Health minister Dr Joe Phaahla says Gauteng has exited the 4th wave

Johannesburg- South Africa’s Minister of Health, Dr Joe Phaahla has said there has been a  decline in Covid-19 cases this week as compared to last week.

Phaahla gave an update on Covid-19 with other health experts this morning.

Phaahla said there’d been a 27% drop in the number of new Covid-19 cases being recorded nationally, compared with the previous week.


“… especially for people with advanced age and also people with co-morbidities as you will see later on for the unvaccinated,” Phaahla explained.

The Minister further explained that Covid-19 is still a risk and precautions should still be taken.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Africa Region Emergency Director, Dr. Abdou Salam Gueye has said that the number of new Covid-19 cases in Africa is continuing to decline despite the Omicron variant overtaking Delta as the leading variant on the continent.

“Over the past week, cases plateaued as compared to the week before. Infections have also declined in three of Africa’s five sub-regions. Only North and West Africa are currently witnessing an increase in cases.

“Encouragingly, after a six-week surge, Africa’s fourth pandemic wave that has been primarily driven by the Omicron variant has recorded its first drop in cases. If this trend continues, this marks the shortest life surge to date in the continent,” he said.

Gueye reported that the Omicron variant has been detected and reported in at least 30 African countries to date.


Also read Western Cape, KZN and Gauteng lead new Covid-19 cases

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