COVID-19: Africa’s death percentage now higher than global total

The Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) says the case fatality rate on the continent has now exceeded the global total.

John Nkegasong, director of Africa CDC, disclosed this at a media briefing, stating that the current trend is a cause for concern.

Speaking at the virtual event on Thursday, he explained that 38 countries currently account for death percentages above the global rate, and called for improved efforts to curtail the spread of the virus.

“As of 9am, East African time today, close to 95 million cases of COVID-19 infections have been recorded in the world, of which about two million deaths have occurred, unfortunately; that leads to a case fatality rate of 2.2 percent,” he said.

“On the continent of Africa, 3.3 million cases have been recorded, which accounts for 3.5 percent of the total cases reported globally. Of that number, 2.7 million have recovered, which represents 83 percent overall of the recovery.

“Unfortunately, we have recorded 81,000 deaths across the continent with a case fatality rate of 2.5 percent, and accounting for 4 percent of deaths reported globally. On this note, I’ll like to comment on the numbers.

“Previously, when the global case fatality rate used to be 2.4 percent, the continental case fatality rate was around 2.2 percent. But now, you’ll realise that the numbers have reversed. Whereas the global case fatality rate is now 2.2 percent, the continental case fatality rate is 2.5 percent. So, definitely, we have seen a higher number of deaths occurring on the continent.

“It is beginning to be very worrying and concerning for all of us. A total of 21 countries, that is 38 percent of countries in Africa, are reporting case fatality rates of more than the global total.”

Meanwhile, as of January 22, 2021, Africa had confirmed 3,368,330 infections, out which 82,954 deaths and 2,824,960 recoveries have been recorded.