# CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 UPDATE (109): SOUTH AFRICA 5TH WAVE [Al Jazeera]
South Africa may be entering a 5th COVID-19 wave earlier than expected after a sustained rise in infections over the past 14 days seemingly driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron sub-variants.
The country is now recording several thousand cases a day, up from a few hundred just a few weeks ago. The proportion of positive tests jumped from 4% in mid-April [2022] to 19% on Thursday [28 Apr 2022].
The rising share of infections attributed to the BA.4 and BA.5 suggested they had a growth advantage over other omicron sub-variants like BA.2.
There is no sign yet that BA.4 and BA.5 are causing significantly more severe disease.