"It makes no sense to open schools where the prevalence of covid-19 is high," said John Nkengasong, when asked during Africa CDC's weekly press conference about the new coronavirus pandemic.
"It makes sense to open schools where the prevalence is less than 5 percent," said the Africa CDC director.
For the director of that control center, the opening of schools must also be accompanied by the application of preventive measures to school communities and the ability to test.
"But, this must be analyzed by each country on the continent. Each country must take the lines of combat to the pandemic and apply them to its education system", he added.
In statements to the press, John Nkengasong said that testing on the continent has improved significantly, with about 12 million tests, which represents a 6 percent increase.
"Countries are testing more and more and the figures presented represent reality," he said, noting that the epidemiological curve is stabilizing and starting to decline. "The figures suggest that what we are doing is working," he stressed.
John Nkengasong stressed, however, that there is still a long way to go before the end of the pandemic is declared.
According to the director of Africa CDC, one of the biggest challenges facing the continent is related to the decentralization of testing.
Most African countries have a weak health system that does not cover all national territories.
Another aspect that John Nkengasong stressed as necessary to be considered in the near future is the manufacture of diagnostic tests on the continent and the production of medicines, when asked about Africa's difficulties in combating covid-19.
"We cannot fight infectious diseases without diagnostic tests," he said, stressing that Africa needs to focus on developing a vaccine as the Pasteur Institute in Dakar is doing.
"We import more than 90 percent of medicines. We cannot guarantee safety without local production and manufacture of medicines. That has to change," he said.
