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The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced that third wave of COVID -19 cases have dropped in Africa after eight-week increase in the pandemic.
The global agency in its latest data,attributed the development to a dramatic drop in South Africa, which accounts for the majority of the continent’s reported cases, but cautioned that albeit the trend may be short-lived.
The number of new cases in Africa declined by 1.7 percent to over 282 000 in the week ending,July 18,according to the data.
But,excluding data from South Africa, which accounted for 37% of all cases, indicates a nine-week spike that is unusually high and unbroken. When data from South Africa is omitted, the current peak is 80% higher than Africa’s prior record. Without the data from South Africa, cases rose in Africa by 18% to
The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director, Dr Matshidiso Moeti cautioned:“Be under no illusions, Africa’s third wave is absolutely not over. This small step forward offers hope and inspiration but must not mask the big picture for Africa. Many countries are still at peak risk and Africa’s third wave surged up faster and higher than ever before. The Eid celebrations which we marked this week may also result in a rise in cases. We must all double down on prevention measures to build on these fragile gains.”
The data said twenty-one African countries have seen cases rise by over 20% for at least two weeks running – which is an increase of three countries over the previous week and the highly transmissible Delta variant has been found in 26 African countries.
The Alpha variant is in 38 countries and Beta is in 35. South Africa’s gains remain uncertain as protests have disrupted the country’s response, including disease surveillance and testing. Violent mass gatherings could also trigger another rise in cases.
This World Health Organization urged African countries to urgently ramp up COVID-19 vaccinations as the squeeze on vaccine shipments eases,adding that about 60 million doses are set to arrive in the coming weeks from the United States of America, Europe, the United Kingdom, purchased doses and other partners through the COVAX Facility.
It added that over half a billion doses are expected through COVAX alone this year.
“A massive influx of doses means that Africa must go all out and speed up the vaccine rollout by five to six times if we are to get all these doses into arms and fully vaccinate the most vulnerable 10% of all Africans by the end of September,” said Dr Moeti.
She added that, nearly 70% of African countries will not reach the 10% vaccination target for all countries by the end of September at the current pace. Around 3.5 million to 4 million doses are administered weekly on the continent, but to meet the September target this must rise to 21 million doses at the very least each week.
Just 20 million Africans, or 1.5% of the continent’s population, are fully vaccinated so far and just 1.7% of the 3.7 billion doses given globally have been administered in Africa. High-income countries have administered 62 times more doses per person than low-income countries.
The World Bank estimates that in addition to the US$ 9.5 billion needed to buy enough vaccines to ensure adequate protection from COVID-19, another US$ 3 billion is required to fund operations.
“To increase uptake, countries must scale up operations, investments on operational costs and address vaccine confidence. Countries need sufficient vaccine sites and health care workers, sufficient vaccine storage, and adequate transport and logistics for distribution,” said Dr Moeti.
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