The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday said the number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Africa have dropped to their lowest levels since the pandemic began, marking the longest decline recorded yet, reported Africa News.
According to the latest data reports, the number of coronavirus cases has tanked from a peak of over 308 000 cases weekly at the start of the year, mainly due to the Omicron-driven fourth pandemic wave, to less than 20 000 in the week ending on 10 April 2022.
Over the past week, around 18 000 cases and 239 deaths were recorded, a decline of 29% and 37% respectively compared with the week before.
“This low level of infection has not been seen since April 2020 in the early stages of the pandemic in Africa,” the WHO said.
The global health agency noted that no country in the region is currently seeing an increase in COVID-19 cases. It warned, however, that there is a high risk of another wave of new infections with winter approaching for southern hemisphere countries in June through August. Notably, the coronavirus spreads more easily in cooler temperatures when people are more likely to gather in larger numbers indoors.
“With the virus still circulating, the risk of new and potentially more deadly variants emerging remains, and the pandemic control measures are pivotal to [an] effective response to a surge in infections,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s Africa director.
Moeti said it is crucial that countries remain vigilant and maintain surveillance measures, including genomic surveillance to swiftly detect circulating COVID-19 variants, enhance testing, and scale-up vaccination.
In an analysis report released last week, the WHO estimated that up to 65% of people in Africa have been infected with the coronavirus and said, unlike many other regions, most people infected on the continent didn’t show any symptoms.
