WHO concerned about growing Covid expansion in Africa
Candidates for screening in the waiting room of a hospital in Soweto, South Africa, November 30, 2020. AP - Jerome Delay
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Africa deplores 135,000 deaths from Covid, less than in other regions of the world.
But the third wave is amplifying and accelerating on the continent, warns the World Health Organization (WHO).
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The number of Covid deaths in Africa increased by 15% last week.
Five countries concentrate three-quarters of the new cases, South Africa, Tunisia, Zambia, Uganda and Namibia, but in the DRC we exceeded the peak of last January.
The continent is in the middle of the third epidemic wave, worries the WHO regional director, Matshidiso Moeti.
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After four weeks of successive increases in the number of cases, the third wave is amplifying and accelerating, cases are increasing by 20% every week in 22 African countries.
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The variants multiply on African soil. The Indian Delta variant has appeared in 14 countries on the continent, the Alpha and Beta variants affect 25 countries. However, despite the progress recorded in South Africa, Côte d'Ivoire, the Central African Republic and Madagascar, vaccination on the continent is stagnating, deplores Matshidiso Moeti. And not just for lack of doses. “
Unfortunately, 23 countries have used only half of the doses they received, including four of the countries where there has been a resumption of cases.
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WHO calls for rapid action to vaccinate, screen for the virus and interrupt the chain of contaminations.
To avoid the overflow of health structures that India has experienced, Africa should massively test the population to isolate Covid cases, estimates the WHO, which has provided 90 million rapid antigenic tests to 39 African states.
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