Africa's COVID Outbreak Still to Be Seen

According to NBC News, most African countries have fared significantly better than other parts of the world when it comes to the coronavirus. For example, in Uganda, it was predicted that by September 2020, there would be 600,000 cases of COVID-19 and 30,000 deaths. However, Uganda has 7,530 reported COVID-19 cases and 73 deaths.

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO's regional director for Africa, believes part of Africa’s success is due to measures enacted early in the pandemic to restrict people's movements and slow transmissions within communities. Another theory is that some African countries are better equipped to respond to infectious disease outbreaks because of their experience from Ebola and other diseases. A third theory has to do with demographics. Experts have cited a youthful population as the best explanation for Africa's relatively low infection rates. The average age on the continent is roughly half that in Europe. Tim Bromfield, regional director of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, stated: "Age is the highest risk factor. Africa's young population protects it.”

However, the Africa Centres for Disease Control (CDC) warns that Africa is not out of the woods yet. The CDC's John Nkengasong said: "I don't think we are over the first wave yet; we have not yet hit the bottom at all.” There are still some countries seeing rising case numbers. The North Africa region recorded a 14 percent increase in cases over the past four weeks. Morocco has been experiencing an increase in new cases and had the highest number of new cases on the continent over the past week.

Death rates related to COVID-19 in Africa have been far lower than originally predicted. However, the Africa Centres for Disease Control is warning that the peak of virus infections may still be coming for Africa.