COVID czar Salman Zarka, who is spearheading the national response to the coronavirus, says that the country is facing a resurgent fifth wave of infections.
“The transmission rate shows that the epidemic is spreading,” he tells the Kan public broadcaster.
“The BA.2 variant is more contagious than the Omicron, so we are in the resurgence of the fifth wave,” he says. “It’s the same variants so we are still in the fifth wave.”
“The decline [in infections] has stopped and unfortunately the virus is here to stay,” he says.
For the first time in nearly a month, new daily coronavirus cases rose to over 12,000, the Health Ministry said earlier.
According to the ministry, 12,869 new infections were diagnosed the previous day, the highest rate since February 22.
The R number, which denotes the transmission rate of the virus, continued its steady climb and reached 1.23.
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