With Omicron dominating, South Africa's COVID cases nearly quadruple in record 4 days

South Africa’s COVID-19 cases have nearly quadrupled in just the last four days highlighting the concerns regarding the infectiousness of the new Omicron variant. While South Africa has entered the fourth wave of the pandemic, the Coronavirus cases have grown rapidly ever since the country alerted the World Health Organization (WHO) about the new B.1.1.529 variant. The experts are still determining the severity of infections caused by the Omicron variant which has been called a “highly mutated variant” by WHO.

Preliminary analysis has not detected any fatal cases of the new COVID-19 variant but on Friday, South Africa registered 16,055 new cases of COVID-19 which is a significant increase from Tuesday’s daily toll of 4,373 new cases. According to the data released by South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), Friday’s numbers of Coronavirus infections have brought the national tally to 3,004,203.

The increase in COVID-19 cases represent a 24.3% positivity rate, stated NICD adding that 25 deaths related to the Coronavirus infections have also been reported. The total fatalities in the country now amount to 89,944, as of 4 December. The South African division of the National Health Laboratory Service has noted that most of the positive cases of COVID-19 on Friday were detected in Gauteng with 72% of national cases. Meanwhile, North Cape accounted only for 1%.

South African scientists flagged the Omicron variant to WHO on 24 November after the country witnessed a steep rise of Coronavirus cases. Scientists have also noted that the B.1.1.529 has a high number of mutations. On 28 November, WHO posted an update on the Omicron variant after it designated the strain as a ‘variant of concern’. The strain has already been detected in at least 39 nations apart from South Africa. 

Omicron variant appears to spread faster than others

The B.1.1.529 variant of Coronavirus named Omicron, appears to be reinfecting people three times the rate of previously detected strains, said experts in South Africa. While the scientists and health officials across the globe continue to closely monitor the Omicron variant and its impacts, South Africa by its National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) stated its latest epidemiological evidence indicated the new variant can evade immunity from infection with earlier variants.

As per a report by The Guardian, after NICD collected new evidence, it said the Omicron is causing reinfections at three times the previous rates. NICD and the South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis have said that the newest findings “provide epidemiological evidence for Omicron’s ability to evade immunity from prior infection”.

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