Omicron Origin South Africa Reports 10,000 Daily Cases... Highest Ever Infection Reproduction Rate

On the 27th of last month (local time), citizens are strolling in an outdoor shopping mall in the capital city of Pretoria.

As the new COVID-19 variant Omicron rapidly spreads in South Africa, the number of daily new cases has surpassed 10,000.

According to local media and foreign news on the 3rd (local time), the reproduction number in Gauteng Province, the metropolitan area of South Africa, reached an all-time high of 2.33. The reproduction number indicates how many people one infected person can transmit the virus to, meaning one person can infect 2.33 others.

On the 2nd, the nationwide new cases in South Africa reached 11,535, which is five times higher than a week ago when South Africa first raised the Omicron variant alert.

Experts say that the transmission speed of the Omicron variant is fast and that the high increase in cases is expected to continue for several weeks, with a peak possibly occurring in the second week of December.

However, despite the explosive increase, medical experts have evaluated that the symptoms of the Omicron variant have generally been mild so far.

Mary Kawonga, COVID-19 advisory committee member of Gauteng Province, said, "When there were 9,000 new weekly cases in Gauteng, the weekly new hospitalizations were 5,778," adding, "Now, at the level of 9,000 new weekly cases, the weekly new hospitalizations are only 418." Kawonga added, "For this reason, we believe the vaccines are effective."

There are also concerns that it is still too early to determine the severity of the Omicron variant as initial symptoms are mild.

Michelle Grooms, head of health surveillance at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), said that due to the nature of the virus, it is necessary to observe whether symptoms worsen over the next two weeks.

South African Health Minister Joe Phaahla said that if the current trend continues, it will be possible to get through the year-end festive season without tightening lockdown measures, but urged people to accelerate vaccination. The vaccination completion rate among South African adults is 36%.

He also stated that although South Africa has entered the fourth wave, the surge in infections is not yet threatening hospitals, so there is no need to panic.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said that 450 researchers worldwide are accelerating analysis by culturing and experimenting with the Omicron variant, and results are expected within a few days at the earliest.