President Cyril Ramaphosa, in his capacity as Chairperson of the African Union (AU), has urged African leaders to take necessary precautions to prevent a resurgence of COVID-19 infections that could lead to a second wave.
Ramaphosa says this could necessitate the need for countries to revert to stricter lockdown regulations.
The President made the call during the second mid-year coordination meeting of the African Union, the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and Regional Mechanisms (RMs).
With the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) set to come into effect next year, he has called on countries to ensure all mechanisms be put in place to pave the way for its implementation.
Africa has over 1.6 million confirmed coronavirus cases with more than 1.3 million recoveries and more than 40 000 COVID19-related deaths.
South Africa registers the most cases and deaths on the continent.
Below is Africa’s latest COVID-19 stats:
Resurgence in COVID-19
On Sunday, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that Africa is experiencing a resurgence in COVID-19 infections as countries relax their restrictions.
According to the WHO Africa Regional Director Matshidiso Moeti, the number of new daily confirmed cases overall has started rising after slowing since mid-July, with a “substantial rise in deaths” confirmed over the past week.
However, the Africa Centre for Diseases Controls’ John Nkengasong says the rise in numbers of reported deaths could also be due to an improvement in African countries’ ability to document deaths from coronavirus.
The video below is an interview with Technical officer for the WHO Regional Office for Africa, Dr Mary Stephen:
