As coronavirus cases rise, Africa faces immense threat from rise of deadlier variants

AFRICA – African Union Member States have reported 5,190,181 COVID-19 cases, 137,350 deaths and 4,611,132 recoveries according to the most recent report.

According to the Africa CDC, new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 are rapidly spreading across continents and multiple variants are emerging in Africa, some deadlier, as the continent slips into a third wave.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned about the slowdown in vaccination, with 47 of Africa’s 54 countries at the risk of missing the September target of vaccinating 10 percent of their population, unless 225 million doses are made available, a situation that is likely to frustrate efforts in preventing rise and spread of new variants.

“The situation continues to get complicated as some countries have a mixture of all three variants. And this speaks to the need to adhere to public health prevention measures and scale up vaccination,” Africa CDC Director, John Nkengasong, said.

Africa’s Southern region has reported the highest number of cases since onset of the pandemic with 2,294,499 cases, 67,878 deaths and 2,063,694 recoveries. Countries in the region reported cases as follows: Angola (37,604; 856; 31,590), Botswana (65,815; 940; 58,541), Eswatini (18,811; 677; 18,005), Lesotho (11,081; 329; 6,445), Malawi (34,832; 1,168; 32,847), Mozambique (72,367; 847; 70,041), Namibia (73,164; 1,161; 59,249), South Africa (1,810,164; 58,590; 1,640,849), Zambia (129,033; 1,644; 108,960) and Zimbabwe (41,628; 1,666; 37,167).

Northern Africa follows in at second position with 1,531,684 cases, 46,481 deaths and 1,341,381 recoveries.

Tunisian Health Ministry reported 1,775 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total number of infections in the North African country to 382,950 while the death toll from the virus rose by 78 to 14,038.

Following this, the government has added another three governorates to the list of general lockdowns, adding to the north-central governorate of Kairouan which was already on lockdown.

Other countries in the north reported their cases as follows: Algeria (135,586; 3,755; 94,693), Egypt (276,756; 15,829; 205,157), Libya (190,748; 3,174; 176,217), Mauritania (20,314; 480; 19,330), Morocco (526,363; 9,237; 513,382), Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (742; 46; 692).

Central region (187,195 cases; 2,944 deaths; 167,610 recoveries) has its nations reporting cases as indicated: Burundi (5,121; 8; 4,198), Cameroon (80,090; 1,310; 77,305), CAR (11,037; 98; 7,103), Chad (4,946; 174; 4,768), Congo (12,298; 161; 11,330), DRC (37,809; 879; 27,938), Equatorial Guinea (8,698; 120; 8,489), Gabon (24,834; 157; 24,165), Sao Tome and Principe (2,362; 37; 2,314)

Western (480,615; 6,365; 462,406) reported: Benin (8,140; 103; 7,979), Burkina Faso (13,468; 167; 13,290), Cabo Verde (31,964; 281; 30,943), Côte d’Ivoire (48,031; 307; 47,420), Gambia (6,024; 181; 5,827), Ghana (94,913; 793; 92,881), Guinea (23,450; 168; 22,250), Guinea Bissau (3,825; 69; 3,558), Liberia (2,995; 95; 2,105), Mali (14,380; 524; 10,022), Niger (5,469; 193; 5,178), Nigeria (167,206; 2,117; 163,550), Senegal (42,333; 1,158; 40,817), Sierra Leone (4,702; 82; 3,233), Togo (13,715; 127; 13,353).

Eastern Africa is the third most affected region in the continent. The region has recorded 696,188 cases, 13,682 deaths and 576,041 recoveries.

Tanzania, a country that appeared to take a different stand from all other nations during the pandemic is now changing tune Tanzania has not announced the number of coronavirus cases in the country since April 2020, but has recently made strides in combating Covid-19. Records indicate the country might have reported 509 cases and 21 deaths.

Tanzania’s Health ministry has issued a statement warning against a possible third wave of Covid-19 in the country. This, they say, is with respect to the COVID-19 situation in neighboring countries.

The nations in question have reported COVID cases as follows: Comoros (3,975; 146; 3,745), Djibouti (11,587; 155; 11,424), Eritrea (5,336; 19; 4,782), Ethiopia (275,036; 4,280; 254,296), Kenya (179,075; 3,456; 122,704), Madagascar (42,112; 900; 41,465), Mauritius (1,773; 18; 1,311), Rwanda (30,517; 379; 26,578), Seychelles (14,123; 55; 12,505), Somalia (14,852; 775; 7,150), South Sudan (10,770; 115; 10,514) and Sudan (36,347; 2,737; 30,062).