South Africa, where the new variant of Covid-19 was detected last month, announced that it surpassed the peak of the omicron wave, with only a “marginal” increase in deaths, while many countries experience record infections.
“According to our experts, ómicron reached its peak without causing a significant or alarming change in the number of hospitalizations,” minister in the presidency Mondli Gungubele said on Friday, assuring that the government would remain vigilant against any contrary developments.
The night curfew, in place for exactly 21 months, had been reduced to the hours between midnight and 4 a.m. On the eve of The New Year’s celebrations, he finally got up.
“Our hope is that this uprising will continue,” the minister said at a virtual press conference.
“We are trying to find a balance between people’s lives, their livelihoods and the goal of saving lives,” he said, recalling that the South African economy remains severely affected by the pandemic.
By maintaining mask wearing, distancing and speeding up vaccination – which remains below targets, with only 15.6 million people fully vaccinated out of a population of 59 million – the minister hopes that “the curfew will never return”.
Read: WHO warns of increased hospitalizations for omicron; China and EU impose new restrictions
On Thursday night, the presidency announced that “all indicators suggest that the country probably surpassed the peak of the fourth wave” of the pandemic, with only a “marginal increase in the number of deaths.”
New infections, hospitalizations and deaths will continue to be “followed hour by hour and if we observe a difference” in the evolution, “we will act immediately,” the minister insisted on Friday.
Amazing speed
New contaminations decreased almost 30% last week (89,781), compared to the previous week (127,753), while hospital admissions decreased in eight of the nine provinces.
“Although the ómicron variant is highly transmissible, hospitalization rates have been lower than in previous waves,” the presidency said.
Ómicron, which has a high number of mutations and significant resistance to vaccines, was first identified in Botswana and South Africa in late November.
It quickly became dominant in South Africa, causing an exponential increase in the number of cases to more than 26,000 daily contaminations by mid-December, according to official statistics.
Read: Airlines cancel more than 7,000 flights worldwide this weekend
Extremely contagious, it affects both vaccinated people and those who have already been infected by the virus.
South Africa is the most affected African country, with more than 3.4 million cases and 91,000 deaths. In the last 24 hours, fewer than 13,000 cases have been detected.
“The speed at which the fourth wave increased because of omicron, reached a peak and then declined, was staggering. A peak in four weeks and a precipitous decline in two weeks,” tweeted Fared Abdullah of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC).
While many countries affected by omicron announce a tightening of sanitary restrictions, and record cases of new infections per day, the South African government lifted the curfew and night establishments can resume normal operation.
However, the use of the mask is still mandatory in public space and gatherings are still limited to a maximum of 1,000 people indoors and 2,000 outside.
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