The World Health Organization has warned that the novel coronavirus could kill between 83,000 and 190,000 people in Africa in the first year and infect between 29 million and 44 million in the first year if it is not contained.
According to the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, “While COVID-19 likely won’t spread as exponentially in Africa as it has elsewhere in the world, it likely will smolder in transmission hotspots.
“COVID-19 could become a fixture in our lives for the next several years unless a proactive approach is taken by many governments in the region. We need to test, trace, isolate, and treat.”
The WHO predicted that between 29 million to 44 million Africans could be infected in the first year. As many as 5.5 million of these people could require hospital treatment, a number that would overwhelm the medical capacity of most places on the continent.
A survey done in March of health services in Africa found an average of nine intensive care unit beds per 1 million people in 47 African countries.
The WHO said These would be woefully inadequate.”
