COVID-19 Cases In Africa Pass A Half-Million Mark, SA Now A New Global Hotspot

AFRICA now has more than a half-million confirmed coronavirus cases. The continent-wide total is over 508,000, according to figures released Wednesday by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after South Africa recorded another day of more than 10 000 confirmed cases as a new global hot spot.

The true number of cases among Africa’s 1.3 billion people is unknown as its 54 countries continue to face a serious shortage of testing materials for the virus. “A tremendous problem, a real crisis of access,” the World Health Organization’s Africa chief, Matshidiso Moeti, said last week.

So far most testing has been concentrated in capital cities, but infections in many cases have spread beyond them.

Already Covid-19 has killed more people in Africa – 11 955 – than Ebola did in its deadliest outbreak from 2014 to 2016 in West Africa, the WHO said Wednesday.

“With more than a third