SA not in the fifth wave yet, says Health Department

SOUTH Africa is not yet in the fifth wave of Covid-19, according to the national Department of Health.

For almost three weeks, South Africa has seen a steady rise in the number of reported Covid-19 cases, particularly in Gauteng province, which has contributed to about 50% of reported daily cases.

Yesterday, Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla and Gauteng Department of Health officials provided insight into the increasing number of cases.

“We know now that this is driven by a sub-variant of Omicron. Our genomic surveillance team, led by Professor Tulio de Oliveira, has not said to us that this is a definite new variant, except there are mutations in Omicron. In their view, the spike is driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 variants of Omicron,” the minister said.

Phaahla added that the various social and religious gatherings during the recent long weekends had also contributed to the spike.

“As to whether this has reached a stage where we can define it as a fifth wave, our specialists said they need to look at it further.

“The spike hasn’t been as rapid as the fourth wave,” he said.

The minister said the general picture the department was getting was that until proven otherwise, there were no major differences in behaviour, and there wasn’t pressure in the severity of the cases in terms of admissions and critical patients.