Africa goes through worst week of Covid-19 pandemic

Nairobi, Jul 8 (EFE).- Africa recorded in the past week its worst figures since the Covid-19 pandemic began, as a third wave carries over a surge in infections for the seventh consecutive week, according to the World Health Organization.

“For Africa the worst is yet to come as the fast moving third wave continues to gain speed and new ground in countries,” said WHO regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti during a press conference Thursday.

She expressed worry over the unavailability of Covid-19 vaccines across the continent, which has only seen the arrival of 70.4 million doses, some 53.3 million of which have been used so far.

Only 1.19% of the continent’s 1.3 billion residents have been fully vaccinated, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The WHO-run COVAX facility expects to send 520 million vaccine doses this year, said COVAX managing director Aurélia Nguyen.

The distribution of doses through COVAX was halted in late March, when the Serum Institute of India, its main AstraZeneca vaccine provider, suspended exports to reinforce inoculation programmes in the Asian country.

Starting this week, the mechanism will restart shipping Covid-19 vaccines to several African countries.

The African Union has set a target of vaccinating at least 60% of its population (roughly 750 million people) by the end of 2022. EFE

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