Tsiu was meant to be in attendance at an open space next to Adonai church in Botshabelo’s G section, however, following heavy rain on Saturday morning in the Mangaung Metro, the nationwide weeklong campaign continues at Molefi Tau, Dr Pedro Memorial and Itumeleng clinics in sections H,K and M respectively.

The Vooma week which began on 3 December is set to conclude on 10 December, and comes as South Africa battles the Omicron Covid-19 variant.

The newly discovered variant is behind a severe spike in cases in the Gauteng province, which according to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), accounts for 72% of the 16 055 new Covid-19 cases in the country in the last 24 hour cycle.

It is reported that 24 people have died in the country in the same period.

“The Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal each accounted for 6% and North West 5%. Mpumalanga accounted for 4%; Limpopo 3% and Free State and Eastern Cape each accounted for 2%. The Northern Cape accounted for 1%” of the new cases reported, says the NICD.

The vaccination weeks comes after World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Secretary-General (SG), Tedros Adhanom, heavily criticised the developed world for the travel bans imposed on South African and Botswana in light of the new variant.

Adhanom said in the briefing that the Omicron variant has been detected in 23 countries, and maintains that the backlog of tested cases would mean the number is much higher than that.

Vaccination efforts in the Free State

Over 50% of the Free State population has had either their first of two Pfizer shots or their single dose Johnson & Johnson shot – the second highest percentage in the country in that regard after the Western Cape.

With respect to fully vaccinated citizens, the province has the highest inoculation rate in the country at 45,31% of the overall population followed by the Western Cape with 44,23%.

OFM News