The World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo stated on its website that more than 215,000 cases have been confirmed so far in Africa, with over 5,800 deaths and 98,000 recoveries as at yesterday.
WHO warned yesterday that the COVID-19 has continued to spread in Africa since the virus was detected on the continent in mid-February.
According to WHO: “The pandemic is accelerating – it took 98 days to reach 100,000 cases and only 19 days to move to 200,000 cases,” it said.
“Ten out of 54 countries are currently driving the rise in numbers, accounting for nearly 80 per cent of all the cases.
“More than 70 per cent of the deaths are taking place in only five countries: Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa and Sudan.
“South Africa is the most affected, accounting for 25 per cent of the continent’s total cases, with the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces reporting high number of cases and deaths daily.’’
According to the agency, more than half of the countries in Afrca were experiencing COVID-19 community transmission; in many cases this is concentrated in capital cities, but cases are spreading into the provinces.
According to a statement by Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, “For now, Africa still only accounts for a small fraction of cases worldwide.
“But the pace of the spread is quickening. Swift and early action by African countries has helped to keep numbers low but constant vigilance is needed to stop COVID-19 from overwhelming health facilities.”
The UN health agency said many countries were quick to make difficult decisions and put in place lockdowns and key public health measures.
“They put in place key public health measures such as promoting physical distancing, good hand hygiene and testing, tracing of contacts of people with COVID-19 and isolation of cases.
“With the support of WHO and other partners, governments also rapidly started to scale up health workforce and laboratory capacities, and to set up points-of-entry screening at airports and border crossings.
“These public health and social measures have been effective in slowing the spread of COVID-19 in Africa,’’ it stated.
Additionally, it went further to state that in recent weeks, countries began relaxing lockdowns to resume some economic and social activities, noting that the shutdowns have come at considerable socio-economic cost.
The statement further quoted Moeti as saying “Stay-at-home orders and closing of markets and businesses have taken a heavy toll, particularly on the most vulnerable and marginalised communities.