The World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday called for caution as African countries curtail COVID-19 surveillance and quarantine measures with new Covid-19 cases significantly dropping, reported The BBC.
“It is a matter of concern that nearly half of all countries in Africa have stopped tracing the contacts of cases,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, at an online press conference. “This, along with robust testing, is the backbone of any pandemic response.”
She said without tracing contacts, it would be a daunting task to track the spread of the virus in the future and identify new COVID-19 hotspots that may be caused by known or emerging variants.
Dr. Moeti said while the need to reopen economies and resume social life is important, countries need to be cautious and take into consideration the possible risks.
With a decline in the number of new COVID-19 cases, a number of African countries have moved towards adopting prioritized contact tracing.
Based on analysis of open-source data until March 15, the WHO has found that 22 African countries are not carrying out any kind of contact tracing and that only 13 countries are conducting comprehensive surveillance.
Dr. Moeti said the pandemic isn’t over yet. She urged countries to cautiously ease preventive measures with health authorities weighing the risks against the anticipated benefits.
“Lifting the public health measures does not mean lifting the foot off the pedal of pandemic vigilance,” the WHO official said.
She said it is critical for countries to have systems in place to closely monitor the COVID-19 infection trends, allow for timely detection and treatment and immediately respond to the emergence of new variants of concern.
Dr. Moeti also urged countries to boost vaccination efforts. Africa’s vaccination coverage is far behind other continents. Only 15.6% of the African population is fully vaccinated as compared with the global average of 57%.
