Africa’s confirmed COVID-19 cases pass 50,000 mark …WHO warns 190,000 could die if mitigation measures fail

The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across Africa rose from 49,352 from Wednesday afternoon to 51,698 as of Thursday morning, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Thursday.

Speaking to press on Thursday, John Nkengasong, Africa CDC Director, said the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across the continent had reached 51,698 as of Thursday morning.

Africa registered 2,346 new COVID-19 cases during this stated period. Nkengasong disclosed the continental disease and control prevention agency has noted the spread of the disease in 53 African countries. Lesotho has so far not reported any confirmed cases of COVID-19.

“17,590 people who have been infected with the COVID-19 have recovered across the continent as of Thursday morning, marking about 1,903 new recoveries from the center’s previous report on Wednesday afternoon.” “The number of COVID-19 cases is on an upward trend, with 14,757 new COVID-19 cases confirmed between April 30 and May 6,” said Nkengasong.

The death toll due to the COVID-19 pandemic across the African continent also surged from 1,959 on Wednesday afternoon to 2,012 as of Thursday morning, according to the Africa CDC. 

Nkengasong said West Africa has become the worst affected region over the last one week, registering around 36 per cent of COVID-19 cases across the African continent.

 “West Africa recorded 5,243 new COVID-19 cases over the last one week followed by North Africa with 4,492 COVID-19 new cases, Southern Africa with 2,557 new COVID-19 cases, Central Africa with 1,280 new COVID-19 cases and East Africa with 1,185 new COVID-19 cases respectively,” he said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday said that between 83,000 to 190,000 people in Africa could die of COVID-19 while an additional 29 to 44 million are likely to contract the disease if containment measures fail to work.

A new study conducted by WHO regional office for Africa shed light on the likely COVID-19 fatalities in the continent during the first year of the pandemic based on prediction modelling that factored demographics, social and environmental factors as well as existing disease burden. 

“While COVID-19 likely won’t spread exponentially in Africa as it has done elsewhere in the world, it likely will smoulder transmission hotspots,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa.  -Xinhua