Second Wave Brings Hope, Fear, Grim Milestone

ADF STAFF

Two days in mid-February exemplified the highs and lows of Africa’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just after health ministers and global leaders announced the rapid rollout of the continent’s biggest immunization drive in history, COVID-19 deaths in Africa surpassed 100,000.

It was a grim reminder of the tragic toll the disease has taken.

“February 14 marks one year since the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Africa,” World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said in a February 11 press conference. “The increasing deaths from COVID-19 are a tragic warning that health workers and health systems in many countries are dangerously overstretched.”

New, more-infectious variants of the disease are fueling the rising death rates.

Variant B.1.351, first identified in South Africa, has been found in at least nine countries on the continent, and United Kingdom variant B.1.1.7 has been found in at least six African countries.

South Africa, by far the hardest-hit country with more than 50,000 deaths, is mobilizing the continent’s largest vaccination campaign.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a March 1 televised address that more than 67,000 health workers were inoculated in the first 10 days of the program’s first stage.

But South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize warned that  falling case numbers followed by relaxed restrictions are leading to rising case numbers.

“We are all concerned about the possibility of a third wave or resurgence after Easter,” he said during a vaccine panel discussion.

Across the continent, that same race to fight off surging infections with vaccines is just getting underway.

COVAX, the global initiative that plans to deliver almost 2 billion free doses to more than 140 low- and middle-income countries by the end of 2021, sent its first deliveries to Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire on February 24 and 26, respectively.

Thirty-five of Africa’s 54 countries are eligible to participate in the program.

In other developments:

• Nigeria: Africa’s most populous nation received nearly 4 million COVAX doses on March 2 amid concerns that many infections have been undetected. A recent study of COVID-19 antibodies estimated that 4 million people have had the virus in Lagos State alone — more than the confirmed cases for the entire continent.
• Somalia: On March 1, the mayor of Mogadishu made masks mandatory in public as the country’s caseload jumped from just below 5,000 through January to more than 7,300 through February.
• Zimbabwe: The nation struggled as public and private hospitals filled to capacity with COVID-19 cases in February. While the country is in the throes of its worst economic crisis in decades, a shortage of therapeutics, oxygen and ventilators is leading to reports of higher community deaths outside of hospitals.

On March 2, COVAX also delivered 1.7 million doses to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 600,000 doses to Angola and 37,000 to The Gambia.

Vaccines save lives and bring hope, but WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the battle to quell the pandemic still has a long way to go.

“If countries rely solely on vaccines, they’re making a mistake,” he said in a March 1 press conference. “Basic public health measures remain the foundation of the response.

“This is a global crisis that requires a consistent and coordinated global response.”