Official statistics show Africa largely untouched by the pandemic. However, six out of seven cases of COVID-19 infection go under the radar. At least that is the conclusion of the World Health Organization (WHO), which is now trying to predict future outbreaks.
“The majority of screening tests are done on people who show symptoms of COVID-19, but asymptomatic subjects are the source of much of the transmission of the disease,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “What we are seeing could therefore be just the tip of the iceberg. “
During a press briefing, Dr. Moeti estimated that around 59 million Africans have been infected with the coronavirus rather than the 8 million officially recorded.
Of the 1.3 billion inhabitants of this immense continent, about 5% have been adequately vaccinated, according to data from the Our World in Data site, run by the University of Oxford.
In order to see more clearly – and especially to prevent possible outbreaks of cases -, the WHO has announced a new initiative to establish community screening in eight countries: in Burundi, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal and Zambia. The program aims to increase screening capacity by 40% in each participating country.
WHO intends to use a “ring intervention strategy” to combine better detection and effective vaccination. This technique was used successfully for the first time in the eradication of smallpox in the second half of the 20th century.
This approach will target vaccination campaigns to people who live within a 100-meter radius circle around each new confirmed case to prevent the spread of the disease.
WHO officials hope to be able to implement these rapid screening tests before the end of the year, since “as we saw last year, the intensity of travel and gatherings in December leads to a upsurge in cases ”.