Africa will escape terrible COVID-19 predictions, says UN’s Guterres

African will escape terrible COVID-19 predictions, says UN’s Guterres

Africa will escape terrible COVID-19 predictions, says UN’s Guterres

Horrific predictions that COVID-19 will ravage Africa so badly that corpses will liter on the streets may end in the world of permutations and imaginations, recent comments from world leaders have suggested.   The West made some heartbreaking predictions about how COVID-19 will ravage Africa to desolation. However, two months down the line after report of first cases in Africa, African countries are doing better than the west in the management of the virus.

US President, Donald Trump and the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have praised African commitment and unity towards the fight. UN chief praises continent for responding swiftly but says millions could be pushed into extreme poverty.

The relatively low number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Africa has “raised hopes that African countries may be spared the worst of the pandemic”,  United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, while praising the continent for responding swiftly to the pandemic.

54 African countries have recorded the following as of Monday, May 18, 2020, according to the Africa Center for Disease Control: 84,872 cases, 2,771 deaths and 32,646 recoveries. Total cases confirmed in 54 African countries is less than the number of deaths recorded in United States of America, alone.

Also read: Coronavirus: Africa report 84,872 cases, 2,771 deaths and 32,646 recoveries

Guterres, however, warned that millions of people in Africa could be pushed into extreme poverty due to the pandemic.

“The pandemic threatens African progress. It will aggravate long-standing inequalities and heighten hunger, malnutrition and vulnerability to disease,” Guterres said.

Since the pandemic is still in its “early days” in Africa, Guterres stressed that “disruption could escalate quickly”.

“African countries should also have quick, equal and affordable access to any eventual vaccine and treatment, that must be considered global public goods,” he said.

Among his recommendations, Guterres urged “international action to strengthen Africa’s health systems, maintain food supplies, avoid a financial crisis”.

It is also necessary, he added, to “support education, protect jobs, keep households and businesses afloat, and cushion the continent against lost income and export earnings”.

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He said he was also advocating “a comprehensive debt framework – starting with an across-the-board debt standstill for countries unable to service their debt”.

The UN report said the low numbers of cases in Africa could be linked to minimal testing and reporting, pointing to a World Health Organization (WHO) warning that the pandemic “could kill between 83,000 and 190,000 people in 47 African countries in the first year, mostly depending on governments’ responses”.

WHO also warned that “the socioeconomic impacts could ‘smoulder’ for several years”, the report said.

Coronavirus: Africa report 84,872 cases, 2,771 deaths and 32,646 recoveries

Central (7,758 cases; 293 deaths; 2,321 recoveries): Burundi (42; 1; 20), Cameroon (2,954; 139; 1,553), Central African Republic (336; 0; 13), Chad (503; 53; 117), Congo (391; 15; 87), DRC (1,455; 61; 270), Equatorial Guinea (522; 6; 13), Gabon (1,320; 11; 244), Sao Tome & Principe (235; 7; 4).

Eastern (8,711; 261; 2,759): Comoros (11; 1; 3), Djibouti (1,401; 7; 972), Eritrea (39; 0; 39), Ethiopia (352; 5; 116), Kenya (912; 50; 336), Madagascar (322; 1; 119), Mauritius (332; 10; 322), Rwanda (292; 0; 197), Seychelles (11; 0; 11), Somalia (1,455; 57; 163), South Sudan (236; 4; 4), Sudan (2,591; 105; 247), Tanzania (509; 21; 167), Uganda (248; 0; 63).

Northern (27,342; 1,422; 11,268): Algeria (7,019; 548; 3,507), Egypt (12,229; 630; 3,172), Libya (65; 3; 35), Mauritania (62; 4; 6), Morocco (6,930; 192; 3,732), Tunisia (1,037; 45; 816).

Southern (16,820; 283; 7,402): Angola (48; 2; 17), Botswana (25; 1; 17), Eswatini (203; 2; 73), Lesotho (1; 0; 0), Malawi (70; 3; 27), Mozambique (137; 0; 44), Namibia (16; 0; 13), South Africa (15,515; 264; 7,006), Zambia (761; 7; 192), Zimbabwe (44; 4; 13).

Western (24,241; 512; 8,896): Benin (339; 2; 83), Burkina Faso (796; 51; 652), Cape Verde (328; 3; 84), Cote d’lvoire (2,109; 27; 1004), Gambia (23; 1; 10), Ghana (5,735; 29; 1,754), Guinea (2,658; 16; 1,133), Guinea-Bissau (990; 4; 27), Liberia (226; 21; 120), Mali (874; 52; 512), Niger (904; 54; 698), Nigeria (5,959; 182; 1,594), Senegal (2,480; 26; 973), Sierra Leone (519; 33; 148), Togo (301; 11; 104).

*Africa numbers are taken from official RCC and Member State reports.