At Dalal Jamm hospital in Dakar, only the whooshing sound of a ventilator and beeps from a monitor indicated that the pregnant COVID-19 patient in the intensive care bed was still alive.
A few cubicles down, another woman was on oxygen after giving birth while sick with the coronavirus as a third wave threatened to overwhelm Senegal’s hospitals and some of its cemeteries.
“As soon as one leaves intensive care, either discharged or sadly dead, our treatment centre suggests another patient,” said Doctor Khady Fall, standing in the ward in full PPE.
“We are emotionally exhausted.”
The West African nation is not alone. Coronavirus-related deaths in Africa reached a record peak in the week that ended on Aug. 1, partly spurred by the highly transmissible Delta variant, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.
“Africa is still on the crest of the third wave, still recording more cases than in any earlier peak,” WHO Africa official Phionah Atuhebwe told a press conference.
A short drive from the hospital in Dakar, grave-diggers at a Catholic cemetery have had to work into the night to keep up with the number of burials.
The manager of a Muslim cemetery in Yoff district, Ibrahima Diassy, flipped anxiously through a hard-bound register that had logged an average of 30 burials per day compared with 20 before the latest COVID-19 surge.
Before the pandemic, the cemetery hosted just 10 funerals each day. “It’s really unbelievable,” Diassy said.
WHO, Africa CDC oppose planned booster shots by developed nations
There is growing criticism over developed nations’ intentions to administer booster COVID-19 vaccines while the low-middle-income countries continue to battle accessing the first doses. Countries like France and the United States of America have already indicated their plans for rolling out additional shots for their citizens. In Africa, less than 2% of the population has been vaccinated – a clear indication that the target of vaccinating at least 10% by September will not be reached. The World Health Organisation and the Africa Centre for Disease Control vehemently oppose the planned booster shots.
