WHO deploys team to South Africa’s Gauteng province to tackle Omicron variant

The WHO has deployed a team to South Africa's Gauteng province to tackle the Omicron variant of coronavirus. The province has accounted for almost 80 per cent of the infections over the past week.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has deployed a team of officials to South Africa's Gauteng province, the epicentre of the new Omicron coronavirus variant, for ramping up surveillance measures and contact tracing efforts as the country grapples with rising infections, an official said on Thursday.

Some 11,500 new infections were registered in the latest daily figures, a sharp rise from the 8,500 cases confirmed the previous day.