By Asmau Ahmad
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said over 255,000 people have died from COVID-19 in the African continent since the outbreak of the viral infection.
The Africa CDC gave the estimate in its latest update on Tuesday.
It also disclosed that over 11 .9m cases have been recorded on the continent so far, with over 11 million recoveries.
The agency stated that the continent has now recorded 11,994,450 cases; 255,127 deaths and 11,376,553 recoveries.
The continent, the Africa CDC added, had recorded 11,376,553 recoveries despite the huge fatalities recorded.
In the Africa CDC’s latest report, the Central African region has recorded 377,301 cases; 4,559 deaths, and 361,777 recoveries, while Cameroon has the highest figures with 120,224 cases; 1,931 deaths, and 118,178 recoveries.
East Africa, according to the report recorded 1,452,039 cases; 27,505 deaths and 1,223,148 recoveries with Ethiopia leading the region with 492, 278 cases; 7,568 deaths and 469,715 recoveries.
In Northern Africa, there were 3, 748 ,873 cases; 84,356 deaths and 3, 540,760 recoveries while Morocco had the highest figures with 1,261,125 cases; 16,238 deaths and 1,241,008 recoveries.
According to the report, Southern Africa recorded 5,551,595 cases; 127,298 deaths and 5,405,928 recoveries, while South Africa is still the leading country on the continent with 4,004,555 cases; 101,982 deaths, and 3,897,607 recoveries.
The Africa CDC report showed that the West African region recorded 864,642 cases; 11,409 deaths and 844,940 recoveries, with Nigeria having the highest figures with 261,473 cases; 3,147 deaths, and 254,953 recoveries.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Africa says as of 10 July 2022, 282 million people on the continent had completed their primary series of COVID-19 vaccine doses representing 21.1 per cent of Africa’s population.
This, WHO says in a statement on its website, is an increase in vaccinations by 10 per cent since the beginning of the year.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, in the statement, said more than 892 million vaccines have been delivered to Africa, 64 per cent of which are from the COVAX Facility.
“This uptick in vaccination coverage shows that African countries remain committed to COVID-19 vaccination.
“This is encouraging because vaccination remains the most effective tool in our response to COVID-19 on the continent”, she noted.
The WHO regional director stated that COVID-19 vaccination in Africa remains focused on adults older than 18 years.
“Only seven per cent of doses administered in 23 countries were given to children and adolescents younger than 18. The median coverage among adults older than 18 years who have completed their primary series is 34 per cent.
“Across the continent, there are ongoing efforts for the integration of the COVID-19 vaccination into primary health care services.
“Primary health care facilities currently function as one-stop shops for a range of health services. We are building on the experience garnered to ensure an all-inclusive primary health care approach is implemented for COVID-19 vaccination,” Dr. Moeti said.
