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Africa's 2nd Pandemic Wave Sees Higher Death Rates, Vaccine Delays

Anita Powell

   JOHANNESBURG - As African nations wait for hundreds of millions of
   COVID-19 vaccine doses to arrive, health officials are concerned about
   a general rise in coronavirus cases and deaths, especially in Southern
   Africa.
   The stories, reported in local media and highlighted by aid groups, are
   chilling. In the tiny kingdom of eSwatini, medical aid group Doctors
   Without Borders says health facilities are seeing 200 new cases per day
   and a death rate four times higher than they saw in the first wave.
   In the coastal nation of Mozambique, case numbers are nearly seven
   times higher than they were at the peak of the first wave in 2020.
   And in the landlocked nation of Malawi, the poorest country in Southern
   Africa, new cases are doubling every four to five days, and the
   nation's main COVID-19 facility is nearly full.
   Dr. John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and
   Prevention, tried to break down the continent's trajectory as many
   nations enter a second wave without enough vaccine supplies.
   He said one indicator worth noting is that for about a third of the
   continent's countries, the death rate has risen above the global
   average.
   "It used to be the reverse," he told reporters via teleconference on
   Thursday. "During the first wave, the case fatality rate was about
   2.2%, and now we are seeing 2.6%. In terms of the number of countries
   experiencing the second wave, 41 of them are currently experiencing the
   second wave on the continent. That is 41 of the 55 member states. Five
   countries accounted for about 70%."
   Those countries are South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Ethiopia.

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