Africa has over 2.1 million cases of covid-19 infection, accounting for 3.5 percent of total global infections, with 85 percent of people (over 1.78 million) recovering. The number of deaths from the disease exceeds the 50,000 barrier.
In the past week, Africa has registered 94,000 new cases of infection and 2,400 deaths from covid-19, and five countries account for about 70 percent of total infections: South Africa, Morocco, Egypt, Ethiopia and Tunisia, CDC director John Nkengasong announced at the weekly press conference on the pandemic situation in Africa.
When analyzed the last four weeks, between October 26th and November 22nd, the epidemiological evolution is towards an increase of 7.5 percent of new cases in all five regions of Africa.
Among the most populous countries in Africa, Nigeria has seen an average increase of 26 percent in new cases in the last four weeks, Egypt 20 percent, the Democratic Republic of Congo 44 percent, South Africa 10 percent, and Kenya 11 percent. Among the six most populous countries, Ethiopia alone has seen a 7 percent decrease in the average number of infections.
"These numbers show that the epidemic curve is rising consistently," stressed the director of the CDC.
"We are still making very good progress in terms of testing," announced John Nkengasong. The continent has so far tested about 21 million individuals and ten countries have contributed about 70 percent of the tests: South Africa, Morocco, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda and Cameroon.
CDC Africa has begun distributing 2.7 million antigenic tests across the continent, a "development" that gives "hope" to the organization. "Maybe we're looking at a game changer," which allows for faster and easier testing, Nkengasong said.
Vaccines against covid-19 in Africa may not begin to be given to the population until the middle of next year, said the continent's top public health official, who stressed that it will be "extremely dangerous" if the world's most developed regions vaccinate themselves and then limit travel to people without proof of vaccination.
John Nkengasong told journalists during the CDC Africa virtual press conference from the organization's headquarters in Addis Ababa that he has seen in the past how "Africa is neglected when the drugs are available," and illustrated the statement with the case of anti-HIV drugs, which took 10 years to reach the continent and cost 12 million lives during that time.
Finally, the Director of Africa CDC was "very, very encouraged" by the news of a set of vaccines against covid-19 that are in clinical trials, although he also stressed that the cold storage needed for some to reach Africa is a major challenge.
CDC Africa has been discussing vaccine options with Russia, China and other partners, seeking "not to fall behind" in the race to get the vaccines it needs: about 1.5 billion doses, assuming two per person, to achieve the 60 percent coverage needed to immunize the continent. This is only in a first wave of attack, Nkengasong stressed.
"The worst thing we want for the continent is for covid-19 to become an endemic disease" in Africa, he said.
Africa has recorded 332 deaths from covid-19 in the last 24 hours, reaching a total of 50,628 deaths caused by the new coronavirus, which has already infected 2,106,931 people, plus 14,652 cases, according to official data.
