'Current wave might be milder': NICD says lower hospitalisations and deaths recorded from Omicron spread

As SA recorded 26,976 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) offered some good news.

It appears that the fourth wave of infections is not as severe as previous waves.

For Gauteng, specifically, it appears there are "fewer hospitalisations and deaths in comparison to previous waves".

"Though the data is still being gathered, evidence suggests the current wave may be milder," the NICD said in a statement.

However, the number of new cases are a concern.

The 26,976 infections announced on Wednesday night is second only to the 37,875 infections recorded on December 12, but in that instance the spike in new cases was attributed to data from the National Health Laboratory Service being delayed due to an IT glitch. The NICD said in releasing the figures on December 12 more than half of those cases were "retrospective".

On Wednesday, the NICD said the positivity rate, the number of positive cases against the number of tests, was 32.2%.

Most of the new cases were recorded in Gauteng (8,021), followed by KwaZulu-Natal (5,924) and the Western Cape (4,455). The Northern Cape recorded the least with 604 new cases.

The NICD reported 54 more Covid-19-related deaths. This means 3,231,031 infections and 90,226 fatalities have been confirmed to date.

Figures showed there were 620 new hospital admissions, with a total of 7,339 people being treated in SA's hospitals for Covid-19-related complications.

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