By Bisola Adeyemo
An analysis by the World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed the high risk of coronavirus pandemic resurgence in several African countries over poor adherence to the pandemic rules.
According to the analysis, countries face a very high risk of COVID-19 resurgence.
WHO Africa Regional Office said in a statement on Thursday that risk assessment of 46 countries was conducted.
The assessment revealed that 20 face high risk of contracting COVID-19, 22 face moderate risks and only one country will face low risk.
The risk was estimated using seven indicators with data from the past four weeks, including COVID-19 cases per million people; the percentage of change in new cases; the percentage of change in new deaths; and the reproductive number (the rate at which an infection spreads).
Others are the pandemic trend; the average weekly number of tests per 10,000 people; and the percentage of the population that has received at least one vaccine dose, the Nation reports.
With more than 4.5 million confirmed cases and over 120,000 deaths to date, the continent has not experienced a surge in cases since January and the epidemic curve has plateaued for six weeks, WHO said.
However, it noted, the relatively low number of cases has encouraged complacency and there are signs of reduced observance of preventive measures.
“We cannot be lulled into a false sense of security. The devastating surge of cases and deaths in India, and increases in other regions of the world, are clear signs that the pandemic is not yet over in African countries. A new upsurge of COVID-19 infections is a real risk in many countries even if the region’s case count in recent weeks appears to be stable,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.
