South Africa’s Omicron wave surged today, with daily Covid and hospital admissions nearly doubled within a week.

Officials have recorded 13,992 coronavirus new infections over the last 24 hours. This is a 129% increase on Monday, and six times higher than the number recorded a fortnight earlier.

The current 31% test positivity rate suggests that South Africa’s epidemic is spreading faster than the swabs can handle. 

According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, there have been 422 hospital admissions in the past day. This is a 141% increase over last week.

The report also showed that there was a significant increase in Covid-inpatients since Saturday. 

A total of 6,198 people are being treated for the virus now compared to the 5,562 who were in hospital on Sunday — the biggest single-day rise since the new variant took off.

Even though there have been an increase in hospital visits and cases, only 11 people died from Covid over the past 24 hours. This is slightly lower than the week before. 

Omicron Ground Zero doctors in South Africa claim that Omicron patients have milder illnesses and are being discharged faster.

Official statistics suggest that the Covid Hospital patients suffering from severe illness are three times as many at this point in the Delta wave.

Scientists believe South Africa is benefitting from high levels of T cell immunity after recording high Covid infection rates in previous waves — with up to 80 per cent of the population already having had Covid.

MailOnline was told by Professor Paul Hunter from University of East Anglia, England. He is an expert in infectious diseases and has expressed optimism for Britain’s high level of vaccine-induced as well as natural immunity. 

With a test positivity rate of 31 per cent today, it suggests the outbreak in South Africa is growing faster than swabs can keep up

The current 31% test positive rate suggests that South Africa’s outbreak is spreading faster than the swabs can manage.

The majority of new cases today were in Gauteng province (48 per cent) which has been at the heart of the country's Omicron outbreak. It was followed by KwaZulu-Natal (19 per cent), while Western Cape accounted for 10% and Free State and North West each accounted for 5 per cent

Today’s majority of cases were found in Gauteng (48%) which is the epicenter of Omicron infection. KwaZulu-Natal was next at 19%, with Western Cape accounting for 10%. Free State, North West and North West combined accounted to 5%.

According to the NICD, today’s cases may contain backlogged infections due to an IT problem that occurred over the weekend.

The agency said on Twitter: ‘We are working through the data, which is now flowing into the #COVID19 laboratory data stream.

“And we would like you to know that there may be some retrospective data in the #COVID19 surveillance report.” 

48% of all new cases in Gauteng were today, which was at the core of Omicron’s outbreak.

KwaZulu-Natal followed (19%), while Western Cape was responsible for 10%. Free State and North West were each responsible for 5%.

Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape made up 4 percent, Limpopo was 2 percent and Northern Cape only 1 percent.

After more than 1,500 Britons had been diagnosed with Omicron virus, the UK’s Omicron outbreak surged 50 percent in just one day. The first confirmed death occurred.

Officials confirmed another 1,576 cases of the highly-evolved variant over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number to 4,713 — however this is believed to be a vast underestimate with the true number several times greater because not all positive tests are analysed for variants.  

Sajid Javid (Health Secretary) stated that the current best estimate is that there are 200,000 daily infections in the country. Omicron will be dominant in London tomorrow, and nationwide within days. 

The Department of Health revealed in its daily update that 54,661 Covid cases had been reported within the last 24 hours. This is a decrease of only 6 percent week-on-week. Omicron’s spread is continuing at its current speed, according to No10’s scientists. This could lead to an astonishing 1 million cases per day by the end the month. In addition to the 926 additional daily hospitalizations (up 14 percent in a single week) and 38 deaths (38% less), the DOH recorded an additional 926 daily hospitalisations.

Today, however, the Prime Minister revealed the death of at least one Omicron patient. He also warned that it is now leading to hospitalizations and suggested that people get boosters. 

The PM failed to disclose the individual’s age or any other health information that could have made them more vulnerable.

Johnson cautioned against complacency about Omicron, despite South African reports that the virus is more mild than Delta. According to Omicron experts, this is the first Omicron death confirmed worldwide. The Omicron variant accounts for almost every South African case. It is probable that most of the fatalities are caused by the mutant strain, but the lack of testing has meant these cases are missed.

Although they do not offer any protection from symptoms, 2 Covid jabs will still cut the chance of Omicron infection or death. 

Official estimates show that two Covid jabs can still reduce the Omicron risk by as much as 84 percent. However, a booster should prevent someone falling ill twice. 

Over the weekend, SAGE modeling was based on the assumption that Pfizer dosages offer 83.75% protection against hospitalisations and death due to the highly-evolved strain. 

A two-dose AstraZeneca’s Omicron vaccine treatment was found to lower the chance of Omicron’s severe illness by 77.1 percent. The risk of Omicron-related severe disease was reduced by both vaccines brands within three to six weeks.

The Government’s scientists advise that protection from AstraZeneca jabs may be reduced to 61.3 percent for Pfizer and 66.7 per cent for Pfizer.

A booster dose of Pfizer’s vaccine was estimated to top-up immunity to over 93 per cent, regardless of which jab someone was originally given — providing a similar level of protection as two doses did against Delta. 

These vaccine effectiveness estimates were presented in modelling by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) on Saturday and are based on lab studies looking at antibodies, rather than real-world data. It shows 'vaccine effectiveness' on symptomatic disease and hospitalisations/deaths from Omicron. The dots represent the number of people out of a group of 100 who are vulnerable to Covid. For example the study found boosters offered 93 per cent protection against hospitalisation and death. In a group of 100 booster vaccinated people, you would expect seven to require hospital care

The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), presented these vaccine effectiveness estimates in modeling on Saturday. They are based more on laboratory studies that look at antibodies than on real-world data. It shows ‘vaccine effectiveness’ on symptomatic disease and hospitalisations/deaths from Omicron. Each dot represents the vulnerability to Covid. The study showed that boosters provided 93% protection from death and hospitalisation. If 100 people were vaccinated, seven would need hospitalization.

The estimates were presented in modelling by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) on Saturday and are based on lab studies looking at antibodies. According to the model, Omicron’s vaccine-resistant Omicron variant could result in more hospitalisations that England’s first wave of Omicron patients last January. These were approximately 4000 people who had been admitted every day to NHS facilities.

Since its discovery on November 24, scientists have worked tirelessly to determine how effective the existing vaccines against Omicron will be. It was feared that the spike protein, which contains 30 mutations, would make it difficult to recognize. 

Current jabs have been designed to combat the original Wuhan virus. Experts are still basing their lab tests on the new variant, which could not be representative of how it will perform in real life.

MailOnline was told by Professor Paul Hunter of the University of East Anglia that two vaccines are needed to combat severe diseases. The Omicron ground zero hospital records in South Africa suggested that T cells played a critical role in immune system.

Reading University microbiologist Dr Simon Clarke said the decrease in vaccine efficacy from Omicron was still concerning. He told MailOnline: ‘Nobody ever expected Omicron to wipe out vaccine efficacy it was just a drop that was expected — and that in itself can do enough damage.’ 

Omicron can still leave 16 percent at risk of being hospitalized or even killed despite having 84 Percent protection against severe illness. This is three times more than with Delta.