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Circumstances of Covid have plummeted in Africa and deaths are declining for the primary time for the reason that Omicron-dominated fourth wave of the virus reached its peak, the UN mentioned Thursday.
Describing the 56-day flareup as Africa’s “shortest upsurge but,” the World Well being Group’s African regional workplace mentioned newly reported circumstances fell by 20 p.c within the week to Sunday, whereas notified deaths dropped by eight p.c.
In an announcement issued after a weekly press briefing, the workplace additionally mentioned South Africa, the place the Omicron variant was first detected, had seen circumstances trending downward over the previous 4 weeks.
Solely North Africa reported a rise in circumstances final week, “with a 55 p.c spike”, it mentioned.
Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, warned nevertheless: “The continent has but to show the tables on this pandemic. As long as the virus continues to flow into, additional pandemic waves are inevitable.”
She mentioned the world’s poorest continent ought to “not solely broaden vaccinations, but in addition acquire elevated and equitable entry to essential Covid-19 therapeutics to avoid wasting lives and successfully fight this pandemic.”
Solely 10 p.c of the African inhabitants are absolutely vaccinated, in accordance with the WHO.
The continent, with a inhabitants of 1.2 billion, has been comparatively unscathed by the pandemic, reporting 234,913 deaths from 10.5 million circumstances, in accordance with AFP tallies.
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