Africa’s Covid-19 cases will soon hit four million, while the continent’s average death rate remains higher than the global case fatality rate, at 2.7%.
More than a third of its countries are reporting higher case fatality rates than the global average of 2.2%, said Africa CDC director Dr John Nkengasong on Thursday at his weekly briefing.
He said more than 106,000 Covid-19 deaths have been reported on the continent.
The fast-spreading variants of coronavirus have extended further on the continent. The 501Y.V2 variant, dominant in SA, is now found in 14 countries, many of them among the 15 countries where the 501Y.V1 variant has also been detected.
But, said Nkengasong, Africa was making progress in accessing Covid-19 vaccines, with Ethiopia — where the Africa CDC has its headquarters in Addis Ababa — receiving 2.2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the past week.
Ghana and the Ivory Coast started vaccinating healthcare workers last week after receiving their initial consignments.
“This is a day many of us have been dreaming of and working for for more than 12 months,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general.
But he said: “We have a lot left to do to realise our vision to start vaccination in all countries within the first 100 days of the year. There are just 40 days left.”
Eleven million more Covax doses are on their way to a number of Africa countries.
We have a lot left to do to realise our vision to start vaccination in all countries within the first 100 days of the year. There are just 40 days left.
— Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general
Meanwhile, new infections barely dropped in the past week, by only 0.3%, but the trend for the past month shows a 9% average decrease in new cases.
More than a quarter of the 68,253 new cases in the past week came from Southern Africa (28%), followed by 26% of new cases in North Africa. East Africa was at 20% and West Africa at 17%, and Central Africa had 9% of the total.
Botswana and the Seychelles are the countries reporting the highest number of new cases daily per million population, with the Seychelles at 511 per million and Botswana 130.
SA has by far the highest number of cases and tops the list of five countries which account for 66% of all cases reported in Africa:
- SA: 38% of total cases (1,524,174)
- Morocco: 12% of total cases (487,286)
- Tunisia: 6% of total cases (239,368)
- Egypt: 5% of total cases (188,361); and
- Ethiopia: 4% of total cases (169,878)
Meanwhile, the DRC and Guinea are still fighting outbreaks of Ebola, where 29 cases have been reported.
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