Mbabane: Cases of Covid-19 have dropped significantly in Africa and deaths are declining for the first time since the Omicron-dominated fourth wave of the virus reached its peak, the UN said on Thursday.
The 56-day flareup has been described as Africa’s “shortest upsurge yet,” the World Health Organization’s African regional office said newly reported cases fell by 20 percent in the week to Sunday, while notified deaths dropped by eight percent. In a statement issued after a weekly press briefing, the office also said South Africa, where the Omicron variant was first detected, had seen cases trending downward over the past four weeks.
Only North Africa reported an increase in cases last week, “with a 55% spike”, it said.
Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, warned, however: “The continent has yet to turn the tables on this pandemic. So long as the virus continues to circulate, further pandemic waves are inevitable.”
Meanwhile, Eswatini has recorded a single death and a total of 28 positive Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours. There have also been 78 new recoveries. Currently, deaths stand at 1 366, While the confirmed cases to date stand at 68 003.
A statement from Eswatini’s Ministry of Health indicates that the “number of active cases is 537 while the total of admissions is 27. There are 315 678 fully vaccinated emaSwati to date, which is 27.2 percent of the total population.”
Only 10 percent of the African population are fully vaccinated, according to the WHO.
The continent, with a population of 1.2 billion, has been relatively unscathed by the pandemic, reporting 234,913 deaths from 10.5 million cases.
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