stepped up as the world health organization wants country to prepare the potential new surges because of omicron with travel bands at best only delaying its spread. mark labelle, bbc news. lobel. south africa, which recorded some of the earliest instances of the omicron variant, is seeing a major increase in cases. over the last week, the daily number of new covid infections has increased fourfold, from less than 3,000 to more than 11,500, three quarters of which are omicron. so far hospital admissions remain low and symptoms of the new variant are reported to be mild. but early figures suggest an increase in the number of people who ve had the virus are becoming reinfected. our africa correspondent andrew harding has more. it s summer time here in south africa, but a shadow looms over the beaches and holiday season. a fourth wave of covid infections is spreading fast, driven by the new variant. are you worried about this new variant, omicron?