As of Monday, September 29, figures show that global pandemic Covid-19 has taken the lives of over one million people. According to ForbesUS, the death rate shows few signs of decreasing as there is an average of 3,819 deaths per day since the start of the year. Furthermore, WorldOMeter’s figures show the country leading with the highest number of deaths globally is the United States of America. The U.S, who have been leading with the highest number of deaths since May, now sits with over 205,000 reported deaths.
“As some countries start to open up we see cases and deaths starting to spike. This is a critical moment for countries and we ask leaders to put targeted measures in place that we know can suppress the spread,” World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom said at a media briefing on September, 18.
China, the epicenter of the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus which reportedly originated at a market in the city of Wuhan, first reported a Covid-19 death in mid-January. However, for several weeks now the country of origin has maintained that their death rate remains at 4,634.
In the African region, of the million, the fatal virus has killed 35, 000 people on the continent. However, there has been a decline in infections in the African region since July 20. WHO in the African Region claims that some of the most-affected countries including Algeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa have all seen infections drop every week over the past two months. Deaths due to the virus have also remained low in the region.
Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa said in a statement on September 24 that though the decline is good news, this does not mean that measures to mitigate the spread should not be relaxed.
“The downward trend…speaks to the robust and decisive public health measures taken by governments across the region. But we must not become complacent. Other regions of the world have experienced similar trends only to find that as social and public health measures are relaxed, cases start ramping up again,” Moeti said.
“This pandemic has shown that whether countries are rich or poor, health systems can be completely overwhelmed and essential services can break down,” Tedros added.
For more of an update on Covid-19 across Africa click here