The Department of Health says it will be monitoring rising infection numbers, over the holiday period. Phaahla says the department wants to prevent a possible surge in Covid-19 infections, during the festive period, which is associated with all sorts of social gatherings like parties and weddings, which can be ‘super spreader’ events. He says rising Covid-19 infections, hospitalisations, mortality and recovery rates, are largely driven by the Omicron variant.