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Next Few Weeks Critical in Africa's COVID-19 Fight, Experts Say

Anita Powell

   JOHANNESBURG - As cases rise and more countries order lockdowns,
   Africa's experience with the coronavirus depends on what happens over
   the next month, said the director of the continent's Africa Centers for
   Disease Control and Prevention.
   "And why is that so? Because we expect that by the third to fourth week
   from now, the virus will begin to seed into different communities, or
   sub-communities. For example, the most vulnerable populations in slums
   around capital cities, or even expand to remote areas. And then we'll
   begin to understand how severe this pandemic will be," Dr. John
   Nkengasong told journalists during a virtual press briefing on
   Thursday.
   Lockdowns have been declared across the continent as cases mount,
   including in South Africa, Botswana, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Uganda,
   Mauritius, and some cities in Madagascar, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and the
   Democratic Republic of Congo. Other countries have imposed travel
   restrictions and other regulations aimed at stopping the virus from
   spreading.
   Dr. Meredith McMorrow, a medical officer in the U.S. Centers for
   Disease Control and Prevention's Influenza Division, said what citizens
   do next is critical.
   U.S. health officials are advising African governments on handling the
   pandemic, as cases soar over 180,000 in the United States amid the
   prospect that the nation could see 100,000 to 240,000 deaths over the
   next two months, despite social distancing.

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