MESSAGE
| DATE | 2020-08-17 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
|
| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] Covid-19 NEVER going away... now what?
|
wsj.com
Coronavirus Might Become ‘Fixture’ in Africa for Years
Nicholas Bariyo in Kampala, Uganda, and Joe Parkinson in Johannesburg
11-13 minutes
After nightfall, gravediggers across Tanzania gather in hazmat suits to
pile the latest coronavirus victims into secret graves. In South Sudan,
the vice president, defense minister and nine other cabinet members have
been infected by an outbreak ripping through a nation emerging from six
years of civil war. In Cameroon, the military has been ordered to
hastily bury anyone suspected to have died of a mysterious respiratory
illness.
Across Africa, government numbers show coronavirus infections have been
significantly lower than in other parts of the world. But from Dar es
Salaam in Tanzania to Yaoundé in Cameroon and cities in Somalia and
across northern Nigeria, health workers are reporting a reality that
bears little resemblance to the official data, with hot spots emerging
in countries with few resources to tackle them.
Coronavirus cases in the region exceeded 100,000, with more than 3,105
deaths, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, a public-health agency of the African Union.
The World Health Organization on Friday said the virus had spread to
every one of the continent’s 54 nations and has warned that a quarter of
the continent’s 1.33 billion population could eventually be infected.
There have been 3,100 confirmed deaths and the United Nations forecast
that 300,000 Africans could die as their nations hit a peak infection
rate in the coming months. That could be disastrous for a continent with
creaking health-care systems, some of the world’s poorest communities
and weak governance.
Mourners gathered for the burial of an elderly man believed to have died
of the coronavirus in Mogadishu, Somalia, on April 30.
Photo: Associated Press
“There are reports of people dying with Covid-like symptoms who will
never be tested,” Rosalind Crowther, South Sudan country director with
humanitarian agency CARE International, said of the situation across the
continent. “The actual number of cases is much higher, the focus will be
on home-based care because facilities will never be able to cope with
demand.”
Only around one million coronavirus tests have been carried out across
Africa, according to the Africa CDC, and just two countries—Ghana and
South Africa—account for nearly half of the tests.
Many African nations imposed strict lockdowns after cases of the virus
surged in Europe and the U.S. Several of the region’s governments
including South Africa, Senegal and Ghana have been praised by the WHO
for the speed and efficacy of their responses.
Coronavirus is spreading rapidly in many African countries that have
fewer weapons to fight it than developed nations. WSJ’s Joe Parkinson
explains Africa’s unique vulnerabilities to the virus. Photo: Associated
Press
But even in South Africa, the continent’s most developed economy,
coronavirus cases have exploded in Cape Town and its surrounding wine
lands. Modeling suggests hospitals could become overwhelmed within weeks.
The South African Covid-19 Modeling Consortium, a group of academics and
experts from the country’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases,
warns that the nation’s estimated 3,300 intensive-care beds could fill
up as soon as early June, with some 25,000 patients needing that level
of care by late August even under an optimistic scenario.
Passersby in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, looked at newspapers, disregarding
social -distancing guidance on April 16.
Photo: ERICKY BONIPHACE/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
“Covid-19 will likely smolder in transmission hot spots,” said
Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s regional director for Africa. “It could become a
fixture in our lives for the next several years.”
In Tanzania, a dozen government officials, including a cabinet minister,
have died in recent weeks after suffering short respiratory illnesses,
though there has been no official confirmation whether any of them
contracted Covid-19. Cellphone videos taken by residents and viewed by
The Wall Street Journal show dozens of bodies being buried a nighttime
in a single mass grave overseen by the police.
“We never got to verify that the body that was buried was really him”
said Joseph Mchanga, who rushed to a cemetery in Tanzania’s capital for
the burial of his cousin, who had died after days of severe coughing and
fever. “The bodies were many and all covered up, we were only allowed to
approach after the grave had been covered up.”
Officially, the country of 56 million has only 509 cases, with 21
deaths. But doctors, health experts and opposition politicians say the
virus has killed hundreds. Overbooked clinics are turning away
ambulances. After the U.S. Embassy issued a health alert, the government
abruptly stopped releasing its data in mid-May.
