S.Africa reports record daily COVID-19 cases as Omicron spreads

FILE PHOTO: Empty recliners are seen at the popular Camps Bay Beach as numbers of international tourists decline following recent coronavirus disease (COVID-19) travel restrictions, in Cape Town, South Africa, December 3, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -South Africa reported a record number of new daily COVID-19 infections on Wednesday in a fourth wave believed to be largely caused by the Omicron coronavirus variant.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reported 26,976 new cases in the past 24 hours, surpassing a peak of 26,485 in early July during a third wave driven by the then-dominant Delta strain.