Increase in Covid-19 cases not unexpected, says expert

Figures released by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases show a steady increase in the number of new Covid-19 cases, especially in Gauteng.

The institute reported 4 406 new Covid-19 infections in the 24 hours leading up to Friday, with 49% of the cases in Gauteng.

Coetzee says there was always going to be an increase in cases after the Easter weekend.

“What we are currently seeing is what we expected to see after the long weekend. We expected to see a much higher increase in numbers, because people were not wearing masks and they are abandoning non-pharmaceutical interventions.

“The Omicron variant has sub-variants and some of those sub-variants are more fast-spreading than the original Omicron. But this is not saying that we are now going into the fifth wave. For the fifth wave to happen, it needs to be a new variant,” Coetzee explains.

“The other factor is that after between six to eight months of being vaccinated, we see immune escape, so we also see patients who have been previously vaccinated now getting infected with the Omicron or one of the Omicron sub-variants.”

Coetzee says it is important for people to keep wearing their masks.

“As long as we are still endemic, it is advisable to wear masks indoors and in hospitals or settings where there are a lot of people. We don’t think the wearing of masks is going to end that easily, even during the endemic phase. There will be certain times in the year where the wearing of the mask will still be necessary.”

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