COVID-19 spreads in Africa at Record Pace, says WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Thursday, that COVID-19 spreads in Africa at record pace, as the Delta variant is driving the pandemic forward.

Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, said in a statement that, “The speed and scale of Africa’s third wave is like nothing we’ve seen before.

“The rampant spread of more contagious variants pushes the threat to Africa up to a whole new level.

“More transmission means more serious illness and more deaths, so everyone must act now and boost prevention measures to stop an emergency becoming a tragedy,” Moeti said.

The highly contagious Delta variant has been reported in 16 countries, accounting for 97 percent of samples sequenced in Uganda and 79 percent in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Oxygen demand in Africa is now 50 percent higher than at the peak of the first wave, a year ago.

Infection numbers have increased in Africa for six weeks running, rising by a quarter week-on-week to almost 202,000 in the week that ended Sunday.

The continent’s weekly record currently stands at 224,000 new cases.

Deaths rose by 15 percent across 38 African countries to nearly 3,000 in the same period.

The head of the DRC’s fight against COVID-19 warned of catastrophe, if the Delta variant keeps rapidly spreading in the country.

African countries are suffering from a crippling shortage of COVID-19 vaccines.

The WHO said, only 15 million people, just 1.2 percent of the African population are fully vaccinated.

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