Almost all of Africa’s 54 countries are reporting cases of the novel coronavirus. As at the last count, 46 African countries have reported cases with South Africa accounting for a third of them all. There are huge concerns. Will the pandemic have drastic consequences in Africa, especially in the many countries that still have poor public health infrastructure and weak social welfare systems? Or is the continent in fact experienced to deal with the crisis going by previous successes recorded with epidemics such as Ebola, and the likes?
Can Africa's health system contain coronavirus? [Morning Call]
Well, compared to Europe, the coronavirus case numbers remain relatively low on the continent: just over 5,000 cases in 46 African countries. But those figures are rising quickly, and there are worries that the low-case numbers might reflect low testing capacity, and millions could die from the disease as echoed by the UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres.