South Africa, where the Omicron variant was detected last month, says its latest coronavirus wave has peaked without a surge in deaths or hospitalisations, enabling the country to lift a nightly curfew for the first time in 21 months.
The Omicron variant emerged in November to become the pandemic’s dominant variant, driving new cases at a record rate around the world.
“According to experts, Omicron has reached the peak, …with clinical manifestations that have not caused any alarm in the hospital situation,” Mondli Gungubele, a minister in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office, said on Friday.
“Based on the experts, the conditions do allow that we lift the curfew,” he told a news conference, spelling out a move that the presidency announced the previous evening.
Calls by the hospitality sector for the midnight to 4 am curfew to be lifted had been mounting ahead of the New Year’s Eve celebrations, with restaurant and bar owners launching an online petition to lobby Ramaphosa.
Many countries outside Africa are tightening restrictions to battle a surge in infections.
The minister cautioned “we will monitor the situation on an hour-by-hour basis” and if need be, it would be reinstated, adding “I hope it never comes back.”
Gungubele said the government of Africa’s most advanced but battered economy took the action to try “balance between livelihoods and saving lives.”
“Businesses are suffering,” he said
