South African Health Minister Dr. Joe Phaahla says omicron has driven Covid-19's resurgence in South Africa, which now has 90,000+ cases. “Weekly cases in Gauteng province have increased by more than 400% for the week of 4th December, 2021, compared to the previous week," said Phaahla, adding that hospital admissions increased by more than 200%. The omicron variant of coronavirus has now spread to 57 countries, and it appears to be more transmissible than previous virus strains. The World Health Organization said omicron may change the course of the pandemic. It called on countries to vaccinate as fast as possible and keep measures in place to protect people from infection. We can prevent omicron becoming a global crisis,” WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “This virus is changing, but our collective resolve must not.” The organization also said while there’s early evidence that omicron is milder than the delta strain, it’s too early to be definitive. Excess deaths are seen as a more accurate measure of the impact of Covid-19 than official deaths. While South Africa’s official coronavirus death toll is just over 90,000 the number of excess deaths during the pandemic is 275,000. During the week to Nov. 28 just 174 deaths were officially attributed to the respiratory disease. Still, the weekly deaths are well below their peak of about 15,500 in mid-January, at the height of the second wave of infections. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm Subscribe to our newest channel Quicktake Explained: https://bit.ly/3iERrup Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/qt/live, or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app. Have a story to tell? Fill out this survey for a chance to have it featured on Bloomberg Quicktake: https://cor.us/surveys/27AF30 Connect with us on… YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bloomberg Breaking News on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BloombergQuickTakeNews Twitter: https://twitter.com/quicktake Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quicktake Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quicktake