Age and climate are considered to be behind low cases in Africa

Africa News for Friday, September 25, 2020

Source: bbc.com

2020-09-25

Younger, less dense populations and hot, humid climates are cited as key reasons why Africa has escaped a surge in coronavirus cases.

While Europe and America are battling high numbers of cases, infections have been declining in many African countries.

In addition to the social and environmental factors in favor of the continent, the World Health Organization praised the “decisive” action of the African nations.

Some countries, however, continue to see increases in cases.

According to the WHO, in the last four weeks in Africa 77,147 cases were registered, compared to 131,647 in the previous four weeks.

“Africa has not witnessed an exponential spread of Covid-19 as many initially feared,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

“The downward trend we have seen in Africa over the past two months is certainly a positive development and speaks to the strong and decisive public health measures taken by the governments of the region,” he said.

In a statement, the WHO said that “a combination of socio-ecological factors such as low population density and mobility, hot and humid climate, a younger age group interacting to accentuate their individual effects” were more likely to be behind the slope.

The latest counts show that nearly 1.5 million people in Africa have been confirmed to contract the coronavirus, with around 35,000 deaths.

The United States, the most affected country in the world, has had almost seven million cases and more than 200,000 deaths.

Low levels of testing remain a concern in Africa, with a handful of countries responsible for most of the testing that is done.

The WHO urges African countries to maintain public health measures and warns against complacency, with Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon countering the trend by seeing a slight increase in cases.