The second wave of coronavirus hitting Africa is “more aggressive” than the first, according to the head of the of the African Centres for Disease Control (CDC), John Nkengasong.
He told the BBC Newsday programme that the continent was now reporting about 30,000 new cases daily compared to 18,000 new cases in mid July.
The health agency’s tally shows that Africa has so far confirmed 2,879,193 coronavirus cases, with 68,755 deaths and 2,378,090 recoveries.
Countries like Rwanda, Namibia, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic have imposed new restrictions to limit the virus’s spread.
Mr Nkengasong said the focus now is on “prevention measures that should be in place and engaging with the populations so that they can truly get out of the pandemic fatigue mode”.
He said:Quote Message: As you move across the continent it is unfortunate that you see many citizens are not wearing [face] masks consistently or not wearing at all, and you see very limited social distancing. I think this is serious, the second wave is extremely aggressive.”
He added that face masks are the continent’s best hope to prevent the spread of the virus and urged government to offer subsidies on masks.
BBC
