An appeal to holidaymakers to get vaccinated

The Health Ministry has appealed to people to get their COVID-19 vaccinations before they go on holiday, as the Omicron variant spreads rapidly across the country.

The vaccines are safe and effective against the coronavirus, including the Omicron variant.

The Ministry has again raised concern about the decline in the number of people getting COVID-19 vaccinations in the last few days.

All nine provinces are currently battling the variant that’s driving the country’s fourth COVID-19 wave.

Health Minister Joe Phaahla says the number of infections is rising per day.

“The infection rates are very high, just if you look at the past 7 days, you see figures rising upwards of 20 000 infections per day on average. So, we really urge people, wherever you can find a place where there’s vaccination, and again also avoid the things which are risky, more especially when you have parties and festivities, please do it outdoors and limit the numbers.”

Minister Joe Phaahla appeals to South Africans to get vaccinated ahead of holidays:

Latest cases in South Africa

South Africa has recorded 16 080 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday which brings the total number of cases to 3 292 609. This increase represents a 28.8% positivity rate.

A further 48 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 90 345 to date.