South Africa has officially entered its third wave of coronavirus infections, health authorities said, with rising caseloads and a sluggish vaccine rollout fuelling fears of fresh strain on the health system.

“South Africa technically entered the third wave today as the national seven-day moving average incidence (5959 cases) now exceeds the new wave threshold as defined by the Ministerial Advisory Committee,” the National Institute for Communicable Diseases tweeted.

The health ministry later announced that it had detected over 9,100 cases in 24 hours — approaching the levels seen at the peak of South Africa's second wave in December, AFP reported.

Editorial

Updated 11 Aug, 2026

Equal citizens

Religious minorities continue to face mob violence, attacks on their places of worship, forced conversions and social and economic exclusion.
Updated 11 Aug, 2026

Tel Aviv’s subterfuge

These verbal gymnastics indicate that Tel Aviv has no intention of ending its occupation of the Strip.
11 Aug, 2026

Abandoned after floods

THREE years after the 2022 floods submerged a third of Pakistan, more than 134,000 verified affected families in...
Updated 10 Aug, 2026

Genuine governance

ON the surface, the Punjab cabinet’s decision to allocate funds for local government elections is a welcome step...
10 Aug, 2026

Failed by the state

THE 1,914 cases of child abuse across Pakistan in the first six months of 2026 should spark outrage. The figure ...
10 Aug, 2026

HIV crisis

PAKISTAN’s presence among countries with the fastest-growing HIV epidemic in Asia is a matter of shame. Globally,...