Africa is fighting a third, more virulent pandemic wave with the number of infections and deaths increasing by almost 40% in just one week. Since only a little over 1% of the continent’s population has been vaccinated, Africa’s healthcare system appears to be on the brink of collapse.
With the third wave beginning in June, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that the number of cases and deaths due to COVID-19 had surged by almost 40% between 14 and 20 June and some countries even saw double or treble the number of cases and deaths. Experts have warned that due to the lack of sufficient testing and statistics, the true figures may be much higher.
According to the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 20 countries have been particularly affected by the new coronavirus wave with Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia, Zambia, Rwanda, South Africa, and Tunisia being amongst them. The Delta variant is reported to be dominant in Uganda, Congo, and South Africa. In South Africa, which has the best capacity to investigate the virus genome, the Delta strain has been responsible for about three-quarters of all cases. The country has reported an average daily infection rate of over 20,000 and an average daily death rate of about 400 cases since the beginning of July.
“The third wave is picking up speed, spreading faster, hitting harder. With rapidly rising case numbers and increasing reports of serious illness, the latest surge threatens to be Africa’s worst yet,” said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO head for Africa.
Some African countries have reported a lack of intensive care beds and oxygen. On the night of 27 to the morning of 28 June, every patient in the intensive care unit of the largest hospital in Uganda died when the facility ran out of oxygen. In Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, doctors have said that the mortuaries are full.
“It is frightening to see what is going on across the continent. This is the first time that we are beginning to see countries report that their health system…the hospitals are completely overwhelmed,” said John Nkengasong, the director of the Africa CDC.
Furthermore, according to a Lancet study, critically ill patients in Africa are much more likely to die than in other parts of the world with half of the patients in 10 African countries who needed intensive care dying while the global average is less than one third. Even in the Republic of South Africa, the wealthiest country on the continent, people are dying because of the lack of oxygen concentrators.
While COVID-19 continues to spread very quickly, some African governments are reluctant to introduce lockdown measures as their economies have been hit hard by the ongoing crisis leaving them afraid of further economic turmoil.
