According to the World Health Organisation, the worst is yet to come as the third wave gathers pace on the continent. Africa has just lived through its most devastating week of the pandemic.
The WHO’s regional director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti said during a virtual press conference that, “Africa has just marked the continent’s most dire pandemic week ever. But the worst is yet to come as the fast-moving third wave continues to gain speed and new ground.
“Cases are doubling every 18 days, compared with every 21 days only a week ago, the end to this precipitous rise is still weeks away.”
Coronavirus cases have been rising in Africa since the start of the third wave on the continent.
Sixteen African countries are now seeing a resurgence of the virus, with the more contagious Delta strain detected in 10 of them.
South Africa is the worst-hit country in Africa, with new daily infections hitting record highs of 26,000 cases over the weekend, fuelled by the Delta variant.
Vaccination rates remain sluggish, with only 16 million people, 2% of the African population, fully vaccinated.
Moeti said there was some room for optimism because vaccine deliveries were picking up after grinding to a near halt in May and early June.
More than 1.6 million doses were delivered to Africa through the Covax scheme for the past two weeks, which was set up to ensure equitable distribution of vaccines to poorer countries.
“Our appeals for we first and not me first are finally turning talk into action. But the deliveries can’t come soon enough because the third wave looms large across the continent,” she said.
Africa has so far received 66 million doses and has administered 50 million of them.
Moeti urged governments to expand vaccination sites and take other measures to take advantage of the vaccine deliveries when they come.
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