Africa has now 26,144 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections. Deaths in the continent are at 1,247 as of April 23. While there have already been 7,033 recoveries, experts fear that the continent is rapidly becoming the new epicenter of the pandemic.
The figure was 43% increase in reported cases in the past week. The jump was noted after warning from the World Health Organization that the continent could become the next epicenter of the pandemic.
Although the reported number of cases in the continent is relatively few compared to the United States and the European Region, many African countries remained to be underdeveloped with insecure health systems and food industry. The US and Europe are currently the epicenters of the virus.
Europe currently has 1,251,458 confirmed cases and 113,336 deaths and counting. The US has 869,172 confirmed cases and more than 50,000 deaths to date.
According to John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the main problem in Africa is that it has extremely limited testing capacity.
The continent is home to 1.3 billion people. However, no more than 415,000 tests have been conducted this week. That number only translates to 325 people per 1 million population. That is far lower than Italy given that the European country is among the world's hardest-hit nations, Nkengasong said.
If the goal of testing 10 million people across the continent is not to be met, then the virus could kill 300,000 people. That's on top of the 30 million people that could be thrown into poverty when the pandemic subsides.
As Africa fears the looming peak of COVID-19 cases, it should not be forgotten that currently, the continent remains to be the global epicenter for malaria. To date, more than 90% of global fatalities due to malaria are in Africa. In 2019, 360,000 people died of malaria in Africa.
One problem the continent is facing in its fight against COVID-19 is the lack of ventilators. For instance in Nigeria, only 300 ventilators are working at the start of the outbreak but the country is home 200 million people. Nigeria has since received 100 more ventilators and other African nations will receive as well from Jack Ma Foundation.
Still, however, Africa heavily relies on WHO's funding to overcome the outbreak. Unfortunately, US President Donald Trump has cut its funding of WHO recently.
Asked about the budget cut, Dr. Chikwe Ihekweazu, Director General of the Nigeria Center for Disease Control, painted a grim scenario. He said many countries in the continent don't have the luxury to build health infrastructure, not especially in the middle of the crisis.
"If the funding to the WHO is affected in the way it may be, there will be a huge price for humanity to pay - not just on this side of the world," he warned.
Here are the number of confirmed cases, deaths, and recoveries in different African regions as of April 23.
Central Region
Cases
2,051
Deaths
77
Recoveries
446
Eastern Region
Cases
2,874
Deaths
63
Recoveries
879
Northern Region
Cases
11,082
Deaths
869
Recoveries
2,779
Southern Region
Cases
3,905
Deaths
79
Recoveries
1,124
Western Region
Cases
6,232
Deaths
159
Recoveries
1,805
