Africa on same Covid-19 march as worst hit countries with fewer weapons – The Wall Street Journal

As the coronavirus is advancing on poor nations and on Africa; concern is growing that the continent will find it hard to cope.

Published on:

26 Mar 2020, 7:34 pm

Many wealthy nations are being overwhelmed by the unrelenting march of the coronavirus and their sophisticated health systems are under strain. A healthcare specialist in New York admitted that the city is battling to cope and does not have the right equipment to deal with the growing number of cases, while newspapers in London carry headlines that hospitals in the city are bracing themselves for a 'tsunami' of new Covid-19 cases. As the coronavirus is advancing on poor nations and on Africa; concern is growing that the continent will find it hard to cope. In many African countries; there are limited supplies of the right equipment such as masks, gloves and ventilators. Whereas a country like Italy has 41 doctors for every 10,000 patients, Africa has only two. The Wall Street Journal reports that Covid-19 has spread to 43 African countries and even though the total number is only 2,400 for the whole continent; it has tripled since the end of last week, which is "the same trajectory as European nations where the virus exploded." Scientists are however hoping that the younger population of African countries may be a mitigating factor as most fatalities from Covid-19 have been among older people and that the warmer temperatures of Africa may also help. – Linda van Tilburg