Monday, 21 September 2020 _The number of coronavirus infections on the Africa Continent has kept dropping for weeks, according to data recently published by World Health Organization (WHO).
In its report published on Sept.16, the WHO noted that there had been a 14 percent decrease in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the African region compared to the last reporting period. And 83 percent of the confirmed cases on the continent have recovered, according to WHO data.
In early September, the Africa Centers for Disease Control (African CDC) also reported a drop in coronavirus cases across the continent.
However, scientists warn that it might be too early to celebrate. They believe the true scale of the pandemic may be hidden because of inadequate testing.
Ten countries, namely South Africa, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Algeria, Ghana, Kenya, Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Madagascar and Senegal account for 87 percent of Africa's COVID-19 cases. South Africa alone accounts for more than half of the cases.
For example, in South Africa, daily reported numbers and hospital admissions have been falling even as the country moves to test only those who show symptoms.
Meanwhile in Kenya, the number of reported cases have been dropping for three weeks after the country changed its testing strategy to focus on higher-risk groups only.
Africa has registered over 1.1 million confirmed COVID-19 cases with more than 824,000 recoveries and over 25,000 deaths cumulatively.
The WHO believes that inconsistent testing strategies could make a full interpretation of the African case numbers difficult.
And only when the cases continue to decline even as testing is scaled up, will the continent be able to gauge whether the curve is truly being flattened.
Source: Reuters
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