A little hope from South Africa.

This African country where the new variant of Covid-19 was detected last month, announced to have passed the peak of the Omicron wave, with only a "marginal" increase in deaths, while many countries are experiencing record infections . 

"According to our experts, Omicron has reached its peak without translating into a significant or alarming change in the number of hospitalizations", commented on Friday the Minister in the Presidency, Mondli Gungubele, ensuring that the government would remain vigilant to the slightest development to the contrary. . 

Low death rate 

The nighttime curfew, in place for almost two years, 21 months to be precise, had been reduced to the hours between midnight and 4 a.m.

On the eve of the New Year's celebrations, he is finally up.  

"Our hope is that this lifting will continue," said the minister during a virtual press briefing.

"We seek to find a balance between people's lives, their livelihoods and the goal of saving lives," he said, recalling that the South African economy remained heavily affected by the pandemic.  

By maintaining the wearing of the mask, the distancing, and by accelerating the vaccination which remains below the objectives, with only 15.6 million people fully vaccinated for a population of 59 million, the minister hopes that "the curfew does not will never come back ".  

Thursday evening, the presidency announced that "all indicators suggest that the country has probably passed the peak of the fourth wave" of the pandemic and that a "marginal increase in the number of deaths has been observed". 

The numbers of infections, hospitalizations and deaths will continue to be "followed hour by hour and if we observe a difference" in the evolution, "we will act in function immediately", insisted Friday the minister.  

Low rate of hospitalization 

New infections fell by nearly 30% last week (89,781), compared to the previous week (127,753).

And hospital admissions have declined in eight out of nine provinces: "Although the Omicron variant is highly transmissible, hospitalization rates have been lower than in previous waves," said the presidency.  

Omicron, which has a high number of mutations raising concerns about vaccine resistance, was first identified in Botswana and South Africa in late November.

It quickly became dominant in South Africa, causing the number of infections to rise exponentially to more than 26,000 daily cases in mid-December, according to official statistics. 

The variant is currently present in around 100 countries, according to the WHO.

Extremely contagious, it affects people who have been vaccinated as well as those who have already been infected with the virus. 

The African country officially the most affected, South Africa has more than 3.4 million cases and 91,000 deaths.

Less than 13,000 cases have been detected in the past 24 hours. 

Restrictions 

"The rate at which the fourth wave from Omicron rose, then peaked and declined, was astounding. A peak in four weeks and a precipitous decline in two weeks," tweeted Fareed Abdullah of the South African Council of the medical research (SAMRC). 

While many countries affected by Omicron announce tightening of health restrictions and record cases of new infections per day, the South African government has lifted the curfew and night establishments can resume normal operation.  

Wearing a mask, however, remains compulsory in public spaces and gatherings are still limited: 1,000 people maximum indoors, 2,000 outdoors. 

The demands for a lifting of the curfew had multiplied in recent days, in anticipation of New Year's Eve, with in particular a petition from the owners of restaurants and bars. 

With AFP

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