Africa behind the vaccination curve

Vaccine update:

• More than 535 million doses have been administered across 141 countries at a rate of 14.5 million doses a day.
• EMs are significantly lagging behind their developed market counterparts, and African countries are expected to take years to reach 75% immunisation, at the current vaccination rate (see detailed estimates in the attached report). However, it is expected that many EMs and African countries (especially) will gain vaccination momentum in coming months.
• The WHO has called for fairness in access to vaccines to improve vaccination in Africa. The WHO noted that while vaccines had been delivered through the COVAX facility, current supply constraints could mean that a critical proportion of people remain unvaccinated for months.
• Ghana has administered 500,000 doses and covered 60% of the targeted population in the Greater Accra region. In Morocco, more than 7.6 million vaccinations have taken place in the past 7 weeks.
• In South Africa, 231,605 healthcare workers have been vaccinated to date.

Global cases update:

• Global cases have surpassed 127.78 million, while the death toll has surpassed 2.79 million; recoveries are at 102.96 million.
• The US has 30.96 million cases, accounting for 24% of global cases; the US death toll is 562,526. 
• India has 12.03 million cases and 161,881 deaths; Brazil has 12.53 million cases and 312,299 deaths.
• US officials have expressed concern about the way the WHO report examining the origins of the pandemic was crafted, including the possibility that the Chinese government had a hand in writing it. 
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel has threatened to assert federal control over measures to curb the spread of the virus.
• The EU will block exports of the AstraZeneca vaccines if the company fails to deliver doses bought by the bloc on time.

Africa cases update:

• Africa’s Covid-19 cases are at 4.21 million; fatalities are at 112,170.
• Morocco has 494,659 reported cases, Nigeria 200,050, Ghana 90,287, Kenya 130,214.
• African countries’ easing of virus-related controls and the emergence of more transmissible variants have fuelled a second wave of infections more severe than the first, according to recent study.
• Daily infections were about 30% higher during the second wave as lockdown measures were loosened.

South Africa cases update:

• SA currently has the 17th highest caseload, at 1.545 million; 965 new cases were reported yesterday.
• Covid-19 deaths rose by 15 yesterday, to 52,663; 1.471 million people (or 95%) have recovered from the virus.
• Gauteng has the highest number of confirmed cases, at 413,491 (accounting for 26.8% of the total); 10,235 deaths have been reported. 
• The Western Cape has 282,440 (accounting for 18.3% of the total) and 11,443 deaths, while KwaZulu-Natal has 333,748 (accounting for 21.6% of the total) and 10,167 deaths.
• The Eastern Cape has 195,349 cases (accounting for 12,6% of the total) and 11,355 deaths.
• 9.80 million tests have been conducted since 5 March 2020; 20,869 tests were conducted yesterday.

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