Cape Town, Dec 31: South African authorities said on Friday that the country may have passed thepeak of its fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Subsequently the authorities have lifted overnight curfew as the highly transmissible Omicron variant had witnessed lower hospitalisation rates among the general population than the previous waves.
They further added that there had only been been a marginal increase in the number of COVID deaths.
The changes announced include lifting restrictions on movement between midnight and 04:00 am. Businesses will also be allowed to sell alcohol under normal licensing rules, instead of closing at 23:00 hrs.
The variant – first reported by South Africa last month – is spreading alarmingly elsewhere leading to widespread curbs.
In South Africa however, a statement released after a special cabinet meeting said cases and hospital admission rates had dropped in almost all provinces across the country.
For the week ending December 25, 2021, the number of confirmed infections stood at 89,781 – down from 127,753 the week before.
The country still has “spare capacity for admission of patients even for routine health services” despite the Omicron wave, officials said.
