Earlier this year, when the first reports of the coronavirus started to come out of China, global health officials said they were very worried about what would happen if the virus started spreading in Africa, where many health systems are already struggling.
Well, now the coronavirus is spreading in Africa. So far the number of reported cases keep on rising with about 34 African countries currently with recorded cases. Government continue to roll out increasingly robust measures to halt the spread and to contain the pandemic which has claimed a number of lives. As of now, African cases have passed 1,400; with Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Ghana recording deaths. Ghana, Nigeria and Zimbabwe all recorded marginal increases today. Ghana now stands at 52, Nigeria at 40 and Zimbabwe confirming its second case. Dr Congo also reported two cases. South Africa is the only country with more than 200 cases and due to that the country will enforce a three-week lockdown over coronavirus, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Monday. Ramaphosa said the 21-days lockdown will begin at midnight on Thursday. According to a statement, South Africa has so far conducted 9,315 tests, of which 274 turned out positive and 9,041 negative. Mozambique and Botswana are the new African Countries to record their first cases of covid-19.
Nonetheless, many countries in Africa are responding aggressively to the pandemic. Schools were ordered closed in the Nigerian capital of Lagos after only eight cases were confirmed nationwide. Last week South Africa banned visitors from high-risk countries, closed down schools and quickly opened drive-through testing centres in Johannesburg. Ghana also closed all its borders on Sunday from midnight on and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has commenced the spraying and disinfecting of 137 markets in the Greater Accra Region on Monday to help moderate further cases of the pandemic in the country. Botswana and Zambia who are virus-free have announced a series of measures similar to what most African countries have in place.
Regional experts say a widespread pandemic in Africa could cripple the continent’s fragile health-care systems and be devastating economically. The pandemic could also be difficult to contain while foreign donor nations that traditionally assist the continent in such crises are overwhelmed with their own outbreaks.
Research and content creation team: Finesser Sintim, Saviour Kofi Avornyo, Osman Abubakari-Sadiq, Jerry John Campbell.
