(JOHANNESBURG) – Confirmed cases of coronavirus in Africa have exceeded one million, but global fitness experts say the actual number is probably several times higher, reflecting the huge lack of evidence for the continent’s 1.3 billion people.
While experts say the number of infections in countries can be a very low count, many undetected cases pose a greater danger to Africa, with many of the world’s weakest fitness systems. More than 22,000 people died from COVID-19.
The World Health Organization calls this milestone a “turning point” for Africa, as infections in several countries are increasing. The virus has spread beyond giant cities “in remote areas” where there are few fitness resources and care can take days.
Immediately knowing they were at a disadvantage, African countries came here in combination at the beginning of the pandemic to continue the tests and medical materials they needed and to advocate for an equitable vaccine to any effective vaccine. Immediate border closure has delayed the spread of the virus.
But Africa’s most evolved country, South Africa, has struggled to cope with hospital beds filling up and has shown cases to exceed a million, ranking fifth in the world. The country has the largest collection of evidence and knowledge in Africa, however, a report by the South African Medical Research Council showed last week that many deaths from COVID-19 were innumerable. Other deaths have been attributed to other diseases because others avoid gyms and resources are diverted to the pandemic.
This is a warning to the other 53 African countries of what awaits them. While the first disastrous predictions of the pandemic have not materialized, “we believe this will be a slow-burning scenario here,” WHO Leader in Africa Matshidiso Moeti said Thursday.
Only two African countries at the beginning of the pandemic were supplied to control the virus. Today, almost all have fundamental capacity, but materials are scarce. Some countries only have one check machine. Some control fewer than 500 checks consistent with millions of people, while richer countries abroad make thousands of checks. Samples can take days to succeed in laboratories. Even in South Africa, processing times for many verification effects were a week or more.
“We are fighting this disease in the dark,” said Stacey Mearns, an expert on the International Rescue Committee. In addition, Africa has 1,500 epidemiologists, a deficit of about 4,500.
Overall, African countries have conducted only 8.8 million tests since the start of the pandemic, well below the goal of the 13 million-million-year African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention according to the month. Countries would like to develop testing if only materials were purchased from richer suppliers elsewhere.
CDC Africa Director John Nkengasong said estimating the actual number of cases on the continent is “very difficult.” About 70% of infections are asymptomatic, he said. Africa’s young population can also be a factor. Without a dramatic increase in testing, “we don’t know much.”
But some experts make their guesses.
Africa probably has at least five million infections, said Ridhwaan Suliman, principal investigator at the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. He thinks the actual number in South Africa is at least 3 million. The country has conducted many more tests than any other in Africa, more than 3 million, however, in recent days, around 2% and 5% have tested positive. Due to scarcity, South Africa largely limits testing to fitness workers and people with symptoms.
Experts see South Africa as an indication of what it will be like elsewhere.
Sema Sgaier, an assistant professor of global fitness at Harvard and director of the Surgo Foundation, believes the number of infections in Africa can be more than nine million. The U.S.-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation estimates the number at more than 8 million. And Resolve to Save Lives, led by Tom Frieden, former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, estimates it can be only $14 million.
Amanda McClelland, senior vice president of Resolve to Save Lives, said the maximum number of people concerned are all cases, but inflamed fitness staff across Africa, now around 35,000. This affects the care of everyone on a continent whose labor shortage has been described as catastrophic.
Reflecting the diversity of the pandemic in Africa, only five countries account for 75% of the cases shown: South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana and Algeria. Nigeria may have had nearly one million cases to date if Africa’s most populous country had not acted quickly, Nkengasong said of the African CDC.
However, with inadequate evidence, others live with the concern that their loved ones may have had the virus unknowingly.
In Burkina Faso, Yaya Ouedraogo lost her uncle and cousin in April. Both were 70 years old and had a history of high blood pressure and diabetes, and both had complained of shortness of breath, fever and body pain, he said.
“They had all the symptoms of coronavirus, but in some spaces no one was investigating and they were not tested,” he said.
Who’s head for Africa said the authorities didn’t. The continent faced a “huge silent epidemic,” with thousands of undetected deaths, but claimed that cases were not reported.
“What we’d like to see, to be sure of ourselves, are higher verification rates,” Moeti told reporters last week, and criticized the “highly distorted global market” in which richer countries have the most verification equipment. the poorest perform lots of checks a day.
Moeti is also involved in a similar danger for which there is even less data: the number of deaths from diseases such as malaria, HIV and tuberculosis when resources are diverted to COVID-19.
Whatever the actual number of coronavirus deaths in Africa, a South African church has silently marked the “known” number of deaths in the country by placing white ribbons on its fence. The founders of the assignment say that each tape represents several people.
Reverend Gavin Lock already wonders what to do when the duration of the fence runs out. They may replace the color of the ribbons to make up 10 or 50 people.
“It’s a painting in progress,” he said.
___
Associated Press Sam Mednick in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, contributed to the report.