S.African expert: no sign new Omicron COVID sub-variants much more severe

A senior scientist at South Africa's National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Friday there was no sign so far that new sub-lineages of the Omicron coronavirus variant were causing significantly more severe disease.

The NICD's Waasila Jassat said there was no pressure on hospital beds or oxygen in South Africa currently after the health minister said the country could be entering a fifth COVID-19 infection wave.