The National Department of Health is urging people to get vaccinated against COVID-19, as the new variant identified in the country, Omicron, is said to be far more transmissible, compared to previous variants.
More than 2 800 cases were recorded in the past 24-hours, with 12 deaths. Eighty percent of the new infections are in Gauteng.
Professor Ian Sanne says those who are unvaccinated are at a much higher risk of falling severely ill.
“We have every indication that the vaccines are still effective against preventing severe disease and or complications. In terms of hospitalisation, we do have more people hospitalised. But overall the ratio for vaccinated to unvaccinated is 4 to 1 at this time and so people should go out and still get vaccinated we are encouraging vaccination.”
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