Africa is unprepared in the face of an imminent outbreak of a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the continent, the World Health Organisation, WHO has warned.
The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, who gave the warning during the weekly online press conference, worried that bottlenecks in vaccine deliveries and a lack of key resources in frontline care, were pointers that Africa was not ready, even as she called for better equipment for the hospital and medical staff.
“Many African hospitals and clinics are still far from ready to cope with a huge rise in critically ill patients. The threat of a third wave in Africa is real and rising. Treatment is the last line of defence against this virus and we cannot let it be breached.”
She warned that African countries must urgently boost critical care capacity to prevent health facilities from being overwhelmed. even as vaccine shipments grind to a near halt.
“While many countries outside Africa have now vaccinated their high-priority groups and are able to even consider vaccinating their children, African countries are unable to even follow up with second doses for high-risk groups. I’m urging countries that have reached a significant vaccination coverage to release doses and keep the most vulnerable Africans out of critical care,” she stated.
According to WHO, Africa has officially registered over 4.8 million COVID-19 cases and 130,000 deaths, representing 2.9 percent of global cases and 3.7 percent of deaths.