The number of new infections with the Coronavirus has exceeded the one million mark in Africa, which remains the least affected by the epidemic between continents, as cases spread unevenly from one country to another.
According to figures collected by Agence France-Presse, the day before yesterday, about one million and 54 injuries were recorded across the continent, with at least 21,724 deaths, which represents about 5% of the total injuries worldwide.
Five out of 54 countries in Africa account for 75% of infections, according to the continent's disease control center.
The World Health Organization indicated, the day before yesterday, that several African countries recorded in recent days a decrease of about 20% in daily injuries.
"We have to wait a longer period of time before we can say with certainty if this trend will continue," said the Director of the World Health Organization in Africa, Machidisu Moeti.
The number of injuries is still increasing in dozens of countries, but this increase is "not accelerating", according to the World Health Organization, which confirms that the low percentage of the number of tests and the lack of materials necessary to do them constitute a "continuous challenge."
Among the countries that recorded the highest number of injuries per million inhabitants are South Africa, Djibouti, Gabon, and Cape Verde.
South Africa, the most industrialized country in Africa, recorded more than half of the number of injuries on the continent, with 538,184 injuries. It is the fifth most affected country in the world, after the United States, Brazil, India and Russia.
The number of daily injuries recorded in it decreased slightly, then decreased to less than 10 thousand, compared to an average of 12 thousand daily injuries in July. The epidemic has killed more than 9,000 people.
"We have not yet got rid of the epidemic," Health Minister Zwaili Mkwise said last Tuesday.
He pointed out that his country could have "reached the peak (of the epidemic) at the end of August," but warned of the danger of a second wave if the strict measures taken to contain the rapid spread of the virus were lifted.
About 24,000 health workers in South Africa have been infected with the Coronavirus since the epidemic began in March, and 181 of them have died, a number higher than most other African countries.
South Africa has the best hospitals and health centers on the continent, but the World Health Organization will send 43 experts to it this week to "strengthen" the country's response to the "Covid-19" epidemic.
Egypt was the first African country to report a case of HIV infection on February 14. So far, it has officially announced 95,000 infections, including 4,630 deaths, to be the second country in Africa to be affected by the virus.
The number of daily infections has decreased from about 1,500 in July to less than 200 this week.
On July 18, Jihan Al-Assal, head of the scientific committee to combat the emerging corona virus, said that her country had "passed the peak of the epidemic."
At the end of last week, it announced the gradual closure of hospitals in which people infected with "Covid-19" had been isolated, adding that the government was "preparing" for a possible second wave of the epidemic.
In June, the curfew imposed in March was lifted, and scheduled domestic and international flights resumed on July 1. Tourism, a major sector in Egypt, began to recover very slowly.
Nigeria, with a population of 200 million, recorded nearly 45,000 injuries and 927 deaths, making it third in Africa to be affected by the epidemic. The daily injuries that ranged from 500 to 800 last month decreased to 300 or 400.
But the authorities fear a second, more dangerous wave. Boss Mustafa, who is leading the anti-Corona virus campaign in the presidency, said he expected "another increase in the number of infections" as restrictions are eased.
In Lagos, the major city with a population of 20 million and the epicenter of the outbreak, these measures began to be gradually lifted, with churches and mosques reopening yesterday.
Only 3,000 tests are taken every day in Nigeria, which is a tenth of the tests taken in South Africa of 58 million people.
For weeks, Algeria has faced a surge in the spread of the epidemic, as 1,273 deaths were recorded, and more than 33,626 injuries, including 675 on July 24.
After partially lifting isolation measures in early June, the country recorded a rise in the number of injuries.
The spread of the epidemic has severely damaged the economy of the country, which is also facing a collapse in oil prices. Many merchants, especially restaurant and cafe owners or travel agency owners, are at risk of bankruptcy.
And in less than three weeks in July, the number of infections rose sharply in Ethiopia. On Thursday, this country of about 110 million people recorded more than 20,000 injuries and more than 365 deaths.
About three quarters of the injuries were recorded in the capital, Addis Ababa.
And Zimbabwe is one of the African countries in which the daily injuries increase most, as the number of recorded injuries doubled in 10 days last month, reaching 4,200, including 81 deaths.
The University of Washington expects 300,000 Americans to die of Corona by December
Health experts at the University of Washington predicted the possibility of 300,000 Americans dying from "Covid-19" disease by December 1, but they said that 70,000 lives could be saved if people were more committed to wearing a mask.
The university's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation's latest forecast comes as senior White House advisers on infectious diseases warned that major American cities could become new hotspots of the outbreak if officials there did not prepare with countermeasures.
The director of the institute, Dr. Christopher Murray, said when announcing the revised forecast for the university, the day before yesterday, "It seems that people put on masks and adhere to social distancing to a greater degree with the increase in infection, and then shortly after, and with the decline of infections, people give up their caution." The number of deaths in the United States due to "Covid-19" is more than 159 thousand, which is the largest toll in the world, while the number of known infections is about 4.9 million.
The institute said that infections are declining in the pre-outbreak centers, such as Arizona, California, Florida and Texas, and increasing in other areas - such as Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma and Virginia. This is consistent with Reuters statistics. Washington À Reuters
- Several African countries recorded a decline in recent days by about 20% in daily casualties.
Egypt is the first African country to report a case of HIV infection on February 14.