South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday called on the population of South Africa to be vaccinated quickly in the face of the record number of Covid-19 contaminations due to the new Omicron variant detected for the first time in late November in the country.
Read alsoWhat we learn from the progression of the Omicron variant in South Africa
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We are facing an unprecedented rate of contamination since the start of the pandemic,
" President Ramaphosa said in his weekly newsletter.
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I call on all South Africans to be vaccinated without delay,
" adds the Head of State, who stresses that the new variant is the main vector of this new wave of contamination.
3 million contaminations
South Africa last week exceeded the number of 3 million contaminations, for 89,944 deaths on December 3, confirming its place as the country in Africa most affected by Covid-19.
In one week, the president said, the number of daily infections has increased fivefold and the positivity rate is now 25%, down from just 2% two weeks ago.
Some 14.8 million South Africans have been fully immunized, or about 25% of the population, as authorities have set a target of 70% immunized by the end of the year.
Since this weekend, vaccination centers have been opening everywhere - shopping malls, bus stops, churches, airports, sports centers, etc. - in an attempt to reach the greatest number of candidates for vaccination.
Read also Omicron puts South Africa on the brink
Despite the exponential increase in cases of infection, the number of deaths remains very limited, with for example a single death on Sunday for 11,125 new cases of infection.
The most densely populated province of Gauteng, comprising the capital Pretoria and the country's largest city Johannesburg, records the majority of cases of new infections.
