South African President Cyril Ramaphosa tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday, December 12, and began treatment, suffering from mild symptoms of the disease.

South Africa continues to fight a new pandemic wave, linked to transmission of the Omicron variant.

The head of state, 69, fully vaccinated, began to feel "sick" after leaving the official ceremony in Cape Town in honor of former President Frederik de Klerk, who died last month in the middle of the day, the presidency said in a statement late that evening.

Cyril Ramaphosa wore a black mask during the ceremony which gathered around 200 people in a church in the city, except when he delivered the eulogy.

"The president, who is fully vaccinated, is in self-isolation in Cape Town and has delegated all his responsibilities to Vice President David Mabuza for next week," added the presidency.

"Today's ceremony took place in compliance with health rules," she assured, however inviting people who have been in contact with Cyril Ramaphosa to watch for the appearance of symptoms or to be test. 

The head of state is followed by the army health services.

For the moment, no information has been communicated specifying whether it had been contaminated with the new Omicron variant. 

Most affected country on the continent

The new form of Covid-19 was detected last month in South Africa.

Omicron is now the source of the vast majority of contaminations in the southern African country, which has seen an exponential increase in cases since its appearance.

Among samples sequenced in November, "up to 70% of cases were due to the new variant," Health Minister Joe Phaahla said on December 10.

Hospitalizations, however, remain fairly low. 

South Africa is officially the African country most affected by the pandemic.

The country has more than 3.1 million cases including more than 90,000 deaths.

Cyril Ramaphosa recently made an official visit to four West African countries, during which he underwent regular tests.

When he returned to South Africa on December 8, he had tested negative, the presidency said. 

The statement quotes the president saying he wanted his own infection "to serve as a warning to all residents of the country to get vaccinated and to remain vigilant to any exposure" to the virus.

The continent recorded more than 107,000 new cases of Covid-19 during the week ending December 5, compared to just 55,000 the previous week, according to WHO Africa.

Omicron's share of this increase remains to be determined.

So far, ten African countries have reported cases, out of a total of at least 57 countries around the world.

Southern Africa recorded the largest increase, 140% on average.

According to the first data from South Africa, the variant could however cause "less severe forms of the disease", specifies the WHO-Africa.

Only 7.8% of the 1.2 billion Africans are so far fully immunized.

"Many unknowns"

A third dose of the anti-Covid vaccine from the American laboratory Pfizer will be administered from January in South Africa, the Ministry of Health said on December 10.

"The first people who will be entitled to the booster dose will be those over 60," Dr Nicolas Crisp, director general at the ministry, told a press conference. 

Many unknowns still hover over the nature of this new form of the virus which has many mutations, but according to the first observations of scientists, it is more contagious.

Researchers are still working on the effectiveness of vaccines.  

A South African study by the African Institute for Health Research (AHRI), which has yet to be approved by the scientific community and is based on a small sample of twelve patients, recently argued that "Omicron escapes in part to the immunity conferred by the Pfizer vaccine ". 

"There is no reason to believe that the vaccination does not protect against the severe form of the disease caused by this variant", qualified, during the press conference, the author of the study, the virologist Alex Sigal. 

Lagging behind the rest of the world in immunizing its population of 59 million, South Africa has so far vaccinated 43% of eligible adults.

But the vaccination rate among 18-35 year olds remains low, below 30%.

With AFP

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