Current State of COVID-19 Pandemic in Africa: Lessons for Today and the Future

Abstract

This study is a cross-sectional, observational analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa, to understand the progression of the disease across the continent. Published data on COVID-19 from 20 January 2020 to 21 June 2021 were obtained and analyzed. Case fatality ratios, as well as case growth rates and other indices were computed. On 21 June 2021, a total of 178,210,532 confirmed cases and 3,865,978 deaths had been recorded worldwide. While the Americas recorded the highest number of cases, Southern Africa recorded the majority of African cases. Fatality rate since from 20 February 2020 to 21 June 2021 was highest in the Americas (2.63%) and low in the South Eastern Asia region (1.39%), globally increasing from 2.17% at the end of January to 6.36% in May 2020 and decreasing to a range between 2.14% to 2.30% since January 2021. In Africa, the infection rate per 100,000 persons was up to 3090.18, while deaths per 100,000 and case fatality ratio were as high as 119.64 and 5.72%, respectively, among the 20 most-affected countries. The testing rate per million population was highest in Botswana (512,547.08). Fatality appears to be increasing in some regions of Africa. The rate of infection and fatality in Africa could still likely take an upward turn. Strict control measures are required, considering the continent’s weak healthcare systems.

A Study of Morbidity and Mortality from COVID-19 in India

“…The globalized view by WHO regions could be extracted from Figure 3 time series plot illustrates the outbreak waves showing major peaks with time. It could be deduced that the west pacific and African followed by East Mediterranean regions were much less in magnitude compared with American, European and Southeast Asian countries [34,44]. This observation confirms the previous finding of the major focus group for the main contributing nations in the Coronavirus morbidities and mortalities [43].…”

Health System- and Patient-Related Factors Associated with COVID-19 Mortality among Hospitalized Patients in Limpopo Province of South Africa’s Public Hospitals

“…The following extracts support the findings: The extract indicates that emergency health care providers could not give timely treatment due to an unprepared emergency trolley and lack of equipment. The poor supply of resources was also reported in several studies in African countries [2,3]. Furthermore, it was reported that these led to delays in treatment and reporting of COVID-19 patients.…”

“…The African continent has recorded the least COVID-19 mortality, with around 170,942 deaths [ 1 ]. Several authors have linked the least amount of death in African countries with under-reporting due to poor health systems and patients’ health-seeking behaviors [ 2 , 3 ], making the use of clinical audit more relevant. South Africa has recorded the highest morbidity and mortality compared to other African regions [ 1 , 4 ].…”

Evolving trend change during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Approximately 3.4 billion tests were performed globally from December 2019 to August 2021, most of which were restricted to high-income countries, which conducted more SARS-CoV-2 testing (i.e., USA: 192%, Australia: 146%, Switzerland: 124%, and Canada: 113%) compared to that undertaken in low-income countries (LICs; i.e., Bangladesh: 6%, Uganda: 4% and Nigeria: 1%) ( 20 ). Furthermore, several other factors, such as the fragile healthcare system, relatively low population density, low obesity or diabetes burden, younger population, climate, genetics, and lessons from the public health response to other deadly infectious diseases (e.g., Ebola virus) are correlated with the lower case and death rates observed in Africa ( 21 – 23 ). Given the selective advantage offered by malaria through a wide distribution of blood group O in Africa, the enormous spread of the angiotensin-converting enzyme II (ACE2) deletion among many African ethnic groups might have reduced COVID-19 susceptibility in Africans ( 24 ).…”