The country's acting health minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane on Saturday confirmed that the third wave of coronavirus infections might be driven by the delta variant. the present resurgence might be worse than the second wave, the minister said.
South Africa on Friday recorded another 18,000 infections with 215 deaths.
While South Africa's second coronavirus surge was thanks to Beta variant, experts have said that the variant first found in India may be a likely think about the third wave. The continent's worst-affected nation in terms of coronavirus cases and deaths, accounts for roughly a 3rd of confirmed infections and quite 40% of the deaths recorded across Africa.
The South African government is expecting that the height of the third wave would surpass that of the second wave in January, when quite 21,000 new daily cases were recorded.
The Delta variant has been listed as 'variant of concern' by the planet Health Organization (WHO).
The Delta variant that’s been running rampant in South Africa is 30% to 60% more transmissible than other strains, including the Beta variant, first identified within the African country last year, Richard Lessells, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, said at an equivalent briefing.
At present, the Delta variant has been traced in other countries like France, Germany, Norway and Hawaii which are witnessing a surge in Covid-19 cases.
The highly transmissible variant which the experts have termed to be more infectious than other variants is liable for a minimum of 9-10% of the entire new confirmed cases in France, officials said. this is often in sharp contrast to 2-4% of the cases seen last week in France.
"A new variant seems to be not only arising, but it seems to start out dominating the infections in South Africa ," Professor Tulio de Oliveira at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, told a press conference .
"It completely took over," he said, adding that the Delta variant was more transmissible even than the Beta variant.
De Oliveira said there seemed to be community transmission of the Delta variant in KwaZulu-Natal province which scientists were analysing the info for Gauteng, the province where the most important city Johannesburg is found .
President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the country on Sunday evening on his planned response to curb the spread of the virus after a special cabinet meeting, the govt said.
