Incident manager for COVID-19 response at the WHO’s regional office for Africa Dr Ann Fortin says the biggest threat facing the fight against the pandemic is misinformation about the vaccines. She adds and that the shortages of vaccinations on the continent add to the threat.
She also says while the world has identified four variants of the COVID-19 virus, the Alpha, Beta and Delta variants are of most concern in Africa.
She adds that the Delta variant is definitely the most worrisome as it is easily transmissible.
Dr Fortin gives an update on COVID-19 in Africa:
Dr Fortin also adds that the current vaccines being administered around the world and the continent have efficacy for all the variants that have been detected.
“They [the vaccines] decrease hospitalisation, they decrease deaths, they decrease the severe critical level of the disease. Of course, the [Delta]variant is worrisome because they are more transmissible and currently we think the Delta variant will take over in every country.”
Dr Fortin says the WHO is keeping tabs on possible new variants of the COVID-19 virus by using genome sequencing to check if there is a variant that can cause more severe disease.
