Vaccine shortages and surging cases: A COVID-19 Africa snapshot*

Everyday struggle: A motorcyclist passes a COVID-19 awareness campaign message in Kampala, Uganda PIC: TNH
Everyday struggle: A motorcyclist passes a COVID-19 awareness campaign message in Kampala, Uganda PIC: TNH

A “third wave” of COVID-19 cases is filling hospital beds, exhausting oxygen stocks, and testing already overloaded health staff in the hardest-hit African countries.

Continent-wide, recorded infections are at over six million, with more than 153,000 official deaths. The highly transmissible Delta variant is now prevalent in 16 countries, and is surging through unvaccinated populations.

“The worst is yet to come,” Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) regional director for Africa, has warned. “The end to this precipitous rise is still weeks away.”

Editor's Comment
WUC must fix its pipes, not just say sorry

“Clean water, the essence of life and a birthright for everyone, must become available to all people now.”– Michel CousteauWe see notices for Block 6, Extension 11, Gaborone, Francistown; the list grows every week. It is good that WUC warns consumers, but so many warnings point to a deep problem. Water pipes are old and falling apart. And the people who pay the bills are the ones suffering.When a main pipe bursts, taps run dry. Families in...

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