Africa’s third wave has been “very severe” in 73% of its countries, where new daily Covid-19 infections have exceeded the peak of their second wave, said Africa CDC chief Dr John Nkengasong on Thursday.
By Thursday, 7.6m Africans had been infected with Covid-19 and 191,818 people had been reported to have died.
New infections have stabilised over the past four weeks, increasing by only 0.3% overall. But they are still rising in the north, west and eastern regions, while 14 countries are reporting test positivity rates of more than 12%.
Morocco is leading the way in Africa’s Covid-19 vaccination programme, with 37% of its population fully vaccinated, said Nkengasong, who has just returned from a visit there.
“Last week I was visibly emotionally shaken to see long lines of men and women waiting patiently to be immunised,” he said, of the queues of men and women he saw snaking out of sports stadiums.
Last week I was visibly emotionally shaken to see long lines of men and women waiting patiently to be immunised in Morocco.
— Dr John Nkengasong
SA is the runner-up to Morocco when it comes to the number of Covid-19 jabs given to people, with 9% of the population fully vaccinated by Thursday.
In Africa only 2.5% of the population is fully vaccinated, 93.4-million shots have been given and 72% of all doses which have landed in the continent have gone into arms. On the continent as a whole, the demand exists as long as there is a predictable supply.
Meanwhile Africa’s death rate — down by 4% on average over the past month — continues to climb in its most populous countries, with the exception of SA, where it dropped 5% on average.
Nigeria is up (100% increase), as are Ethiopia (63%), DRC (59%), Kenya (29%) and Egypt (7%), according to the latest Africa CDC briefing.
Nkengasong said the third wave was winding down, yet there would be other waves.
Amanda McClelland, senior vice-president of the global initiative Resolve (Prevent Epidemics/Resolve to Save Lives), commended SA for its scientific approach to managing its lockdowns.
The country adopted a “clear alert system” and found ways to communicate it, she said.
To keep waves “as short and as flat as they can be”, McClelland recommended “mini-lockdowns” for areas where Covid-19 is increasing, based on data-driven decisions and customised to the smallest geographical area. To take action in time, hotspots need to be identified early.
“The idea of completely opening or closing down countries with very strict public health social measures is no longer an option like it was at the beginning of the epidemic. We can’t really have officials shutting down full societies.,” she said.
Resolve has been a crucial partner in implementing Africa’s adapted strategy — enhanced prevention, enhanced monitoring and enhanced treatment of Covid-19, which was triggered by the Delta variant — noted Nkengasong.
Sombrely, he said: “Vaccines alone, especially given the slow rate they are being introduced on continent, will not solve the (pandemic) for us. We need a combination approach. We need to promote public health measures to avoid a recurrence of severe waves.”
The Africa CDC chief was also impressed at Morocco’s locally produced Covid-19 tests, which have been validated, and its production of masks and PPE, certified to international standards.
Nkengasong encouraged other countries to follow Morocco’s lead in building public-private partnerships to curb the pandemic and its “whole government approach” to driving vaccinations.
He said the enlistment of final-year medical students, military doctors, the ministry of sport and others to scale up the inoculations was a lesson he hoped other countries would adopt.
“Morocco has set up vaccine centres across the country ... You go into the command room and you could see in real-time how many people are vaccinated and what vaccine they got.”
The situation might get worse before it gets better as the vaccination rates are very, very low on the continent.
— Dr John Nkengasong
Nkengasong reiterated that the continent was facing a long haul with Covid-19. “We need to take a long-term view, not the narrow perspective of responding to an outbreak. The acute phase is over ...
“The situation might get worse before it gets better (as) the vaccination rates are very, very low on the continent.” But he shied away from the idea of mandatory vaccines, saying they did not need to be forced and human rights had to be respected.
Instead, he urged individuals to adopt a “social contract” to protect themselves and others.
“This week let’s all launch a campaign ... as a continent let’s agree we need to sign a social contract: as vaccines come in, let’s go to vaccination centres and get vaccinated ... and know your Covid status.
“We can sign this social contract with ourselves to say: I will save my life, save my loved ones and save my community.”
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