More than six million cases of COVID-19 have been officially identified in Africa since the start of the pandemic, currently rebounding on the continent with a record average number of contaminations, according to an AFP count from official reports Tuesday at 2:15 p.m.
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6,009,854 cases have been officially recorded since the discovery of the virus in December 2019 in China in the 54 countries and territories of the region. The number of new cases identified is increasing – more than 41,400 per day on average, + 13% over a week – a level never before reached on the African continent.
The total number of cases diagnosed, however, reflects only a fraction of the actual number of infections worldwide, with testing policies differing from country to country. In Africa, more than elsewhere, these statistics are underestimated for lack of sufficient screening capacity.
The number of new infections has started to rise again since mid-May in Africa. Libya is the country where the epidemic is accelerating the most (+ 260%, 1,560 new cases per day on average) currently in the world, among the countries having recorded at least 1,000 daily infections during the past week.
It is followed continent-wide by Mozambique (+ 77%, 1,380 new cases per day on average) and Morocco (+ 70%, 1,190 new cases per day on average).
In total number of contaminations detected, South Africa is the most affected country (2,219,316 cases) and still deplores 45% of new cases diagnosed on the continent every day.
But this number of new daily infections has been falling for a few days in the country (-6%, 18,340 cases per day on average), which recorded its largest wave of coronavirus between July 2 and 8 (19,956 cases per day in average).
After South Africa, Tunisia is the second country on the continent recording the most new contaminations (7,820 cases per day on average, + 47%). With a strong presence in the country of the Delta variant, very contagious, “the health situation is serious and all the indicators are in the red”, warned in an interview with AFP the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO ), which highlights the need to bring aid and vaccines to the country.
In general, Africa suffers from the very unequal distribution of vaccine doses around the world. Only 3.9 doses were administered in the countries of the continent per 100 inhabitants, the lowest rate, which reaches 71.74 doses in Europe, according to a count made by AFP from official sources.
Globally, the pandemic is declining only in Latin America and the Caribbean (-7% compared to the previous week), while it is progressing again in Europe (+ 25%), in the Middle East (+ 22% ), Asia (+ 17%) and the United States (+ 97%).
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