South Africa, Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire account for 71% in sub Sub-Saharan Africa, World Health Organization said on Friday.
Out of 2 5704 coronavirus cases in sub Saharan Africa, those seven countries account for about 1 8000 infections in the region.
Sub-Saharan Africa has so far recorded 969 deaths.
More broadly, there are now over 38 000 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on the African continent with over 1 600 deaths, according to the latest tally by WHO African region on Friday.
Comoros has also recorded its first case.
The World Health Organization on Thursday African countries should maintain a strong surveillance, case finding and testing among other control measures to haltCOVID-19, as they begin to ease lockdowns and open their economies.
“National and regional lockdowns have helped to slow down the spread of COVID, but it remains a considerable public health threat,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO Regional Director for Africa.
“Lockdowns are being eased in parts of Africa, but we cannot just revert back to how things were before the outbreak. If governments abruptly end these measures, we risk losing the gain countries have made so far against COVID-19,” she said.
Dr Moeti spoke at the at the WHO Africa Media Leader virtual press conference with the support of the World Economic Forum. The other speakers were Dr Zweli Mkhize, Minister of Health and Professor Kojo Ansah Koram, epidemiologist and former director of Noguchi Memorial Research Institute.
According to WHO, Africa has so far been spared an explosion in COVID-19 case numbers, partially because of prompt action by governments to implement lockdowns and physical distancing, alongside effective public health measures to test, trace and treat have slowed down the spread of the virus.
The first country to implement a lockdown in the WHO Region was Rwanda on March 21, since then 11 countries have followed.
A further 10 have instituted partial lockdowns of cities or high risk communities.
(Source: TodayNewsAfrica)
