JOHANNESBURG, Dec 9 (Reuters) - South Africa"s fourth COVID-19 wave linked to the Omicron coronavirus variant produced a record 22,391 new cases, but only 22 deaths, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases said in its daily update on Thursday. The new cases brought the total laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the pandemic began in South Africa to 3,093,452, and the total deaths over the same period to 90,060.