As the coronavirus ravages the world, life in Africa flows in an almost normal way

Last week, the headline of the popular Kenyan news portal was sarcastic: “United States, 270,000. deaths, 13 million. infections, warns citizens not to travel to Kenya due to the high risk of COVID-19. “

The Washington Post reports that in nearly all of the 54 states on the continent, including those with extremely underdeveloped health care systems, fewer COVID-19-related deaths have been reported in the past nine months than in the United States on a daily basis.

The evidence on the continent is quite limited, yet these countries seem to have managed to avoid the darkest predictions. Only in a few African countries are there signs of a pandemic, such as crowded hospitals and an increase in deaths.

The World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that mortality has not changed significantly in most African countries. This has dispelled suspicions that many COVID-19 deaths are not included in the statistics, writes The Washington Post.

Data is scant so far, but experts warn that it will be difficult to explain why there are few cases of coronavirus infection in Africa.

Ngoy Nsenga, a Congolese epidemiologist and head of the WHO’s program to respond to a pandemic in Africa, says there is no single, specific response.

“Young populations, warmer climates, less time indoors, less travel, less obesity and diabetes, immunity to other diseases, even other coronaviruses. We believe that everything contributes.

But what distinguishes Africa from other countries, like Brazil, where the factors are the same but have been strongly influenced, is our human interventions, “Nsenga told the newspaper.

Sudden response

Almost all African countries closed international borders at the beginning of the pandemic, introduced local quarantines, a curfew and banned social activities such as going to bars before the first cases of infection were detected.

N. Nsenga and other experts agree that people do not wear masks very diligently and maintain a social distance, but the early introduction of masks and stricter measures has helped to effectively flatten the infection curve.

Such interventions have caused significant economic damage, yet many African governments have prevented an uncontrolled increase in cases, writes The Washington Post.

Special COVID-19 treatment centers have been closed in Ghana, Senegal and Cameroon, saying there are not enough patients.

In the capital of Cameroon, Yaoundé, a football stadium, fearing the worst, has been turned into a quarantine room. Athletes came back to it three months ago.

In Senegal, the number of treatment centers for COVID-19 patients decreased from 23 to 14.

Restaurants and nightclubs are full of people, and evening parties on the beaches have resumed.

However, health officials warn that the threat is far from gone, even if patients do not rush to hospitals.

“During the Christmas season, we will see a great movement from capitals to villages, remote areas for people to meet their families. “This could accelerate the pandemic,” John Nkengasong, director of the African Center for Disease and Control, told reporters.

Currently, between 10 and 12 thousand are detected daily in Africa. cases per day, the peak was reached in July, when around 14 thousand were detected on the continent. cases.

Ndongo Dia, director of the Laboratory for the Diagnosis of Respiratory Viral Diseases at the Pasteur Institute in Dakar, Senegal’s capital, said he was not sure why his country had managed to avoid the worst pandemic scenario.

The party reacted abruptly: it closed the borders, presented the test results in four hours and introduced a curfew.

According to N. Dios, the composition of the society also contributed to Senegal’s success.

“The number of serious cases will be much lower than in northern countries, where more older people live,” he said.

Almost 60 percent. In sub-Saharan Africa, only 3 percent are under the age of 25. – over 65 years old. It is in this age group where morbidity and death from coronavirus are the most common.

Mortality from COVID-19 is highest in South Africa, Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia, where the majority of the population is over 65 years old. Two-thirds of all African coronavirus deaths have been reported in these four countries, writes The Washington Post.

WHO’s preliminary analysis suggests that Africans are twice as likely to get sick, over 80 percent. cases on the continent – asymptomatic. This is a much higher percentage than in other parts of the world.

African epidemiologists hypothesize that Africans have better immunity to the coronavirus due to exposure to other infectious diseases, many of which are on the continent, or vaccines they receive in childhood.

“We are often exposed to insects and pathogens: malaria, typhoid, meningitis and the like. This may be different from what you have in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, ”said Yapas Boum, an epidemiologist from Cameroon.