Covid-19 induced deaths in Africa increased by 40 percent in the last month, pushing Africa’s death toll from the pandemic towards 100,000, about one year since the first reported case was on the continent on February 14, 2020.
This comes as Africa battles new, more contagious variants and gears up for its largest-ever vaccination drive, the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Africa said during a virtual press conference held on February 11.
This spike in mortality comes as Africa’s second wave of cases which struck around October last year seems to have peaked on January 6. The second wave spread much faster than the first and is far more lethal.
Overall, Africa’s Covid-19 mortality rate is 2.6 per cent, which is above the global average of about 2.2 per cent.
Overstretch health system
“The increasing deaths from Covid-19 we are seeing are tragic, but are also disturbing warning signs that health workers and health systems in Africa are dangerously overstretched. This grim milestone must refocus everyone on stamping out the virus,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.
As Covid-19 cases surged in the second wave far beyond the peak experienced in the first wave, health facilities have become overwhelmed.
Preliminary reports which WHO has received from 21 countries show that 66 percent reported inadequate critical care capacity, 24 per cent reported burnout among health workers and 15 countries reported that oxygen production, crucial for severely ill Covid-19 patients, remains insufficient.