The World Health Organization (WHO) says African countries have recorded increase of daily average of 25,000 new cases of COVID-19 in the last two weeks.
The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, who made the disclosure while speaking during an online COVID-19 media briefing of the Africa region said that the continent was spared of much of the adverse effects of the deadly virus with relatively lower number of Infections as compared to what occurred in other parts of the world.
Dr Moeti who was joined in the virtual press conference by Prof Francisca Mutapi, Professor in Global Health Infection and Immunity, University of Edinburgh, UK, and Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, said that a new variant of the virus called 501Y.V2 is circulating widely in South Africa and has accounted for most of the new infections during the second wave.
She revealed that mutations of the virus are unsurprising as the more the pandemic spreads the higher the likelihood of changes.
She also said an average of twenty five thousand, two hundred and twenty three cases were reported each day between 28 December 2020 and 10 January 2021 in Africa, which is nearly 39% higher than the July 2020 two-week peak of eighteen thousand, one hundred and four daily average cases.
“Yet numbers may rise further in the coming days in the wake of travelling, gathering and festivities over Christmas and New Year holidays,” Dr Moeti said.
The global health body however noted that preliminary analysis found that the 501Y.V2 variation is more transmissible adding that genomic sequencing has found the variant present in Botswana, the Gambia and Zambia.
“Even if the new variant is not more virulent, a virus that can spread more easily will put further strain on hospitals and health workers who are in many cases already overstretched.
This is a stark reminder that the virus is relentless, that it still presents a manifest threat, and that our war is far from won.
We call on all countries to increase testing of the virus to swiftly spot, track and tackle new COVID-19 variants as soon as they appear. To defeat an agile, adaptive and relentless enemy, we must know and understand its every move, and double down on what we know works best against all variants of the virus.
We must not become complacent. We must persist with the proven public health measures that helped stop the spread of the virus during the first wave – that’s physical distancing, constant handwashing and wearing masks in public spaces,” she added.
On his part, the Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, says Nigeria is also carrying out more investigations on a variant identified in samples collected in August and October.
He said that with WHO support, African countries are reinforcing genome sequencing efforts, which are key to finding and understanding new variants as they emerge and to help blunt their impact.
WHO and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention network of genome sequencing laboratories in Africa is supporting governments with training and data analysis on genome sequencing, bioinformatics and technical expertise.
WHO has also developed guidance on containing new variants and is assisting countries to manage and safely transport samples for sequencing and analysis.
