The World Health Organization, WHO has raised an alarm that South America has become a new epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic with Brazil hardest-hit, while cases are rising in some African countries that so far have a relatively low death toll.
This is according to Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO’s top emergency expert and Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa while addressing a news conference.
‘In a sense South America has become a new epicenter for the disease. Brazil is the “most affected,” and authorities there have approved broad use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine for treatment of COVID-19’, he said. He reiterated that clinical evidence does not support the drug’s widespread use against the disease, given its risks.
On her part, Moeti WHO regional director for Africa posited that the pandemic has spared Africa a high number of deaths compared to other regions of the world.
‘For now COVID-19 has made a soft landfall in Africa, and the continent has been spared the high numbers of deaths which have devastated other regions of the world” she said.
Recall that an earlier statement from WHO affirmed that over a hundred thousand cases have now been reported in Africa.
“The COVID-19 pandemic today reached a milestone in Africa, with more than 100,000 confirmed cases. The virus has now spread to every country in the continent since the first case was confirmed in the region 14 weeks ago,” the WHO said in a statement, noting there were 3,100 confirmed deaths on the vast continent.
Nine African countries had 50% rises in cases in the past week, while others have seen a decline or have stable rates, Ryan said.
The low mortality rate may be because half the continent’s population is 18 or younger, he said, while saying he remains worried the disease will spread on a continent with “significant gaps” in intensive care services, medical oxygen, and ventilation.
