Fourteen African countries are “aggressively” heading into a third wave of Covid-19 infections, and the delta variant, first identified in India, has now been detected in 13 states to date, said Africa CDC director Dr John Nkengasong at his weekly briefing on Thursday.
The continent is heading towards five million reported Covid-19 cases (4.9 million) and more than 133,000 deaths by Thursday.
Nkengasong said: “The continent as a whole is moving towards a third wave, there is no doubt about that. This is unfortunate, but it is what you expect in a pandemic. We need to roll out vaccines at speed and scale, that is the only way (to stop the virus).
“The B.1.617.2 variant is getting a hold on the continent ... But we do not yet have the epidemiological data to see if it is behind the third wave.”
For now, masks are our best vaccine on the continent.
— Dr John Nkengasong
Roughly half of Africa’s states have also detected the alpha variant (found in the UK) and half the beta variant (identified in SA).
Nkengasong warned that transmission of variants could be 40% higher than the original virus and, in some scenarios, the efficacy of vaccines reduced.
In Africa, new cases of Covid-19 reported in the past week are up 26% and by 13% in the past month — with SA responsible for a third of all infections reported.
SA, Nigeria and the DRC are among the most populous countries driving the surge on the continent.
The regional trends of reported Covid-19 cases show:
- Central Africa: 116% increase
- Southern Africa: 25% increase
- East Africa: 4% increase
- North Africa: 3% increase
- West Africa: 9% decrease
Roughly a million Covid-19 tests are being conducted each week, with 920,000 tests performed last week, and 49 million tests in total since the start of the pandemic.
The positivity rate is about 10%, which Nkengasong described as “very high”. SA’s positivity rate is 16.5%.
The continent is way behind the rest of the world in Covid-19 vaccinations, with only 0.6% of the population being fully covered by Thursday.
Of the 54.9 million doses delivered to the continent, 65% have gone into people’s arms.
“A few countries have not yet started vaccinations,” said Nkengasong, listing Tanzania, Burundi, Eritrea and the Saharawi Republic as those yet to begin. Tanzania has not reported Covid-19 infections for more than a year.
Togo received 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from the vaccine-sharing platform Covax this week.
Rwanda delivered half its 102,000 doses of Pfizer within a few weeks and kept the remaining 50% for the second dose.
Rwanda delivered half its 102,000 doses of Pfizer within a few weeks and kept the remaining 50% for the second dose, said Nkengasong, who recently visited there.
He said: “They were organised and (done) so quickly, and this can be done across many African countries in the cities ... We have to use a combination of vaccines.”
Chad received 400,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine on June 3 and on the next day began vaccinating health workers and the elderly, said Nkengasong, commending them for starting immediately.
For the first time this week, SA was among the top five countries who have vaccinated the most people. They are Morocco (15.8 million doses), Egypt (3.1 million), Nigeria (2.1 million), Ethiopia (1.9 million) and SA (1.4 million).
Nkengasong welcomed the announcement that the US would donate 220 million doses of Pfizer to Covax.
The Africa CDC and Mastercard Foundation have launched a joint initiative to acquire 50 million doses of vaccines for their Saving Lives, Saving Livelihoods campaign, with the foundation promising $1.3bn of funding over the next three years.
When the AU and CDC were developing a continental strategy, they estimated the cost to immunise 60% of the population would be about $10bn, Nkengasong said.
“We need to get resources to provide vaccinations in addition to the money required for acquiring vaccines. That was the ballpark projection at the time (last year).”
On May 8 this year the parties convened an emergency meeting and adapted its strategy to counter the rising third wave to include enhanced prevention, surveillance — particularly of variants — and treatment readiness.
Nkengasong said: “We are required to continue doing even more. We are not helpless; we have tools in hand and must work with communities to ensure they are properly implemented.
“For now, masks are our best vaccine on the continent.”
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.