Against all odds, including huge inequalities in access to vaccination, the continent has weathered the “Covid-19 storm with resilience and determination, drawing on “Africa’s long history and experience in epidemic control.

“Over the past two years, the African continent has worked faster, better and smarter to respond to each new surge in Covid-19 cases,” Dr Matshidiso told a virtual press conference from Brazzaville. Moeti, Regional Director ofWHO for Africa.

But the new coronavirus has come at a high price, with more than 242,000 lives lost, more than 11 million confirmed cases and “considerable damage to countries’ economies”. Over the past two years, the continent has seen four waves, each with higher peaks or more new total cases than the previous one.

Omicron did not result in increased hospitalizations and deaths

On the mainland, these waves were highly transmissible but not necessarily deadlier than previous waves. According to the UN’s World Health Agency, each subsequent wave has triggered a more effective response than the previous one.

On average, each wave is 23% shorter than the previous one. While the first wave lasted about 29 weeks, the fourth wave ended in six weeks, about a fifth of the time.

More broadly, when Africa experienced its first wave, attributed to the spread of the wild virus SARS-CoV-2, the average case fatality ratio, or the proportion of infected people who die from the coronavirus, was high (2.5% ). This figure increased to 2.7% during the second wave of the Beta phase, before falling back to 2.4% during the third wave of the Delta phase.

In contrast, the average survival rate during the fourth wave is low (0.8%). “This is the first time that the increase in the number of cases during a wave has not been accompanied by a proportional increase in the number of hospitalizations and deaths,” said the Geneva-based organization.

672 million doses received in Africa out of the ten billion administered worldwide

However, these encouraging figures should not make us forget that the “most powerful weapon against the emergence of new variants is vaccination”. To date, of the more than ten billion serum shipped worldwide, approximately 672 million doses of vaccines have been received in Africa.

In this batch, 65% were facilitated by the COVAX Mechanism. Bilateral agreements represent 29% while the remaining 6% was financed by the African Union Vaccine Acquisition Fund. In January 2022, 96 million doses were shipped to Africa, more than double the amount shipped six months ago.

Since January, COVAX has been shipping vaccines to countries only upon request, ensuring countries receive the right volume at the right time. “Although Africa still lags behind in immunization, with only 11% of the adult population fully immunized, we now have a steady supply of doses,” said the Head of the Africa Branch of the WHO.

Furthermore, since the start of the pandemic, the continent’s capacity to manage Covid-19 cases has gradually improved, with increased availability of trained health personnel, oxygen and other medical supplies. The number of intensive care unit (ICU) beds has thus increased on the continent, from 8 per 1 million people in 2020 to 20 today.

WHO urges countries to strengthen variant detection

The number of oxygen production plants in Africa has increased from 68 to 115 – an increase of 60%. Where factories have been installed, the cost of oxygen has fallen by 40%. Additionally, the number of labs capable of detecting the coronavirus has grown from two to more than 900 today, bolstering sequencing efforts in Africa.

In addition, 95 million tests have been carried out on the continent since the start of the pandemic. Testing has gradually improved, with 21 out of 47 countries now meeting the WHO-recommended threshold of 10 tests per 10,000 people per week, up from 15 countries at the same time last year.

“As we enter this new phase of the Covid-19 pandemic, we must use the lessons learned over the past two years to strengthen our continent’s health systems to be better prepared to manage future waves of the disease,” Dr. Moeti concluded, urging countries to “strengthen their ability to detect variants and quickly spot other deadly viruses.”