“This time there is no more doubt: the dreaded third wave is here,” exclaimsYoung Africaand the numbers start to rise again. Exacerbated by the spread of the famous Delta variant originally identified in India, the infection still affects the continent in a very heterogeneous way. The figures are therefore quite worrying in the north, especially in Egypt and Tunisia (where we have just passed the milestone of 400,000 cases). Conversely, the situation in the Sahel and West Africa is much calmer, with the exception of Liberia and Sierra Leone, where figures for the end of June are worrying. But it is especially the eastern and southern parts of the continent that are currently suffering, Jeune Afrique points out. In addition to South Africa, which was hit hard from the beginning of the pandemic, there are Rwanda, Kenya, Eritrea, the Democratic Republic of Congo (where the number of active cases has increased fivefold in the last five weeks) and above all a particularly worrying trio of Uganda, Namibia and Zambia. reached the milestone of 2,000 deaths. ”
Lack of vaccines
“The problem is that this third wave comes when the continent has to face a shortage of vaccines,” he said Africa Point. Although eight vaccines have been shown to be safe and effective and have been placed on the WHO’s list of emergency vaccines, shipments to Africa have dried up. Only 15 million people – just 1.2% of Africa’s population – are fully vaccinated, compared to 11% of the global population and over 46% of the UK and US population. “It is a race against time, the pandemic is ahead of us. In Africa, we are not winning the battle against the virus,” warns John Nkengasong of CDC Africa. “
Wrong
To put an end to this, the continent is facing problems with delivery and inventory management, Africa Point states: “An outbreak of cases in India, the main supplier of AstraZeneca vaccines, has delayed deliveries through the WHO’s Covax unit. But in addition to the lack of supply, the continent has accumulated doubts and failures. Countries with vaccines have not been able to administer them before they go out. Malawi destroyed nearly 20,000 expired doses in May. The Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan have returned more than two million. Or South Africa must destroy 2 million doses after a manufacturing defect. To date, 18 African countries have used almost all vaccines sent by the WHO. ”
Also concerned in Senegal
West Africa therefore remains relatively untouched by this third wave, but the numbers are increasing significantly in some countries.
As in Liberia or Sierra Leone, as we have seen, but also in Senegal, “cases and deaths explode”, the daily 24 Heures exclaims. “It must be acknowledged that, given the figures released by the Ministry of Health and Social Action, Senegal has, on one level, entered its third wave of Covid-19,” sighs WalfQuotidien. [ce mercredi], of the 2,388 tests performed by the Pasteur Institute in Dakar and the Institute for Health Research, Epidemiological Surveillance and Education, 356 cases returned positive for coronavirus, ie a positivity rate of 14.91%. “
For Cheikh Oumar Sy, a former member of the National Assembly, who the newspaper questioned, “” we finally realize our level of general irresponsibility in dealing with the pandemic. Between economic tours (inappropriate) and demonstrations of “the opposition it is the average Senegalese who loses his life. Our selfishness drives us to ignore our collective responsibility”, insists Cheikh Oumar Sy. Before we predicted the worst: “this wave will be more deadly than the previous ones”. “
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