Brazzaville– COVID-19 cases in Africa continue to decline slightly with the trend for a plateau persisting for yet another week. 41 540 new cases were reported in the week ending on 10 July 2022 – a 9.4% decrease from the week before, the World Health Organization (WHO) said over the weekend.
This is relatively low as weekly cases have fluctuated from 19 500 to more than 300 000.
Deaths rates are also relatively low— the average over the past month is a bit more than 130 each week. Weekly deaths have fluctuated from less than ten in the first few weeks of the pandemic to nearly 3 900.
Even as cases fall, it is important that countries remain vigilant and capitalize on the decline to beef up their preparedness for any potential surge. Equatorial Guinea is currently in resurgence following a three-week surge in new cases. Fourteen other countries are on alert after recording an uptick in COVID-19 incidence in recent weeks.
However, the increase in cases observed is marginal compared with previous waves and the number of hospitalizations, ICU admissions and deaths have continued to remain low as the data on hospitalization from countries improves.
WHO is supporting countries to adjust their response to the ever-changing landscape of the pandemic. National health authorities should continue monitoring the pandemic trend and conduct early investigation of newly identified cases, in addition to improving vaccination rates and adjusting public health and social measures.
As 11 July 2022, there have been 12.1 million COVID-19 cases recorded in Africa, with over 255 000 deaths, with five countries accounting for 87% of all new cases and 91% of deaths reported over the last week.