S.Africa faces 4th COVID-19 wave, new variant behind rising infections

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday that the country faced a fourth wave of COVID-19 within weeks, as the new omicron variant was driving a rise in infections in the most populated province of Gauteng. But he said authorities would not be considering economic lockdown restrictions for the time being, and he slammed rich Western countries for their knee-jerk imposition of travel bans after hearing about the new variant.

He added in a televised address that the government was considering making vaccination manditory in certain locations and for some activities, without giving details.