A commuter wearing a mask on a bus in Gaborone, Botswana on May 21. Monirul Bhuiyan / AFP / Getty Images
There are now more than 100,000 cases of coronavirus throughout Africa, with the virus spreading to every country on the continent, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.
So far, 3,100 people in Africa have died of the virus.
“For now Covid-19 has made a gentle landing in Africa, and the continent has been avoided from the high number of deaths that have destroyed other regions of the world,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa.
During the briefing on Friday, Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of the WHO health emergency program, said, “On the one hand, the good news – the disease is not developing in a very fast trajectory, but the concern of some countries is accelerating in the number of cases.”
Ryan warned that in Africa, there were “many, many very vulnerable groups” and the impact of coronaviruses on those groups had not yet been seen.
“We don’t know what the impact is for malnourished children with chronic malnutrition, we don’t know what the impact is in overcrowded refugee camps. So, there is still much to be learned, “he said.
