As coronavirus cases mount in Africa, so do fears of overwhelmed hospitals

Name: Coronavirus: South Africa becomes continent’s clear leader in Covid-19 infections
Uploaded: 2020-08-06T20:32:12.000Z
Duration: 1 min 58 s
Description: Coronavirus: South Africa becomes continent’s clear leader in Covid-19 infections

‘One of the constant and concerning challenges in many African countries is the shortage of kits to test people,’ WHO official says

Five countries account for three-quarters of the continent’s cases: South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana and Algeria

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A medical worker takes a swab sample as part of a Covid-19 test in South Africa, which has been hard hit by the coronavirus. Photo: Reuters

Jevans Nyabiage

Published: 4:32am, 7 Aug 2020Updated: 3:39pm, 7 Aug 2020

As Africa was poised to breach 1 million coronavirus cases on Thursday, warnings were sounding that rising numbers of patients needing critical care could overwhelm hospitals in countries with fragile health care systems.

But the continent’s young population may help countries escape the high number of fatalities seen in older populations elsewhere in the world, experts said.

The continent, which was initially spared the worst of the coronavirus pandemic, has seen cases rise to more than 992,000 and more than 21,000 deaths as of Thursday morning, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

African cases account for 5 per cent of the global caseload, but the WHO has raised concerns over low testing in many countries. “One of the constant and concerning challenges in many African countries is the shortage of kits to test people for Covid-19,” the WHO’s regional director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said on Thursday.

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Coronavirus: South Africa becomes continent’s clear leader in Covid-19 infections

“Lack of testing is leading to some under-reporting of Covid-19 cases and preventing us from understanding the full picture of the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa.”