Africa braces for tough times ahead as COVID-19 cases rise

With the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention or Africa-CDC confirming 13,145 cases, 700 deaths and 2,171 recoveries on the African continent by Sunday, African countries are bracing for tougher times as most nations impose more restrictions in a bid to reduce the spread of the virus.

While addressing a press conference on April 10, Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization regional director for Africa, raised concern about the shortage of diagnostic kits in many African countries.

"The shortage of diagnostic kits for this virus is a huge concern and a big challenge to African countries. Though the issue of testing is one of the acute concerns we are handling at the moment, we are trying to find whatever is available as test kits and ensuring that they are distributed in areas where they are needed," Moeti said.

"We would like to emphasize that as the epidemic spreads beyond African capital cities, the response also needs to spread. The capacity for testing for the virus needs to go beyond capital cities and we need to acquire test kits and engage people at the community level such as community health workers to help with the testing," Moeti added.

In South Africa where 2,028 cases have been confirmed with 25 deaths, the previous lockdown that was supposed to expire on April 16 has been extended by two weeks. While addressing the nation on state television, Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa's president, asked South Africans to make even greater sacrifices so that our country may survive this crisis.

"After careful consideration of the available evidence, the National Coronavirus Command Council has decided to extend the nation-wide lockdown by a further two weeks beyond the initial 21 days. This means that most of the existing lockdown measures will remain in force until the end of April," Ramaphosa said.

However, Ramaphosa said since the lockdown came into effect, the rate at which new cases have been identified in South Africa has slowed significantly noting that in the two weeks before the lockdown, the average daily increase in new cases was around 42 percent but since the start of the lockdown, the average daily rise has been around 4 percent.

Other African countries which have tightened measures in order to reduce the spread of the virus include Kenya which on April 10 gazetted coronavirus related regulations which include hefty penalties for persons caught flouting directives issued in line with the public health act.

The regulations introduced by the gazette in Kenya include wearing of mask while using public or private transport, business entities providing a hand washing station with soap and water or an alcohol-based sanitizer while owners of private cars will not be allowed to carry more than 50 percent of the declared passenger capacity of their vehicles.

On April 10 the Nigerian government warned residents to be ready to answer questions from health workers who will be going house-to-house asking about coronavirus symptoms in a bid to widen its screening for people with the virus.

Meanwhile, the African Union through Africa-CDC has strongly condemned comments made by French professors on French television suggesting the use of Africans for testing a tuberculosis vaccine in clinical trials to see if it is protective against the coronavirus.

"Professors Jean-Paul Mira and Camille Lotch have no lessons to teach Africa on the conduct of scientifically sound clinical trials. Africans have extremely capable world-renowned scientists who have played critical leadership roles in conducting clinical trials that have benefited the continent and beyond," John Nkengasong, Africa-CDC director, said in a statement on April 10.

"As we have seen with this coronavirus pandemic, only collective international cooperation through a collaborative and respectful approach can succeed in the conduct of sound research that will benefit the whole of humanity," John Nkengasong added.