![[File Image] A girl receives the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, US.](https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/SABC-News-Vaccine-COVID-19-Reuters.jpg)
Deputy Director-General of the Health Department, Dr Nicholas Crisp, has urged South Africans to get vaccinated amid rising new infections in the country.
He says the best way to gain protection against the coronavirus is to be fully vaccinated.
The BA4 and BA5 sub-variants of Omicron are believed to be behind the growing number of new cases in South Africa.
The Deputy Director-General has again urged people to get the vaccine.
“And that would be a crying shame if, in fact, we do get an aggressive wave and more waves which may come and people could have protected themselves. So one doesn’t wait until you are in a battle to start arming yourself, you should arm yourself before you get into that situation and it’s easier to arm yourself by getting vaccinated now,” says Dr Crisp.
The video below is the full interview with Dr Nicholas Crisp:
No significant change in COVID-19 hospitalizations in Gauteng
Senior Researcher at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Dr Ridhwaan Suliman, says there has not been a significant change in reported COVID-19 hospitalizations in Gauteng despite a substantial increase in infections.
However, Dr Suliman has warned in a tweet that it is too early to assess the severity of infections at this stage.
Right on cue, Gauteng, with a pop size of ~15M, leading another resurgence of #COVID in South Africa??
In GP, 7-day avg at 1,168 new cases or 7.4 per 100k, up 88% week-on-week?
No significant change in reported hospitalisations; too early to assess realisable severity due to lag pic.twitter.com/SIcMV7UlxM— Ridhwaan Suliman (@rid1tweets) April 23, 2022
He says the seven-day average of infections in Gauteng is up by 88% week on week.
The National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) says another five deaths have been reported, two of which occurred in the latest 24 to 48-hour reporting period.
A total of 100 303 deaths have been recorded in South Africa from COVID-19.
The video below looks at the rising cases of COVID-19 in South Africa:
