Africa will mark one year since its first coronavirus (COVID-19) case on Sunday, 14 February 2021 as the World Health Organisation (WHO) revealed a surge in deaths related to complications from the virus on the continent.
According to WHO, Africa witnessed a 40 per cent surge in COVID -19 fatalities, pushing the death toll there toward 100,000.
WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti, says there are warnings that health systems in Africa are dangerously overstretched.
At the same time, in the last 28 days, over 22,300 deaths were reported on the continent – a 3.7 per cent fatality rise – compared with nearly 16,000 deaths in the previous 28 days, which reflected a 2.4 per cent increase, according to WHO.
This mortality spike come as Africa’s second wave began in October, and peaked in January, spreading significantly faster and proving far more lethal.
Moeti advises that this grim milestone must refocus everyone on stamping out the virus.
At the same time, new contagious COVID-19 strains are spreading rapidly as Africa gears up for its largest-ever vaccination drive.
The variant known as B1.351, which was first identified in South Africa, has now been detected in eight African States, while the mutation initially identified in the United Kingdom, called B1.1.7, has been found in six countries on the continent.
While a vaccine that protects against all forms of COVID-19 is biggest hope, preventing severe cases which overwhelm hospitals is crucial,” Moeti said.
This week, South Africa said it would pause the roll-out of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, citing a study indicating that it was less effective in battling the country’s dominant B1.351 strain.
WHO says there was an “urgent need” for a coordinated approach to variant surveillance and more evaluation to help decipher the potential impact they might have on vaccine effectiveness.
Meanwhile, WHO says it has continued to see a decline in COVID-19 cases globally, with a 17 per cent drop compared with last week.
The WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, in a speech posted on its website on Friday, stated that the number of deaths had also reduced.
Ghebreyesus, speaking at a news conference at WHO headquarters in Geneva, said this is the fourth week of declining cases.
According to him, there are three major threats to the UN-led international equitable vaccine initiative, COVAX, that requires urgent attention amidst news of decline in cases and deaths of COVID-19.
Ghebreyesus, however, drew attention to a 27-billion-dollar financing gap in the ACT Accelerator, which supported the development and equitable distribution of coronavirus tests, treatments and vaccines globally.
Secondly, noting some bilateral deals, he called on all States “to respect COVAX contracts and not compete with them.
And third, he underscored the need for “an urgent scale-up in manufacturing to increase the volume of vaccines” with “innovative partnerships” to include tech transfer, licensing and “other mechanisms to address production bottlenecks”.