Weekly COVID-19 cases in Africa have dropped significantly and deaths dipped for the first time since the peak of the fourth pandemic wave propelled by the Omicron variant.
The decline nudges the continent past its shortest upsurge yet that lasted 56 days. Newly reported cases fell by 20 per cent in the week to January 16, while deaths dropped by eight per cent. The decrease in deaths is still small and further monitoring is needed, but if the trend continues the surge in deaths will also be the shortest reported so far during this pandemic.
These were made known yesterday during a virtual press conference attended by Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Director for Africa. South Africa—where Omicron was first se-quenced, and which has accounted for the bulk of cases and deaths—has recorded a downward trend over the past four weeks.
“Only North Africa reported an increase in cases over the past week, with a 55 per cent spike. Cases fell across the rest of Africa, where, as of the January 16, there were 10.4 million cumulative COVID- 19 cases and more than 233 000 deaths. The Omicron-fuelled pandemic wave has resulted in the lowest cumulative average case fatality ratio—the proportion of deaths among confirmed cases—to date in Africa, standing at 0.68 per cent compared with the three previous waves during which the case fatality ratio was above 2.4 per cent. The Omicron variant has now been reported in 36 African countries and 169 globally.