“Poor response has led to massive deaths and nighttime burials,” said
Zitto Kabwe, an opposition lawmaker. “The official figures are massively
under reported, there is a clear lack of transparency.”
Medical staff of International Medical Corps put on personal protective
equipment at an isolation ward in Juba, South Sudan, on April 24.
Photo: ALEX MCBRIDE/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
President John Magufuli, who has spent much of the crisis holed up in
his remote home village, blamed the national laboratory of falsifying
coronavirus tests at the behest of “imperial powers” to inflate the
threat of the disease. He also claimed that his son contracted Covid-19
and healed by undergoing steam baths and drinking ginger and lemon.
Understanding Coronavirus
After refusing to close shops and churches, Mr. Magufuli said Thursday
that he would reopen sporting events. “Immunity improves when people
come together…People must do sports to remain healthy,” he said. A
political ally of the president, Paul Makonda, the regional
commissioner of Dar es Salaam, said Friday that Tanzanians should take
to the streets on Sunday to celebrate “the end of the coronavirus.”
Neighboring Zambia and Kenya have closed some border crossings with
Tanzania following an increase of imported coronavirus cases, stalling
multimillion-dollar shipments of copper and cobalt for several days.
Landlocked Uganda and Rwanda have imposed more measures on travelers and
truckers from Tanzania.
Now the virus appears to be surging in nearby South Sudan, where 11
cabinet members, including Vice President Riek Machar, who heads a task
force to combat the disease, tested positive for coronavirus this week,
along with his wife, also a cabinet member.
Members of the South African National Defense Force checked people’s
temperatures in Johannesburg on May 20.
Photo: Jerome Delay/Associated Press
Analysts said the news suggests the virus could be working its way
through the country’s elite at a delicate moment: South Sudan last week
became the first African country to register coronavirus cases in
refugee camps. Some 1.5 million people are living in enclosed and
overcrowded temporary settlements across the country, where the
implementation of social distancing is impossible.
Every one of the 15-member coronavirus task force has now tested
positive for the virus, according to the minister of information, who
has also been infected. The government on Friday was forced to deny
reports that cabinet ministers had been airlifted out of the country for
emergency treatment.
STAY INFORMED
Get a coronavirus briefing six days a week, and a weekly Health
newsletter once the crisis abates: Sign up here.
In Cameroon, the military has been tasked with hastily burying anyone
suspected to have died from Covid-19. French medical agency Doctors
Without Borders has warned that the country of 25 million, with over
4,000 official infections and 140 deaths, has seen the disease spread
from cities into the countryside. Activists say the true number of cases
is likely five times the official figure.
President Paul Biya, who has led the country since Gerald Ford was in
the Oval Office, hasn’t appeared in public for months, sparking rumors
that he might be dead of Covid-19. On Friday, the government said one of
the president’s personal doctors had died in the capital Yaoundé.
A boy walked in front of a graffiti promoting the fight against Covid-19
in Nairobi, Kenya, on May 22.
Photo: Baz Ratner/Reuters
—Emmanuel Tumanjong in Yaoundé, Cameroon, contributed to this article.
Write to Nicholas Bariyo at nicholas.bariyo-at-wsj.com and Joe Parkinson at
joe.parkinson-at-wsj.com
https://www.wsj.com/articles/coronavirus-might-become-fixture-in-africa-for-years-11590238801
--
So many immigrant groups have swept through our town
that Brooklyn, like Atlantis, reaches mythological
proportions in the mind of the world - RI Safir 1998
http://www.mrbrklyn.com
DRM is THEFT - We are the STAKEHOLDERS - RI Safir 2002
http://www.nylxs.com - Leadership Development in Free Software
http://www.brooklyn-living.com
Being so tracked is for FARM ANIMALS and extermination camps,
but incompatible with living as a free human being. -RI Safir 2013
_______________________________________________
Hangout mailing list
Hangout-at-nylxs.com
http://lists.mrbrklyn.com/mailman/listinfo/hangout
|
|
