NUT desk- BRAZZAVILLE: Coronavirus infections in Africa are surging as a third wave of the pandemic gathers pace on the continent, fuelled by the spread of more contagious variants, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. “Africa is in the midst of a full-blown third wave. The sobering trajectory of surging cases should rouse everyone into urgent action,” WHO”s regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, told an online news conference. According to WHO data, the number of new Covid-19 cases in Africa rose to over 116,500 in the week ending June 13, up from nearly 91,000 the previous week. In 22 African countries, cases rose by more than 20 percent in the week to June 13, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia and Uganda reporting their highest number of new weekly cases since the pandemic began. The WHO said that “a lack of adherence to transmission prevention measures has fuelled the new surge that coincides with colder seasonal weather in southern Africa and as more contagious variants spread. ” The continent has been hit less hard by the pandemic than most other regions, recording 135,885 deaths from 5,107,939 cases so far.
