South Africa has passed the peak of its Omicron outbreak, according to one of the country's top scientific researchers. Ridhwaan Suliman, senior researcher at the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, told CNN on Wednesday that the country has "surpassed the peak of the Omicron wave now, driven by the significant decline in the populous province and epicenter, Gauteng." There was a 20.8% decrease in the number of new Covid-19 cases detected in South Africa as of Saturday, according to the NICD's epidemiology brief published Wednesday. On hospitalizations and deaths: South African vaccinologist Shabir Mahdi also told CNN on Wednesday that although there may be a "slight increase in deaths" the figure will be "substantially lower" than that experienced with the Delta variant. Suliman also said that hospitalizations and deaths from this wave have proven to be "significantly lower relative to that experienced in previous waves."

Source: CNN December 22, 2021 22:25 UTC