© AFP
Analysis of wastewater samples in South Africa reveals a higher incidence of covid-19 in three provinces.
The samples come from all sewage plants in the industrial center of Gauteng province, in eThekwini in KwaZulu-Natal and in Bloemfontein in the Free Statethe South African Medical Research Council said in a report on Thursday.
Samples in southwest Johannesburg indicated the spread of the newly discovered sublineages of omicron BA.4 and BA.5.
Wastewater testing is considered an early indicator of the increasing spread of the coronavirus among communities. Scientists have been predicting that a fifth wave of virus infections might begin in April or May. To date, more than 100,000 South Africans have officially died from covid-19, making it the worst-affected country on the continent.
There were 1,659 new Covid-19 cases confirmed in South Africa on Wednesday, a fraction of the daily record of more than 26,000 seen in December, according to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases.
