A woman receives a COVID-19 shot at a vaccination n South Africa's Soweto township. (Photo: AP-Yonhap)
South Africa has recorded a sharp increase in coronavirus infections, which has doubled across the country since Monday.
Over 8,500 new cases have been recorded in the last 24 hours.
Health officials say the newly discovered Omicron variant may be fueling the surge although it isn't clear how many of the new cases it accounts for.
The BBC's Nomsa Maseko reports.
[Reporter]
The Omicron variant has now become dominant in what is the beginning of the fourth wave in South Africa.
There's been a sustained increase in new COVID-19 infections in many parts of the country.
The health department said the increase has been reported in seven of the country’s nine provinces.
There's also been a slight increase in hospital admissions.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases said most of the people who have been hospitalized have not been vaccinated against the coronavirus.
The World Health Organization has said the new variant has now been detected in 23 countries around the world.
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