WHO deploys surge team to Gauteng to tackle Omicron variant cases in South Africa

In a bid to ramp up surveillance measures and contact tracing, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday deployed a team of officials to South Africa's Gauteng province, where the first case of the new variant of COVID-19, Omicron, was reported. Speaking at a media briefing on Thursday, Regional Director of the healthcare monitoring body in Africa, Dr. Abdou Salam Gueye informed that the team is already working in South Africa on genomic sequencing in the Gauteng province, which is the economic hub of South Africa, as per PTI.

It is pertinent to mention that Gauteng province has accounted for almost 80% of the infections in the past week. On Friday, around 11,500 fresh COVID cases were registered, which were at least 2,000 case up from Thursday's count. According to the National Institute of Communicable Disease (NICD), about 75% samples of the new positive cases were of the new variant, which was first reported on November 24.

"For the month of November, we had 249 sequences and of those 183 have been considered to be Omicron," NICD clinical microbiologist professor Anne von Gottberg said at the same media briefing on Thursday, as per PTI.

Africa CDC says 105% increase in COVID cases compared to last week

As per the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Africa, the continent has witnessed a 105% surge in COVID cases compared to last week. According to a health bulletin released on Thursday, the continent recorded 52,300 new COVID cases this week. Observing the blasphemous rise in infections, Director of WHO Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti said on Thursday that the countries must adjust their COVID-19 response in order to curb the spike in cases "sweeping across Africa." Dr. Moeti also raised concerns over the impact of the rise, saying that it has possibly overwhelmed the "already-stretched healthcare facilities."

'On the cusp of fourth wave': Gauteng Premier

Speaking at a separate press briefing on Thursday, Gauteng Premier, David Makura confirmed that the current situation indicates that the province is "on the cusp of the fourth wave." Expressing deep concern over the rising cases, Makhura informed, "we are monitoring the situation very closely; getting feedback from mechanical teams also on the full impact of this." The premier also added that since the announcement of the new variant there were over 50k inoculations recorded on Monday, which was upped by 20k compared to a day before, hoping to reach another half a million before the festive week.

(With inputs from PTI, Image: AP/@SalamGueye_Twitter)