"Africa is in the midst of a full-blown third wave," @MoetiTshidi said. "The sobering trajectory of surging cases should draw everyone to urgent action.
“We've seen, in India and elsewhere, how quickly Covid-19 can rebound and overwhelm health systems" telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…
In total, the vast continent has seen five million Covid cases since the pandemic began, and 156,000 deaths.
For context, Europe - with 748 million people - has seen almost 33 million cases, and 730,000 deaths.
But experts worry Africa's caseload could be vastly underreported
In the main, European countries were hit harder in the first and second waves of Covid than most African nations.
But now, while vaccination campaigns in Europe are surging ahead - as in many richer parts of the world - most of Africa remains barely protected
In fact, of the 1.3 billion living on the continent, less than 1% of Africa's population - or almost 12 million people - have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to date
Most African countries have relied on the UN-led Covax vaccine distribution scheme for vaccines.
But the scheme has faced major delays after India, the biggest producer of jabs for Covax, focused instead on tackling its own coronavirus surge
However, even when vaccines are available, there have been issues actually getting the jabs in arms, the @WHOAFRO said
For example, a lack of funding for the roll-out, technical challenges and vaccine hesitancy have meant that 23 African countries have only managed to use around half of their already limited allocations of vaccines
That includes four of the five currently worst-affected countries: Tunisia, Zambia, Uganda and Namibia. Alongside South Africa, these countries account for 76 per cent of new cases across Africa in the last week
The WHO stressed that what was happening was a stark illustration of vaccine inequity in action, pointing out that 85% of all coronavirus vaccines have been given in rich countries, leaving others without
.@MoetiTshidi said that the continent welcomed the recent international vaccine pledges to donate more jabs later in the year.
However, added that "if we are to curb the third wave, Africa needs doses here and now."
💉German pharmaceutical company CureVac has blamed the emergence of new variants for disappointing results of its Covid vaccine telegraph.co.uk/global-health/…
Interim phase two/three results showed that the vaccine, based on mRNA technology, was only 47% - below the 50% threshold required by the @WHO
The disappointing results will come as a blow to countries that have put in advance orders on the vaccine at a time when jabs are in short supply globally and new variants mean booster shots may be required
The devastating “black fungus”, overwise known as mucormycosis, is a fast-moving, aggressive infection that attacks a person’s sinuses, lungs and brain and is deadly if not treated
The devastating “black fungus”, overwise known as mucormycosis, is a fast-moving, aggressive infection that attacks a person’s sinuses, lungs and brain and is deadly if not treated
It is thought that the new strain, known as Delta or B.1.617, may be causing unprecedented damage to the pancreas of otherwise healthy people, triggering sudden onset diabetes and soaring blood glucose levels
This allows the deadly flesh-eating fungus to thrive
The world has missed all of the targets for tackling Aids by 2020 and "time is running out" to end the disease in the next ten years, according to a new United Nations report.
📈Despite some major achievements, including cutting deaths by 43% in the last decade and infections by 30%, progress has been patchy and in some regions – such as Eastern Europe and Central Asia – new HIV infections are actually on the rise
🌐 Globally, there were three times as many new infections in 2020 – a total of 1.5 million – than the hoped for 500,000, the report from @UNAIDS found
🚨Experts have long warned of a “two-track pandemic” emerging, where rich countries have greater access to the tools to fight Covid-19, while the poorest are left behind