South Africa likely in new COVID wave, says health minister

By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME
Associated Press

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa’s health minister says it is likely the country has entered a new wave of COVID-19 earlier than expected as new infections and hospitalizations have risen rapidly over the past two weeks. He said the increase in new cases has been dominated by the BA.4 and BA.5 lineages of the omicron variant which dominated the country’s earlier wave of the virus. He said officials will be watching carefully over the next few days to determine if the increase is sustained which would confirm a new wave. South Africa’s new infections are now several thousand per day, up from a few hundred a few weeks ago.