Gauteng exits fourth wave as SA races to ramp up vaccination
Gauteng has officially exited the fourth wave while rest of the provinces have reached their peak and are declining in Covid-19 infections.
Health Minister Joe Phaahla confirmed the good news at the first media briefing on the pandemic for 2022.
He said in the first week of the new year here had been a 13.9% reduction in new cases compared to the last week of 2021.
“We can now say that Gauteng has technically exited the fourth wave this week and the rest of the provinces have reached their peak and are declining. It’s worth noting that this virus rises steeply but when it declines it does that slowly, but the decline is encouraging,” said Phaahla.
He said the fourth wave, which was overwhelming driven by the Omicron variant, proved again that vaccines protect against severe illness and death.
Government’s vaccination drive slowed down over the festive season despite the Health Department setting up pop-up sites at toll gates, road blocks, shopping malls and the Durban beach front.
Phaahla said while more jabs are being administered in January, government is still not reaching its target of 100 000 doses a day.
As of last night 28.7 million doses have been administered to 18.4 million adults, which is 45.5% adults in South Africa.
There are 16 million fully vaccinated adults.
Phaahla confirmed just over 1 million doses has been administered to minors between the ages of 12 and 17 years old.
“73 000 minors have now received their second dose. Two doses have been approved based on information that the severity of adverse effects was not a major factor,” he said.
