ETHIOPIA. Addis Ababa: According to a report on COVID-19, the second wave of COVID-19 in Africa was deadlier than the first wave. The report was published by the Medical journal ‘Lancent’ on March 25.
It is reported that there was a 30 percent increase in new daily cases during the second wave. From December 31, 2020, to February 14, there have been over three million cases and 65 deaths in Africa.
“An average number of 18,273 new cases was reported each day from July 20, during the peak of the first wave in Africa. However by the end of December 2020, when 36 countries had experienced or were experiencing the first wave, it had risen by 30 percent to 23,790,” read the report.
The main reason for the increase in cases during the short wave has been due to the negligiency of COVID-19 prevention measures like social distancing and wearing of masks.
The authors have recommended adhering to COVID-19 prevention and public health guidelines.
The effect of COVID-19 on the African countries
In the continent, South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria were among the worst affected countries. As per the reports, only Seychelles had no COVID-19 related death.
The three countries South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia plus Libya, and Cape Verde had the highest incidences of cases per 100,000 population during the COVID-19 wave. Failure by some countries to provide daily reports of daily cases has affected the analysis of the report.
Going forward Head of Africa CDC Dr. John Nkengasong feels vaccination is the way to go. “Africa has targeted to vaccinate 35 percent of the population this year,” he said.
According to Nkengasong, each African country needs to have 60 percent of the population vaccinated.
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Countries like Madagascar and Tanzania have not shown any interest in the vaccination of their citizens.
Africa according to CDC has received only 23.6 million doses of vaccines so far. Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, The DRC, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Eswatini, and Mauritius among others have received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from India.
On the other hand, Egypt, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, and Sierra Leone have received the Sinopharm vaccine from China.
