Africa has registered a 43 per cent jump in reported Covid-19 cases in the last week, highlighting a warning from the World Health Organization that the continent of 1.3 billion could become the next epicentre of the global outbreak.
Africa also has a “very, very limited” and “very, very strained” testing capacity, John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in his weekly briefing on Thursday.
It means that the surge in infections on the continent is likely to be even higher in reality, he said. WHO’s recent report painted a grim picture for Africa. It warned the virus could kill more than 3,00,000 people and push 30 million into desperate poverty.
Africa still has time to avert such a disaster, but testing people and tracing virus cases is critical, said Nkengasong.