Africa marks the continent’s most dire pandemic week: WHO warns the 'worst is yet to come'

'The worst is yet to come,' warned the World Health Organization as COVID-19 cases continues to surge in Africa. Recently, the country witnessed the most devastating week, the Delta variant infecting more and more people. Fresh cases of COVID-19 have now overtaken the highest weekly numbers recorded during the peak of the second wave in January this year. Meanwhile, only less than 2% of the continent has been vaccinated.

More than 2,51,000 new cases were recorded in just a week. The sudden spike in coronavirus cases has escalated fear among citizens. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has called it as "worst pandemic week ever".

While speaking at a virtual press conference, WHO's regional director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti said, "Africa has just marked the continent’s most dire pandemic week ever. But the worst is yet to come as the fast-moving third wave continues to gain speed and new ground. Doubling every 18 days compared with every 21 days only a week ago, the end to this precipitous rise is still weeks away" she added.

Why is it the 'worst pandemic week ever' for Africa?

The WHO believes the spread of the Delta variant (which is more transmissible) has contributed to a rapid increase in both cases and deaths across the continent. Delta mutation has been found in 16 countries so far, and 10 out of 16 countries currently facing a spike in COVID cases.

With the vaccinated population being too low in the continent, the new variant is believed to be 30%-60% more transmissible than other variants. Meanwhile, the country recorded around 26,000 new cases over the weekend, fueled by the Delta variant, making South Africa the worst-hit country.

Nearly 1.6 million doses have been delivered to Africa through the Covax scheme in the past two weeks. Furthermore, a US shipment of 20 million Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer-BioNTech is due and will be distributed to 49 countries.

Moeti urged people to follow "we first and not me first" in this crisis. She even appealed to the government to expand vaccination sites and other measures to fight to take advantage of the vaccine deliveries when they come.

COVID-19 cases in Africa

The active cases in Africa continue to rise as new cases outnumber the recoveries. According to the latest figures, Africa has officially registered 5,730,638 cases followed by 147,125 deaths from COVID-19.