According to the World Health Organization, Africa is experiencing an increase in COVID-19 infections, which is mostly due to a doubling in cases recorded in South Africa.
On Thursday Benido Impouma, director of the WHO’s Africa office’s communicable and non-communicable diseases division, said “this week, new COVID-19 cases and deaths on the continent increased for the first time after a decline of more than two months for cases and one month for deaths.”
Impouma added, “this uptick is largely associated with the increasing number of cases reported from South Africa as the country enters its winter season when respiratory illnesses become more prevalent.”
Africa has seen a drop in COVID cases, with the WHO announcing earlier this month that weekly infections on the continent had been down for the longest time since the epidemic began.
However, cases began to increase last week in South Africa, the nation with the highest number of infections and fatalities in Africa to date, and health officials there are looking for indications of a fifth infection surge.
Impouma of the WHO stated, “just in the last week the country’s (South Africa’s) cases have doubled, and there is a small increase in hospitalisations. Although the Omicron variant continues to mutate, there is no current evidence to suggest that this new upsurge is linked to any new sub-lineages or a new variant.”
SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES
