South Africa may be approaching a 5th COVID-19 wave sooner than expected, according to health officials and scientists,
following a continuous increase in cases over the past 14 days, which
appears to be led by the BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron sub-variants.

The country with the most coronavirus
infections and deaths on the African continent only recently completed a fourth
wave, and a fifth wave is expected to begin in May or June, early in the
southern hemisphere winter.

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Although hospitalizations were increasing,
Health Minister Joe Phaahla told a press conference that there had been no
significant shift in admittance to intensive care units (ICUs) or deaths.

Other than mutations to the dominant
circulating variant, Omicron, he said health officials had not been notified of
any new variants at this juncture.

At the same briefing, infectious disease
expert Richard Lessells said that waning immunity from past waves could be
driving the earlier-than-expected upsurge in cases.

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According to Lessels, the growing number
of infections ascribed to Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5 demonstrated they
had a growth advantage over other Omicron sub-variants like BA.2.

However, according to Waasila Jassat of
the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, there was no evidence that
BA.4 and BA.5 were producing considerably more severe disease.

During the pandemic, South Africa
recorded over 3.7 million COVID cases and over 100,000 deaths. On Thursday, the
WHO’s Africa branch identified a rise in infections in South Africa as the
primary cause of an upsurge across the African continent.

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Nicholas Crisp, a senior health official,
also stated on Friday that the government had enough vaccine doses and had no
plans to obtain more. He also stated that the government will not purchase
Pfizer’s COVID therapy tablet Paxlovid for public-sector patients, owing to its
high cost.