In South Africa, politicians speak of a “breathtaking decline in the daily number of infections”. “Omikron has reached its peak,” said the minister responsible, Mondli Gungubele. Austrians know him – there is also a step-by-step plan at the Cape. The land is at its lowest. Masks in public places are still compulsory, but you should keep your distance at meetings. But there are hardly any other measures. The exit restrictions were lifted shortly before New Year’s Eve.
70 percent of the average very young population in South Africa went through an infection, so they have a certain level of immune protection. In addition, in all previous studies, Omikron seems to be much milder than the previously dominant Delta variant. The odds of hospital admission for Omikron have been reported to be up to 80 percent lower.
Well, the South Africans were never really in “panic mode” anyway. The eXXpress reached Yasmin Grassinger in Cape Town in November. As every year, the Viennese spent the winter there. Because of Omikron, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was trying to get the Austrians back to South Africa at that time. But Grassinger never even dreamed of it. “Anything is better than Vienna and the lockdown,” she told us.
Your explanations did not seem to fit into the frightened picture that has been painted in many media since the discovery of the “South Africa variant”: “Everything is really great here. The atmosphere is great and the people are in a good mood and enjoy life and the good weather, ”she wrote to us.
