Photo: GCIS
Photo: GCIS
Lights, camera… Omicron. Cyril Ramaphosa will address South Africa on Sunday evening, as the president sets out the plan to help limit and contain the spread of this troublesome new COVID variant. We have a live stream for the event featured in this article, but what time can we expect our family meeting to start? We’ve got the answers here…
It’s an 20:00 kick-off for us tonight. We’re expecting the full works from Ramaphosa, as more stringent lockdown restrictions are likely to be announced. The timing of Omicron’s discovery could barely be any crueller. For the second year running, Mzansi is left to fight the emergence of fast-spreading COVID strain – just as the festive season gets underway.
There is hope, however, that whatever happens going forward, South Africa can fight the new variant with vaccines, rather than lockdowns. It’s understood existing jabs WILL provide protection against this heavily-mutated form of the virus, but we’ve got a bit of a problem on that front. Only 35% of South Africans are fully vaccinated.
If Mzansi is to successfully quell the spread of the Omicron variant – initially given the scientific name of B.1.1.529 – more people need to get immunised. That’s the message we expect to hear from Ramaphosa in his address tonight, with vaccine mandates and passports also up for consideration.
[The live stream will appear here before 20:00, depending on what time a feed is made available]
Meanwhile, as the whole world tries to figure out this Omicron variant, we’ve got some essential reading material for those who want to know more about the strain that has put the world on red alert: