South African experts unpack Omicron: all you need to know about the new Covid variant that’s sent the world into a spin

For a while we were doing okay. We’d emerged from the third wave and our Covid-19 caseload was the lowest it had been since the start of the pandemic.

Europe was dominating headlines as it became the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic once more – Austria went into full lockdown and restrictions were put on public life in several countries.

Here, though, we were daring to dream that we might not have a severe fourth wave, especially as we’d already seen the worst of the Delta variant run rampant throughout Europe.