China News Agency, Beijing, July 8th (Reporter Chen Su) The number of new cases of new coronary pneumonia in Africa has recently shown a surge, approaching 500,000. At the same time, bubonic plague began to "show heads" on the African continent. Since the beginning of this year, Africa has been hit by multiple disasters such as the New Crown, Sarajevo, Ebola, plague, and locust plague. The economic development and the survival of local people have been tested. Can the African continent survive the "dark moment"?

　　As of July 7, 2000, Eastern Africa time, data from the African Center for Disease Control showed that 54 countries in the African region reported 494,380 confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia and 11,652 deaths. Among them, the three countries with the largest number of cases are South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria in turn.

Since entering June, South Africa's new coronary pneumonia epidemic has shown rapid growth. The picture shows a crowd of people receiving relief food at a social relief station in Johannesburg, South Africa. China News Agency reporter Wang Xishe

　　Recently, the number of new cases in South Africa has increased sharply, with more than 10,000 new cases added on a single day on July 4, the highest new record since the outbreak.

　　At the same time as the epidemic in Africa surged, the government of the province of Ituri, Congo, announced on July 3 that a bubonic plague outbreak in the Djugu area of ​​the province has been diagnosed and 36 cases have been diagnosed, with 8 deaths. Just a month before, the country also broke out a new round of Ebola outbreak.

　　In addition to various epidemics, this year's second round of desert locust plagues is also raging in many countries in East Africa, posing huge challenges to local food security.

　　Compared with other regions, "lack of food and clothing" and "lack of medical treatment and medicine" have made Africa even worse.

　　According to data released by the World Health Organization, 56% of Africa’s urban population is concentrated in slums or informal residences, and only 34% of African households have access to basic hand-washing facilities. In Africa, there are only about 5 intensive care beds per million people, and this number is 4000 in Europe. Somalia, with a population of 15 million, does not even have a ventilator. Due to poor medical conditions, many people who have the epidemic can only "take orders".

On January 21, 2020 local time, in Larissaro village near Archers Post in Kenya, locusts flew over the bushes.

　　Since the beginning of this year, a variety of disasters have occurred, which has severely threatened the rations and livelihoods of Africans.

　　A report recently released by the World Food Program shows that rainstorms, floods and the worst locust plagues in decades will pose a serious threat to Africa’s food security, with 57.5 million people in Central and Western Africa and 41.5 million people in Eastern Africa. Severe food insecurity.

　　The IMF (International Monetary Fund) predicts that the entire African region will shrink by 3.2% this year. Given the growing population of sub-Saharan Africa, the region will be hit harder in terms of per capita income. Per capita income is expected to fall by 5.4%, which may put millions of people back into extreme poverty. Among them, economies that depend on oil and tourism will shrink by 4.9% and 9.7%, respectively.

　　Unfortunately, for some time to come, Africa will face a greater test. The World Health Organization predicts that the second wave of the global epidemic may be on the way, and Africa will be the hardest hit by the second wave of new coronary pneumonia.

　　Facing various "natural disasters", can Africa survive this difficult period?

　　"The New Coronary Pneumonia epidemic is the most severe blow to Africa since the 1970s." International Monetary Fund President Kristalina Georgieva said that the outbreak interrupted Africa's pace of getting rid of poverty. Africa More financial assistance is needed to avoid the "enduring and terrible consequences" of the epidemic.

　　Nisha Sudas, a professor at the School of Business Management at the University of South Africa, said that compared with the 6.2% growth rate in 2019, although the growth rate of the African economy will slow down significantly this year, it also promotes economic links within the region. Facing multiple external risks, the economic diversification and regional integration of the African continent are progressing smoothly, and the response speed of central banks of various countries has increased.

　　Landry Sion, a professor at the School of Global Management at Arizona State University, said that in the past decade, Africa has been one of the fastest growing regions in the world, and some African countries have developed relatively strong capabilities to resist external risks. In the face of this epidemic, Africa has actively responded on the basis of drawing on the previous experience in the fight against the epidemic, effectively avoided many negative effects, and has generally shown strong resilience. But for some backward countries, the impact of the epidemic is still huge. These countries need to accelerate reforms to reduce the impact of the disaster. (Finish)