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By Tim Cocks and Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Africa's confirmed cases of
COVID-19 have surpassed 1 million, a Reuters tally showed on
Thursday, as the disease began to spread rapidly through a
continent whose relative isolation has so far spared it the
worst of the pandemic.
The continent recorded 1,003,056 cases, of which 21,983 have
died and 676,395 recovered. South Africa - which is the world's
fifth worst-hit nation and makes up more than half of
sub-Saharan Africa's case load - has recorded 538,184 cases
since its first case on March 5, the health ministry said on
Thursday. (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2WZPuOh)
Low levels of testing in many countries mean Africa's
infection rates are likely to be higher than reported, experts
said.
In South Africa, a study showed some 17,000 deaths above the
normal rate, or a 60% excess, between early May and mid-July,
suggesting more people are dying of COVID-19 than official
figures reflect. South African mortuaries that are
running out of space and coffins have resorted to storing bodies
in refrigerated shipping containers. Already creaking public health services are overwhelmed and
there are shortages of beds, protective gear and nurses.
COVID-19 patients have sometimes had to be treated alongside
others. A nurse at a hospital in South Africa's biggest township of
Soweto, who declined to be named because she was not authorised
to speak to the media, said patients were sometimes left lying
next to a corpse for hours because there weren't enough staff to
remove it. More than a third of staff caught the virus on duty.
VIRUS SPREADING FURTHER
South Africa's experiences are a precursor for what is
likely to happen across the continent, the World Health
Organization's top emergencies expert Mike Ryan warned last
month. But few African nations have health services as advanced
as South Africa's.
"The fact that South Africa is more connected than other
African countries may have influenced the timing, but in the end
it will reach - has reached - all African countries," said
Cheryl Cohen, epidemiologist at the National Institute for
Communicable Diseases.
Rolling out sufficient testing, vital to tracking outbreaks,
has been a major problem. In the Democratic Republic of Congo,
it can take more than a week to get results, by which time
patients may have already died, government officials said.
Steve Ahuka, a senior member of Congo's response committee,
said the country had chosen to focus on treating the sick rather
than trying to track the disease.
YOUNGER POPULATION
Africa's younger population when compared to other
continents may help curb death rates, as the virus is most
deadly for older people.
"The profile of the population is different. Less
85-year-olds with diabetes and more 35-year-olds who are fit and
healthy," said Charl Van Loggerenberg, head of emergency
medicine at South African private provider, Life Healthcare.
Many African countries imposed quick lockdowns and shut
their borders early, buying precious time to prepare hospitals,
set up testing machines and learn from evolving treatments.
But governments, mindful of the damage to their economies
and the risk of widespread hunger, have mostly lifted lockdowns.
Other measures remain in place: Nigeria has banned travel
between its 36 states, Rwandan police are arresting anyone in
public without a face mask and Ethiopia, an air travel hub, is
quarantining passengers who can't produce a negative COVID-19
test certificate. But it's almost impossible to keep a distance between people
in Africa's poor, tightly packed urban areas, and hospitals
outside African capitals are often poorly equipped with
protective gear and necessities like oxygen, experts say.
Kenya, considered to have relatively good healthcare, has
lost eight health workers to COVID-19, the health ministry said.
The most recent was a 32-year-old nurse who died days after
giving birth to her first child, local media reported.
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South Africa 59% excess deaths imply hidden COVID-19 toll
tough approach curbs COVID, even as Africa nears 1 mln
cases inequality and poverty undermined S. Africa's COVID
response tracker with country-by-country
interactive https://tmsnrt.rs/2WZPuOh
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