South Africa reports nearly 20000 COVID-19 cases

South Africa reports nearly 20,000 COVID-19 cases. 

South Africa reported nearly 20,000 COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, which is a record in the time since an Omicron variant was identified in the early 1990s. There were also 36 new COVID-related deaths.

It wasn’t immediately known how many infections resulted from Omicron because only a tiny fraction of samples were sequenced. However, experts believe that it is the cause of the fourth round of infections.

The latest data from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has brought the total number of cases in the nation at 3.071 million. 

It includes more than 90,000 deaths due to COVID since the pandemic began.

Evidence suggests that Omicron is more transmittable than the previous variant. Yet, the symptoms could be less severe and have fewer hospitalizations, particularly among those vaccinated.

But the economic impact of South Africa has been affected by travel bans around the world because its scientists have discovered the mutation at the end of last month been devastating.

President Cyril Ramaphosa was due to meet with top officials in charge of COVID-19 in the coming week. 

After that, the president will increase lockdown restrictions at a low level. It’s unlikely, considering that the capacity of hospitals is far from being flooded, similar to what was the case in previous waves.

On Wednesday, South African health regulator SAHPRA approved a 3rd or booster dose from Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for children and adults older than 12 years old.