COVID-19: ‘Africa could be next epicentre’ – WHO warns

The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that Africa could become the next epicentre of the Coronavirus outbreak.

The organization stated that the continent does not have enough ventilators to deal with the pandemic and there was a sharp rise in cases in the past weeks.

”There have been almost 1,000 deaths and more than 18,000 infections across Africa so far, although these rates are far lower than those seen in parts of Europe and the US but the virus appears to be spreading away from African capitals,” WHO added.

The organization’s Africa Director, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, told the BBC that the organization had witnessed the virus spreading from capital cities to “the hinterland,” in South Africa, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Ghana.

She said they were focusing on prevention rather than treating the virus because African countries don’t have the capacity to treat many Coronavirus patients.

Moeti said, “We want to minimize the proportion of people who get to the point of needing critical care in an ICU, because we know that these types of facilities are not adequate by any means in the majority of African countries.”

“I have to say the issue of ventilators is one of the biggest challenges that the countries are facing.

”For patients critically ill with COVID-19, access to a ventilator could be a matter of life or death,” she added.

Recall that one of the first recorded deaths from Coronavirus in Africa was a Zimbabwean journalist, Zororo Makamba who died in March.