New Delhi (NVI): The total confirmed cases in Africa have surpassed the 1 million mark, according to health authorities on the continent. Experts have noted that the actual number could be bigger due to a lack of comprehensive testing across Africa.
Confirmed Covid cases in African countries have risen fivefold in the past two months and more than doubled in July, reports The Guardian.
Africa’s condition is alarming as the deadly infection can lead to a manifold disaster, with the already poor population in the continent struggling for food and proper healthcare.
Apart from that, the frail healthcare systems will be overwhelmed as the virus hits populations already weakened by poor diet or other illnesses, reports the Guardian.
More than 7,00,000 have recovered from the disease so far, and 22,000 have died, according to the African Union’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There are widespread concerns that official figures represent only a fraction of the casualties of Covid-19 on the continent.
The WHO has warned that the figure provided by the African government officials could be “the tip of the iceberg”, adding that the true total is 10 or even 100 times higher.
WHO has also called the milestone as a “pivotal point” in Africa as infections in several countries are surging. The global health body had recently said in a press briefing that the countries that faced the worst surge in Covid numbers and then showed a decline are now again witnessing a fresh surge in the positive coronavirus cases.
According to the African Union (AU) body dealing with the pandemic, “Aggressive and bold” action is needed as Africa’s coronavirus cases pass the one-million mark.
-ARK
