Upturn in coronavirus cases in South Africa

South Africa has reported an almost 20% spike in new coronavirus infections.

Almost 2,000 new cases were reported on Monday, and more than half of those were in Gauteng.

Some 30 deaths were also confirmed, bringing the total to 100,333 deaths since the pandemic started.

One of the country's coronavirus experts has described the situation as being "on the cusp of resurgence".

Prof Shabir Madhi suggested the resurgence could have been caused by a new subvariant of the Omicron strain.

South African scientists were praised internationally for first detecting the Omicron variant last year.

This article originally appeared on BBC News

Photo: Reuters