COVID 19 Death Rate on the Rise in Africa

• The Director-General of the WHO, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus has announced that COVID 19 death rate is on the rise in Africa

• The DG revealed that while global new cases were decreasing, the death in Africa did not decline quickly

• The rise of the more transmissible variants of the virus has increased the mortality rate of the continent among seriously ill patients

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has reported that COVID cases have been on the decline globally for the past 7 weeks.

Despite this being the longest sequence of decline since the rise of the virus, Africa’s case is the reverse.

The Director-General of WHO Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus has reported that Africa’s COVID cases have increased in the same time.

In his speech, Dr Ghebreyesus stated that weekly COVID cases were at their lowest but the death rate did not decline.

According to the DG, this was likely triggered by the spread of more transmissible variants of the virus in the continent.

Dr Ghebreyesus stated that the situation is worrying for Africa since it is the region with the least access to vaccines.

A study by Lancet has shown that Africa has the highest COVID 19 death rate among critically ill people.

The DG however pointed out during the recent G7 summit that there is a global target of vaccinating at least 70% of the world’s population by 2022.

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The rising infection rate and death rate is a cause for concern for Africa since it has the lowest vaccination rate globally.

Only 2.8% of Africa’s population has received the vaccine once, compared to the 14.5% average globally.