COVID-19: 11 Countries In Africa Experiencing 5th Wave
This Thursday, an official from the Africa CDC stated that the COVID-19 infections were on the rise in Africa, but are becoming less and less fatal.
Ahmad Ogwell, the deputy head of the health organisation said that any countries in Africa are experiencing their “fifth wave” of cases and also witnessing the tallies spike higher than in their previous wave. The positive side of this was that the number of deaths occurring are lower.
According to Mr. Ogwell, South Africa in particular was responsible for the 38 percent increase in the COVID-19 infections on the continent. Despite this, the number of deaths have reduced from 59 percent during the same period.
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Thoughout Africa, 11.4 million infections and approximately 252,000 deaths have been recorded since the beginning of the pandemic. Several experts have said that the number of unreported infections in Africa with its population of 1.3 billion people is likely to be high.
Mr. Ogwell said that 11 African countries are currently experiencing their fifth wave of infection, with Mauritius having its sixth.
Africa has now obtained 784 million vaccine doses, but only around 17 per cent of the population in Africa has been fully vaccinated against the Coronavirus. Mr. Ogwell has called for more covid vaccine doses to be purchased for Africa.
He, while referring to the reports of the impending closure of Aspen Pharmacare’s manufacturing facility in South Africa due to lack of sufficient demand, said: “We hope it doesn’t come to that…we have a market in Africa.’’
