development
  
 

    

          
    
    

      

        
      


      
      
        
        
                  

            Period. 29 September - 5 October 2020          

                
       
    


    
    
    

    
          
    

  • As data emerges from across African countries, experts have been puzzled at the slow pandemic trajectory on the African continent relative to the rest of the world. The continent’s case fatality count stands at 2.4%, with roughly 35,000 deaths among the more than 1.4 million people infected, while in North America and Europe the case fatality has been 2.9% and 4.5%, respectively. WHO data also suggests that 91% of COVID-19 infections in sub-Saharan Africa are in individuals who are younger than 60 years old, while up to 80% of cases in the region are asymptomatic. A number of different hypotheses are currently being explored as possible factors for Africa’s distinct pandemic trajectory, including the potential that COVID-19 infections and deaths are being missed due to limited testing rates, the continent’s youthful population and the “gift of time” that enabled African governments to scale up public health interventions and control measures based in part on lessons from previous disease outbreaks on the continent.
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This development is part of the digest;