South Africa could be entering a fifth wave of COVID-19 infections after a steady rise in infections over the past 14 days, Health Minister Jo Paala said, according to Reuters.
Paala told a press conference that Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape are leading in new cases. He said that at this stage, the health authorities have no information about the existence of a new strain, other than changes in the Omicron variant.
Admissions to hospitals, including intensive care units, have remained stable, he said, “which is not a very drastic change.”
To date, South Africa has the highest number of infections and deaths from COVID-19 in Africa. There have been more than 3.7 million confirmed cases of the virus and more than 100,000 COVID-19-related deaths worldwide.