Electron microscope picture of the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 infections from the US National Institutes of Health – Photo: JCQ Smer / Flickr
Electron microscope picture of the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19 infections from the US National Institutes of Health – Photo: JCQ Smer / Flickr
Former SA Medical Association Chair, Angelique Coetzee, has built a reputation for herself over the past few months. The outspoken expert stuck to her guns during the onset of Omicron, repeating her claims that the country could ‘ride out’ a surge in infections over the Christmas period – and now she’s skeptical about the onset of a fifth wave.
South Africa saw COVID infections almost double in the past 24-hour period, sparking fears that a resurgence of the virus is now well underway in South Africa. Although no completely new variant has yet been detected by our experts, several ‘sub-mutations’ from the same Omicron lineage have been identified.
These ‘branches’ of Omicron carry transmission advantages, and are likely responsible for a recent rise in infections. However, Dr. Coetzee does not believe that there’s any reason to panic just yet…
The medical authority believes that the current increase in new cases is down to the fact South Africa has experienced a long weekend, with people meeting up and abandoning health protocols during Easter. In fact, Coetzee went as far as to suggest that there should have been a ‘bigger increase’ than what we’ve seen so far.
“What we are currently seeing is what we expected to see after the long weekend. We expected to see a much higher increase in numbers, because people were not wearing masks and they are abandoning non-pharmaceutical interventions.”
“Omicron has sub-variants and some of those sub-variants are more fast-spreading than the original Omicron. But this is not saying that we are now going into the fifth wave. For the fifth wave to happen, it needs to be a totally new variant.”
Angelique Coetzee
Louis Rossouw, a member of the COVID-19 Actuaries Response Group, is slightly more concerned about the latest trends we are seeing – and his data points to a increase in numbers across ALL fronts:
In South Africa COVID-19 cases, admissions and hospital deaths appear to be increasing again. Figures are still relatively low. Note that admissions and hospital deaths are by date reported (not date of occurrence). pic.twitter.com/G1u5xmLO84
— Louis Rossouw (@lrossouw) April 21, 2022