By: Natasha Archary
Panic breaks as the new Covid-19 variant and a fresh outbreak of positive cases grips South Africa.
With over 3 220 new confirmed cases reported on Saturday, the infections continue to rise pre-empting talks about another lockdown.
Of the 3 200 new cases, 2 600 of the positive infections were reported in Gauteng in a day.
This according to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases:
#COVID19 UPDATE: A total of 34,880 tests were conducted in the last 24hrs, with 3,220 new cases, which represents a 9.2% positivity rate. A further 8 #COVID19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 89,791 to date. See more here: https://t.co/8c36tfYh3F pic.twitter.com/tcABLuPoeC
— NICD (@nicd_sa) November 27, 2021
With the new variant B.1.1529 which has been dubbed Omicron gripping the country, many experts predict a 4th wave is just around the corner.
President Ramaphosa and government are warned that another lockdown will be met with resistance from South Africans. Especially after all Covid-19 restrictions were disregarded during the election campaign last month.
Many are concerned that the vaccination drive will become redundant as the new variant is said to be more aggressive and transmissible. Since the latest outbreak, more countries have added SA onto their travel red list following the footsteps of the UK.
Now Japan and Singapore have adopted stricter border controls for visitors from SA and 5 other African countries.
According to Bloomberg, government could announce further lockdown restrictions to curb further infections.
Panic breaks as Omicron has been detected in several countries so far, with the UK, Australia and Italy all confirming positive cases.
South African doctor Angelique Coetzee who raised alarms around Omicron said symptoms were nothing like previous Covid-19 variants.
Apart from fatigue, traditional symptoms like a loss of taste and smell were not linked to Omicron.



