COVID-19 Cases Continue to Prop up in African

COVID-19 Cases Continue to Prop up in African
Covid-19

According to data collaborated by John Hopkins University, Africa has recorded over half a million covid-19 cases. The total tallies reveal over 508000 corona cases and 11978 deaths. The exact number of corona patients in Africa is unknown since daily, the cases increase.

The upsurge in cases comes at a hard time as the 54 African states are experiencing a shortage of testing kits. The chief of the World Health Organization in Africa described the problem as tremendous especially since it hit during a medical crisis.

Experts state that the virus is now at the community transmission stage as such it is highly contagious. Before reaching half a million-mark, new corona cases in Africa went as high as 100000 every week. This was since the onset of July when the cases hit 400000.

Covid-19 tally after a million mark

On 22nd May Coronavirus cases in Africa passed 100000. It was barely 24 hours after the continent confirmed 3000 deaths when the mark passed 100000. The figures as of May 22 stood at 100,399 with 39,481 recoveries and 3,098 deaths. The number of active cases stood at 57,82.

As of 22nd June, data from John Hopkins University revealed that the numbers passed the 300000 mark. The figures had reached 306,000 with 8,116 deaths. The active cases were at 151,937 with recoveries at 146,337. The continents most impacted remains South Africa whose tallies are almost a third of confirmed cases – current caseload stands at 97,302.

While on the first of July, Africa hit the 400000 mark, with over 10000 deaths. It appears the cases in Africa continue to prop up, unlike in other continents. There are over 201,800 active cases against 193,000 recoveries across Africa. South Africa remains the most impacted with over 150,000 cases from over 1.6 million tests.

The five most impacted countries in Africa

Since WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, it has spared no continent around the globe. However, cases in Africa are tremendously propping up. Some of the most affected states include; South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, and Algeria.

Governments in the continent have focused most of their efforts in capital cities and health workers. Medical workers are conducting most of the testing in capital cities. However, they suspect the virus to have spread past the cities to town.

Challenges amid the pandemic in Africa

Most of the states in Africa are poorly developed, and as such, have health and financial problems. To begin with, they have a poor health system mainly because of inadequate funds to improve hospitals. The majority of the hospitals in African states don’t have adequate medical equipment. Secondly, these health institutions have few medical staff. According to WHO, for every 1000 patients, there are only 2.2 health workers and 0.3 doctors.

Due to the inadequate pay health workers receive in Africa, many times do protest. Last week, health officers in Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Congo, and Sierra Leone all marched in streets demanding a pay rise. They also claimed they were not getting enough protective gear and hence risked contracting the virus. Over now, over 2000 medical practitioners in the continent have contracted the virus.

Hospitals in Africa also lack enough trained personnel. Although WHO is planning to promote individual, safety through installing ventilators in hospitals, Africa doesn’t have adequate trained medical officers.

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