The World Health Organization said the third wave of Covid-19 infections in Africa appears to have stabilized, though cases remain high with almost 248,000 reported in the past week.
“There have now been almost 7.6 million Covid-19 cases and 191,000 Africans have sadly died,” Matshidiso Moeti, the organization's regional director for the continent, told reporters during its weekly briefing Thursday.
Some 24 countries are experiencing a resurgence and deaths are rising in eight of them, including in Botswana and Ethiopia, she said.
At the same time, an estimated 13 million vaccine doses have been administered across Africa over the past week, triple the previous seven-day period, she said. The rollout in the continent has trailed much of the rest of the world, partly due to supply and procurement issues.
“We are still hopeful that 10% of people in Africa can be vaccinated by the end of September,” said Moeti, adding that 117 million doses are due to arrive in the coming month and as many as 34 million additional doses will be needed to reach that target.
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