South Africa is entering its fifth COVID-19 wave earlier than expected

South Africa – the country with the most cases and deaths from COVID-19 on the African continent – just got out of the 4th wave of the epidemic around January. South Africa predicts the fifth wave could begin in May or June, early winter in the Southern Hemisphere.

South Africa’s Health Minister Joe Phaahla said on April 29 that although hospital admissions are increasing, there has been no significant change in the number of deaths or hospitalizations in intensive care units so far. separate.

He said that, at this stage, health authorities have not been notified of any new variants, other than those in the circulating Omicron variant.

Infectious disease expert Richard Lessells also said that weakened immunity from previous waves could contribute to an earlier-than-expected resurgence of cases.

According to the expert, the increasing infection rate due to Omicron’s BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants suggests that these sub-variants have a growth advantage over other Omicron sub-variants such as BA. .2.

However, to date there is no indication that BA.4 and BA.5 cause significantly more severe disease, said expert Waasila Jassat from the National Institute of Infectious Diseases in South Africa.

South Africa has recorded more than 3.7 million COVID-19 cases and more than 100,000 deaths during the pandemic. On April 28, the World Health Organization’s Africa office said that cases in South Africa are the main driver of the increase in cases in the African continent.

Senior health official Nicholas Crisp also revealed that South Africa has enough doses COVID-19 vaccine and have no plans to buy more.

He said the South African government had no intention of buying Pfizer’s COVID-19 drug Paxlovid for public sector patients, in part because the drug was so expensive.