Africa sees 82% COVID-19 recovery rate for 3rd week

For the third week in a row, Africa has registered an 82% recovery rate among coronavirus patients, the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday.

“We are excited about that,” John Nkengasong said at a weekly briefing, adding that the overall infection rate across the continent has gone down by 6.9%.

However, two regions, Central Africa and North Africa, saw spikes of 49% and 7.7%, respectively, over the past week.

According to Africa CDC’s latest figures, more than 1.12 million (1,127,034) patients have recovered across the continent.

The overall case count is above 1.37 million (1,373,986), including 33,251 fatalities.

South Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Ethiopia, and Nigeria account for 76% of all coronavirus infections in Africa, according to Nkengasong.

He said some 13 million COVID-19 tests have been conducted across the continent so far, with authorities targeting 20 million tests by November.

Responding to a question from Anadolu Agency about whether people in Africa are part of any ongoing vaccine trials, he said there have not been any community-level vaccinations in Africa.

However, he added that the Africa CDC is engaged with nine vaccine manufacturers around the world, including researchers at the Oxford University.

“Vaccine is not a magic bullet for the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Nkengasong, stressing that other safety measures remain vital for an effective fight against the virus.