Africa is poised to surpass 4 million COVID-19 infections this week since the continent’s first confirmed case in February 2020. The year-long battle against the virus, which has also claimed over 106 000 lives, is now receiving a crucial boost with the arrival of vaccines through the COVAX Facility – a multi-partner vaccine procurement platform.
Following a second wave which peaked at much higher numbers than Africa’s first surge, new case numbers declined for five weeks, and then plateaued during the past three weeks at around 70 000 cases per week. In the last week, there has been a slight uptick in new cases and an upward trend in 12 countries, including in Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Cameroon.
While deaths reported have dropped by more than 50% over the past 28 days compared with the previous 28 days, the case fatality ratio or the proportion of deaths among confirmed cases is at 3.6% for the past 28 days. This is higher than the global average…more