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.

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

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.