Africa is suffering from a “surging” third wave of the pandemic caused by several new variants, the World Health Organisation warned yesterday.
The number of reported cases in the continent has increased by a quarter in a week – and recorded deaths by 15%, reaching 3,000.
WHO said the Delta variant has been found in 16 countries – and is now dominant in South Africa, which had spawned its own variant previously.
It said vaccine shipments to Africa have dried up – with just 15 million people being fully vaccinated, barely one percent of the continent’s population.
Regional director Dr Matshidiso Moeti said: “The speed and scale of Africa’s third wave is like nothing we’ve seen before. The rampant spread of more contagious variants pushes the threat to Africa up to a whole new level. More transmission means more serious illness and more deaths, so everyone must act now and boost prevention measures to stop an emergency becoming a tragedy.”
WHO went on yesterday to issue a joint statement with the COVAX global vaccine development group calling for equal recognition of vaccines.
The organisation, joined by UNICEF, called on all countries to recognise approved vaccines as effective rather than restricting travel and movement to those using subsets of vaccines.
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