COVID-19 Cases in Africa Increases To Over 18,000 With Over 900 Deaths – WHO

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BY VICTOR BUORO, ABUJA – The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday said that the number of COVID-19 cases on the African continent has increased to 18,000 with over 900 deaths.

This is just as it announced that 44 countries in Africa can now test for COVID-19.

The WHO said that as COVID-19 spreads beyond capital cities in the continent, there must also be a response at the grassroots level, adding that a wide network of community polio health workers in Nigeria are using their expertise and technology to support COVID-19 surveillance.

The organisation which announced this via its official Twitter handle @WHOAFRO noted that at the start of the outbreak only two African countries could carry out the test.

It further According to WHO; “South Africa, Algeria and Cameroon have continued to top the list of countries with the highest reported cases.

“South Africa has 2,605 cases and 48 deaths followed by Algeria with 2,268 cases and 348 deaths, while Cameroon has 855 confirmed cases with 17 deaths.”

The WHO African region dashboard showed that South Sudan, Sao Tome and Principe, Burundi and Mauritania still remain countries with lowest confirmed cases in the continent.

The dashboard showed that South Sudan and Sao Tome and Principe with the lowest confirmed cases of four each with zero death just as Burundi which is the second country with lowest confirmed cases has five reported cases and zero death.

The WHO dashboard further shows; “Mauritania in the third category with lowest cases has recorded seven confirmed cases with one death.

The dashboard also shows that COVID-19 cases has risen to 373 confirmed cases with 11 deaths in Nigeria.

“The COVID-19 Situation Report showed that the number of cases in African Region has increased by 51 per cent and the number of deaths by 60 per cent.

“As of 14th April 2020 (epidemiological week 16) a cumulative total of 10,759 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 520 deaths (Case Fatality Ratio (CFR): 4.8 per cent) have been reported across the 45 affected countries in the region,’’ it said.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has reached a new milestone in the region, with over 10, 000 cases and over 500 deaths being reported across all member States with the exception of Comoros and Lesotho.

“Six countries (Algeria, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Niger and South Africa) accounted for two thirds of the cases in the region.

The Report also showed that in Algeria, while there is a decrease in case incidence in the past two weeks, WHO however expressed grave concern over the high case fatality ratio.

WHO further said; “There is a need to strengthen case management and conduct in-depth epidemiological analyses to better understand the risk factors associated with these deaths.

“The upsurge of cases in Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana requires particular attention. Current response measures in these countries need to be reinforced in order to rapidly contain the spread of the outbreak.

“Although the weekly incidence rate appears to have substantially slowed down over the past two weeks, the situation remains critical.

“National authorities need to stay alert and continue to implement proven public health measures such as active case finding, testing and isolation of cases, contact tracing, physical distancing and promotion of good personal hygiene practice,’’ WHO stated.

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