{"id":1153735,"date":"2021-12-25T11:19:24","date_gmt":"2021-12-25T16:19:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1153735"},"modified":"2021-12-25T11:19:26","modified_gmt":"2021-12-25T16:19:26","slug":"south-africans-celebrate-relatively-normal-christmas-with-omicron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/south-africans-celebrate-relatively-normal-christmas-with-omicron\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africans Celebrate Relatively Normal Christmas with Omicron"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fsouth-africans-celebrate-relatively-normal-christmas-with-omicron%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1153735&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/Afr-640x335-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p class=\"subheading\">Thousands of South Africans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/lifestyle\/south-africans-cling-christmas-cheer-omicron-spreads-2021-12-24\/\">celebrated<\/a> Christmas in Johannesburg and Cape Town this week \u2014 visiting seasonal light displays, shopping, and frequenting bars and nightclubs \u2014 Reuters reported on Friday, noting the festivities took place in spite of South Africa\u2019s recent caseload surge of omicron, the new Chinese coronavirus variant.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Johannesburg, thousands \u2026 have turned out to enjoy the light displays that have filled the upmarket Melrose Arch shopping precinct with flashing reindeer, glittering giant teddy bears and glowing Christmas trees,\u201d the news agency detailed on December 24.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cEveryone\u2019s out here partying,\u201d tourist Jason Smuts told Reuters on the evening of December 24. He described a scene on Cape Town\u2019s Long Street in which \u201cmasked police keep the traffic flowing through the packed streets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s Christmas, we have to be merry you know,\u201d a Long Street reveler named Caden Khayo told Reuters on the night of December 24. Khayo spoke to the news agency while standing outside a bar on the busy street \u201cas drinkers move[d] from club to club around him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A bar owner on Long Street named Prince Kabare told Reuters on Friday lunch traffic at his establishment has improved \u201c30 to 40 percent\u201d since this time last year when most of South Africa was&nbsp;locked down due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201c[W]e\u2019re able to get some of the staff back and get moving,\u201d Kabare said of his improved business prospects.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2021\/nov\/24\/scientists-warn-of-new-covid-variant-with-high-number-of-mutations\">discovery<\/a> of omicron in southern Africa in mid-November \u2014 in Botswana on November 11 and in South Africa on November 14 \u2014 prompted speculation the region might suffer from intense lockdowns this winter holiday season, as it did in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>South African President Cyril Ramaphosa&nbsp;\u201chas stopped short of ordering any new curbs this time around. He has urged people to be careful and has let bars keep the beer flowing, for now,\u201d Reuters observed on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/africa\/2021\/12\/13\/fully-vaccinated-south-african-president-tests-positive-coronavirus\/\">tested<\/a> positive for an undisclosed strain of the Chinese coronavirus on December 12 despite being fully vaccinated against the disease. The president\u2019s office said Ramaphosa&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/africa\/ramaphosa-back-work-after-covid-19-presidency-2021-12-20\/\">completed<\/a> a self-isolation period on December 20 and was back to work the same day after suffering&nbsp;only \u201cmild symptoms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>South Africa\u2019s decision not to lock down the country ahead of the winter holiday season likely stems from recent studies out of the country <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/africa\/2021\/12\/23\/study-south-african-omicron-patients-80-percent-less-likely-to-be-hospitalized\/\">indicating<\/a> omicron causes less severe illness than previous strains of the Chinese coronavirus.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cNew Covid-19 [Chinese coronavirus] data out of South Africa, which has been ravaged by the Omicron variant in recent weeks, suggests the current surge has resulted in far fewer deaths than previous surges with similar case numbers,\u201d Business Insider South Africa <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.co.za\/trending\/south-africa-data-fewer-omicron-deaths-than-past-case-surges-2021-12\">reported<\/a> on December 24.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Omicron?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Omicron<\/a> epidemic in hard hit <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Gauteng?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Gauteng<\/a> province in South Africa is rapidly abating with thankfully much less relative impact in terms of daily hospitalizations and deaths than past Covid waves. ICU admissions down ~80% on relative basis; hospital stays were generally less acute. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/O4fduSkKLz\">pic.twitter.com\/O4fduSkKLz<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ScottGottliebMD\/status\/1474138431043383303?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 23, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Business Insider South Africa&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ScottGottliebMD\/status\/1474138431043383303?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1474138431043383303%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.businessinsider.com%2Fsouth-africa-data-fewer-omicron-deaths-than-past-case-surges-2021-12\">cited<\/a> newly released graphs created by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) that used \u201cdata from South Africa\u2019s National Institute for Communicable Diseases and Our World in Data [to] compare the current Omicron surge to three previous peaks in the country in July 2020, January 2021, and July 2021.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the Gauteng province of South Africa, an area that was hit particularly hard by Omicron, the number of daily hospitalisations and deaths in the past month has been substantially fewer than previous Covid-19 peaks in the area throughout the pandemic,\u201d the news site relayed after reviewing the AEI graphs.<\/p>\n<p>The number of coronavirus patients admitted to Intensive Care Units (ICUs) in Gauteng \u201care down about 80 percent on a relative basis\u201d according to the news site, \u201cwhile those who are being hospitalised for the virus are having more acute stays.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One AEI graph released on December 23 showed \u201cdrastically fewer deaths attributed to the current Omicron epidemic when compared to three previous peaks [of coronavirus] in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>South Africa\u2019s government <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/health24\/medical\/infectious-diseases\/coronavirus\/covid-19-health-dept-announces-immediate-end-to-contact-tracing-20211224\">announced<\/a> on December 23 it would immediately end all contact tracing and quarantine efforts for close contacts of omicron-positive patients. The country\u2019s Department of Health issued a press release explaining its decision to halt the measures, saying there has been \u201ca high number of asymptomatic cases\u201d of omicron in South Africa and \u201conly a small proportion of infections were diagnosed through lab testing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thousands of South Africans celebrated Christmas in Johannesburg and Cape Town this week \u2014 visiting seasonal light displays, shopping, and frequenting bars and nightclubs \u2014 Reuters reported on Friday, noting &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1153735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1153735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1153735\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1153735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1153735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1153735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}