WHO: South Africa outbreak should be wake-up call for continent

On Jul 20, 2020

GENEVA, Jan. 23, 2020 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on Jan. 22, 2020 shows an exterior view of the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland. The WHO on Wednesday night extended to Thursday its emergency talks on whether the novel coronavirus outbreak in China constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). (Xinhua/Liu Qu/IANS)

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday that South Africa’s growing COVID-19 epidemic should be an alert to the rest of the continent to strengthen disease surveillance.

Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe also reported significant increases in cases over the past week, WHO’s top emergencies expert Mike Ryan told a news conference.

“Even though the numbers in those other countries are smaller I think what we starting to see is a continued acceleration of transmission in a number of countries in sub-Saharan Africa and I think that has to be taken very, very seriously,” he said.

“South Africa may unfortunately be a precursor, it may be a warning for what will happen in the rest of Africa. So I think this isn’t just a wake-up call for South Africa … we need to take what is happening in Africa very very seriously.”

WHO