Africa sees slim rise in COVID-19 cases, vaccination rate still abysmal

By Addis Getachew

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AA) – A small increase of 1% was recorded in coronavirus cases across Africa, while the number of deaths fell slightly, according to latest data shared by the Africa CDC on Thursday.

There were 32,000 cases recorded on the continent between Oct. 25 and Oct. 31, a rise of 1% from the previous week, John Nkengasong, head of the Africa CDC, said at a news briefing.

“The highest proportion of new cases was from North Africa with 44%, followed by East Africa at 17%, Southern Africa 16%, Central Africa 14%, and West Africa with 9%,” he said.

“A total of 1,277 new deaths were reported compared to 1,300 during the previous week,” he added.

Nkengasong said 46 African countries are still in the grip of a third COVID-19 wave, while seven others – Algeria, Benin, Egypt, Somalia, Tunisia, Mauritius and Kenya – are battling a fourth wave.

In terms of variants, 45 countries have reported cases of the Alpha strain, 41 have the Beta variant and 42 have confirmed the presence of the Delta strain, the official said.

According to latest Africa CDC data, the total number of infections on the continent is now over 8,506,000, including nearly 218,800 deaths and around 7,910,500 recoveries.

Some 276.2 million vaccine doses have been supplied to African countries so far, of which 197.8 million doses have been administered.

Just 5.88% of Africa’s population of over 1.3 billion has been fully vaccinated, with 8.90% having received at least one dose, the data showed.