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- The spread of the new coronavirus remains high throughout the world, except in Africa.
- Africa is doing better than any other continent, both in terms of the number of cases and the number of deaths.
- Scientists cannot explain why the region has not seen massive outbreaks like other continents, but they have a theory that could explain the evolution of the local coronavirus outbreak.
- Previous infections with human coronaviruses that cause the common cold could have provided additional protection against COVID-19 to African nations compared to other countries. The hypothesis has not yet been verified with scientific data.
The new coronavirus has infected more than 26.35 million people, with just four countries accounting for more than 15 million cases. They are the United States, Brazil, India and Russia, the same four that have been at the top for months. The United States shocked the world when it rose to first place in multiple COVID-19 statistics, both by the total number of confirmed cases and the number of deaths. Since then, no other country has surpassed the United States.
But scientists studying the pandemic have also identified another surprise from the pandemic. Some expected the African continent to be hit hardest by the virus, but that was not the case. South Africa stands out in terms of total number of cases, with almost 631,000 infections. But fewer than 15,000 people have died from COVID-19. These figures baffle scientists seeking to understand how the virus behaves and how it can be defeated.
The hypothesis that poverty should have a significant impact on the spread of the virus does not hold up when it comes to the entire African continent. Developing countries like Brazil and India showed that the virus could not be contained once it reached densely populated but poor neighborhoods.
Experts expected the same to happen in Africa, but it was not. If anything, Africa is doing better than any other continent, both in terms of cases and victims. How BBC news He explains, even if those numbers aren’t reported significantly, Africa still has it much better than other continents right now.
“I thought we were heading for a disaster, a total collapse,” said Professor Shabir Madhi. BBC news. The country’s top virologist echoed what others must have thought about the African coronavirus outbreak. But South Africa’s death rate is almost seven times lower than that of the UK.
Salim Abdool Karim, head of the country’s COVID-19 response team, said BBC that “most African countries do not have a peak”, which is surprising. “I do not understand why. I am completely at sea, ”he added.
He explained that factors such as population density would be a critical factor favoring the rapid spread of the disease within the African continent. Overcrowding in poverty-stricken areas makes social distancing almost impossible and that increases the risk of the spread of COVID-19.
One hypothesis that can explain the disparity between Africa and other continents refers to the general age of the population. In general, the population of Africa is younger than in the regions most affected by COVID-19.
Another hypothesis will be familiar to those who have been closely following the developments of the coronavirus. Some researchers have shown that other human coronaviruses that cause common colds can elicit an immune response that could provide protection against COVID-19. The South African researchers got to work on that idea, trying to analyze five-year-old blood samples that were preserved from a flu vaccine trial in Soweto. The plan was to look for any evidence that would explain why the African continent is doing much better than others against the disease. Those samples were compromised by technical problems that ended the investigation.
But the idea remains. The same crowded neighborhoods that would lead to the rapid spread of other coronaviruses may have protected the population from SARS-CoV-2.
“It is a hypothesis. Some level of pre-existing cross-protective immunity … could explain why the epidemic did not develop [the way it did in other parts of the world]”Mahdi said. “Protection could be much more intense in densely populated areas, in African settings. Could explain why most [on the continent] has mild or asymptomatic infections. “
“I can’t think of anything else that explains the number of completely asymptomatic people we are seeing. The numbers are completely incredible, ”he said.
But if that hypothesis is true, why have Brazil and India seen massive increases in COVID-19 in recent months? Karim warned that even considering the evolution of the pandemic on the continent so far, Africa is not out of the woods. “I’m not sure if the epidemic will ever spread like crazy,” he said.
Chris Smith began writing about gadgets as a hobby, and before he knew it, he shared his views on technology with readers around the world. Whenever he doesn’t write about gadgets, he miserably fails to stay away from them, though he desperately tries. But that is not necessarily a bad thing.
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