WHO: Third Covid-19 wave in Africa appears to be stabilizing

The World Health Organization on Thursday said  that the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa appears to be stabilizing. 

The organization however noted that infection numbers are still very high as in the past week alone almost 248,000 new cases were reported. 

According to WHO Africa Regional Director Matshidiso Moeti, 24 countries were seeing a resurgence of infections and that there was an increase of fatalities in eight countries.

“This is a preventable tragedy if African countries can get fair access to the vaccines,” Moeti said during a virtual briefing on the status of the pandemic in Africa. 

She noted that the good news was that in the past week, 13 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines were administered, adding that many of the doses came from donations and sharing arrangements through the WHO-administered COVAX vaccine cooperative.

Moeti pointed out that 151 million doses will be needed to meet the goal of having at least 10 percent of the continent vaccinated by the end of September. 117 million doses are due to arrive in Africa in the coming month.

“With international solidarity we can protect those at highest risk of COVID-19 in all countries in the world,” the WHO Africa Director affirmed. 

Moeti advised that in order to get vaccines into the arms of our populations, no precious doses should be wasted so African governments should ensure that staffing and financial resources are available when shots arrive.