South African President Ramaphosa said on the 28th that South Africa may usher in a fourth wave of coronavirus in the next few weeks, and people should be vaccinated against the coronavirus as soon as possible.
In a televised speech that night, Ramaphosa said that in the past 7 days, the average number of new coronavirus confirmed cases in South Africa has increased from about 500 in the previous week to 1600, and the positive coronavirus test rate has increased from about 2% to 9% in less than a week. If the number of new confirmed cases continues to increase, South Africa may usher in a fourth wave of the epidemic in the coming weeks.
Ramaphosa said that the recent emergence of the coronavirus mutant virus omikjon strain has spread to all provinces of South Africa. At present, vaccination is still the most important means to protect yourself and others. He called on the public to act immediately to get the coronavirus vaccine.
Ramaphosa also said that vaccine inequality not only costs countries that do not have access to vaccines, but also threatens global anti-epidemic efforts. The emergence of the omikjon strain is a wake-up call for the world not to allow vaccine inequality to continue.
It is reported that at present, about 41% of South African adults are vaccinated with at least one dose of coronavirus vaccine, and about 57% of the population of people over 60 years old have been vaccinated. South Africa has set up a working group to discuss the possibility of mandatory vaccination in some public places.
Some countries, including South Africa, have recently reported confirmed cases of infection with the omikjon strain, which the World Health Organization listed as a mutant strain “needs attention” on the 26th.
