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imago images / ZUMA Wire
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Worldwide, more than 150,000 people have died from the corona virus.
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imago images / ZUMA Wire
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In Africa it was quiet around Covid-19 for a long time. But now the virus is spreading rapidly there too.
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AFP
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Hygiene measures are lacking in many places.
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Keystone
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For this reason, experts from the UN Economic Commission for Africa (Uneca) expect 300,000 to over 3.3 million deaths in Africa, as they report in a recent report.
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The corona virus has also arrived in Africa. So far, more than 18,000 people have tested positive for the virus and around a thousand have died. This means that Africa is affected much less than other regions of the world. But: In many African countries there is a lack of hygiene to protect against the virus. In addition, some countries have hardly any staff, ventilators and intensive care beds in their hospitals.
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For this reason, experts from the UN Economic Commission for Africa (Uneca) expect 300,000 to over 3.3 million deaths in Africa, as they report in a recent report. The report relies on statistics and models from Imperial College in London.
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Many Africans cannot even wash their hands
The continent is just at the beginning of the Covid 19 pandemic and is particularly susceptible to the virus. One reason for this: Africa has the highest incidence of certain pre-existing diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV / AIDS from all continents.
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In addition, over 50 percent of the city’s population lives in slums with sometimes catastrophic hygiene conditions. Many Africans have no access to running water and soap – regular hand washing is therefore not possible.
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Social distancing is also a foreign word for many Africans: “People sometimes live in confined spaces and can hardly keep the rule of distance,” the authors write.
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Africa has only 1.8 beds per 1000 inhabitants
The biggest problem is the precarious situation in the hospitals. There are no doctors, nurses and, above all, ventilators and intensive care beds.
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According to the Medical Journal, there are two-digit number of emergency beds in hospitals in Malawi. And that for over 18 million people. Throughout Africa, there are only 1.8 beds available per thousand inhabitants. For comparison: in Switzerland there are around 4.5 beds for the same number of residents.
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Mali has five ventilators for 20 million people
The ventilators are also becoming a challenge for the continent. Without artificial respiration, the seriously ill have little chance of survival. But not only do they not meet the usual standards, they are also in short supply in many African countries: around 20 million people live in Mali – but they only have five ventilators.
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