The country’s President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters that hospital admissions are not increasing in South Africa, despite a surge in active COVID-19 cases from the new Omicron coronavirus outbreak.
“Our hospitalizations are not increasing at an alarming rate which means people [who] Ramaphosa, quoted by South African outlet Eyewitness News, told reporters, “Testing positive may mean that a large number of people are not being admitted to hospitals.”
The president, who is currently on an official visit to Ghana, has also criticized countries that imposed travel restrictions in South Africa and several other African states after the Omicron coronavirus variant was detected in the country.
According to Health Minister Joe Fahla, however, people should not worry as the new variant is more transmissible but seems to bring minor illness, as evidenced by hospitalizations.
“There are still trials to be done and research still needs to be done to find that when an omicron spreads, it doesn’t result in a higher number of hospitalizations. We should take heart from that,” the president said.
Since the discovery of the new coronavirus variant in South Africa in late November, active COVID-19 cases in the country increased from 19,302 to more than 75,000. It was flagged as a sort of concern by the World Health Organization prompting countries around the world to implement new travel restrictions because of its high infection rate.
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