The Africa Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention is warning countries against laxity in the fight against COVID-19, adding that prevention measures must be upheld to prevent succumbing to another wave.
South Africa is registering high COVID-19 infections compared to other countries in Africa.
Africa has so far recorded over 11.3 million cases of the virus as the Omicron variant continues to drive further infections.
The Africa CDC says in the past week alone, South Africa has registered over 9 000 cases, out of over 16 500 new cases recorded across the continent. Other countries with high infection numbers include Zambia, Seychelles, Egypt and Tunisia.
Director for the Africa CDC Dr John Nkengasong says relaxation of COVID-19 measures in parts of Africa should not make people forget to protect themselves.
“We cannot be complacent; we are still in the pandemic. This virus tends to lure you into a false sense of complacency and then comes back. We have seen this over and over. This is a period to increase our vaccination, the virus is not gone”.
Dr Nkengasong says ongoing scientific research globally to find treatment for the virus brings hope to the fight against the pandemic, but warns that drugs alone will not eliminate it
“We should focus on three things: increased surveillance – increased testing, scaling up of vaccines and making sure we have treatment with those drugs available. You do not eliminate these infections by just focusing on one.”
COVID -19 vaccinations in Africa remains low.
Only 16.3 % of the continent’s population has received vaccines. Eritrea remains the only country in the continent that is yet to start the COVID-19 vaccine roll out
