Wave
South Africa’s health officials and scientists have said that country may be entering a fifth COVID-19 wave earlier than expected after a sustained rise in infections over the past 14 days that seems to be driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants.
The country that has recorded the most coronavirus cases and deaths on the African continent only exited the fourth wave around January and had predicted a fifth wave could start in May or June, early in the southern hemisphere winter.
Health Minister Joe Phaahla told a briefing that although hospitalisations were picking up there was so far no dramatic change in admissions to intensive care units or deaths.
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He said at this stage health authorities had not been alerted to any new variant, other than changes to the dominant one circulating, Omicron.
Infectious disease specialist Richard Lessells told the same briefing that waning immunity from previous waves could be contributing to the earlier-than-expected resurgence in cases.
He said the rising share of infections attributed to the BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages of Omicron suggested they had a growth advantage over other Omicron sub-variants like BA.2.
Waasila Jassat from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said there was no sign so far suggesting that BA.4 and BA.5 were causing significantly more severe disease.
South Africa has reported over 3.7 million COVID-19 cases and over 100 000 deaths during the pandemic.
Senior health official Nicholas Crisp said that the country had enough vaccine doses and was not planning to procure more.
Source: SABC News
