While many South Africans are celebrating the relaxation of lockdown regulations, those who are part of the inner circle of the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) are on the lookout for a potential resurgence of Covid-19 cases involving the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, two MAC insiders said South Africa's new regulations are in line with international standards but there are still serious concerns about an uptake in cases involving the Delta variant and a fifth wave of infections, which is expected at the end of May.

One senior MAC source warned that there was a sudden uptake in recent weeks and that they were monitoring the situation.

The variant still accounts for less than 2% of all infections, but the source said the rate of the increase in cases was concerning.

A rise in Delta variant cases could mean a new combined variant in the next wave.

"In the last seven days, the Delta variant had a 100% jump. A month ago the Delta variant accounted for 0.3%, three weeks ago it was 0.75% and 10 days ago it was almost 1% and now it is almost 2% which means it is a 100% jump.

"You may think 2% is low and 98% is still Omicron, but the fact that it doubled in a month and a half in the testing, is concerning. We cannot afford to get a Delta wave again. It could be nothing, but it is possible that we could end up with a new variant that combines Omicron and Delta."

"This is why we are a bit wary to tell people to pull out the champagne glasses just yet," the source added.

Another insider said they were monitoring the Delta variant cases.

"It's still quite a low yield, but I can confirm that we are checking on it and monitoring it closely."

The source explained that new variants often dominated older variants, but that did not mean they fully disappeared. The source used the example of the resurgence of the virus in Hong Kong.

"One variant suppresses old variants. But there could be pockets of the variant hanging around. This season, we probably had a low yield of the Delta variant, maybe 1% or lower. In Hong Kong, 3.5% was the Delta variant when they had a surge last month. It is, however, slowing down there now."

Fifth wave concerns

A senior MAC insider told News24 that a potential surge in infections was expected around mid-April and the fifth wave was expected by the end of May.

"This gives us one month because the state of disaster expires on April 15. This gives us time to see that if we need the state of disaster or if we must default to a much more intensive Department of Health regulation in terms of infection monitoring."

The source added that there were still major concerns about a lack of vaccinations.  

"We did not reach our vaccination targets. So, we cannot be assured if we have enough antibodies in the public or for how long that will last. We still need everyone to vaccinate and take booster shots."