The director of Africa’s largest public fitness institute is urging governments across the continent to step up COVID-19 testing amid concern about new cases in some countries.
The continent of another 1. 3 billion people has seen a 37 percent increase in new cases over the past week, Ahmed Ogwell, acting director of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Thursday.
Over the past four weeks, there has been an 11 percent increase in new cases, he said.
“COVID still provides us with a lot and in fact, when we look at the numbers, we see that there are some member states that are entering a new wave and we are watching it closely,” he said. Transparent investigation Next week, we will be able to tell you if the new waves are maintained or if they have been temporarily controlled. “
He mentioned which countries are facing a new wave of infections, but South Africa is one of them. Africa’s most complex economy has been hardest hit by COVID-19, causing most of the cases and deaths shown.
COVID-19 has inflamed another 12. 1 million people in Africa’s 54 countries, accounting for 2% of global cases, and at least 256,000 have died, according to Africa CDC figures.
Immunization rates in Africa remain low, largely due to inventory shortages and also partly due to the hesitation of some. Only 25% of Africans are fully vaccinated and less than 3% have received booster doses.
Amid “this phenomenon, we’re seeing an increase in numbers,” Ogwell said, the national fitness government is focused on testing more people for COVID-19.
“When we see numbers going up and testing low, it indicates that we want to be cautious in public,” he said. “And we also want to get vaccinated to avoid serious illness and even death when exposed to COVID. We know what we have to do.
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