Africa CDC Weekly Event Based Surveillance Report, February 2023

Update to event:
As of 6 p.m. East African Time (EAT) 2 February 2022, a total of 12,247,934 COVID-19 cases and 256,690 deaths (case fatality ratio [CFR]: 2.1%) were reported by the 55 African Union (AU) Member States (MS). This represents 2% of all cases and 4% of all deaths reported globally. Forty-three (78%) AU MS are reporting case fatality rates (CFR) higher than the global CFR. Fifty-three MS have reported COVID-19 cases infected with the Alpha (50 MS), Beta (45), Delta (52), Gamma (3) and Omicron (51) variants of concern (VOC). Additionally, 32 MS have detected the Omicron BA.2 sub-variant, two MS reported the Omicron sublineage (XBB.1.5) and 11 Member States are now reporting the Omicron sublineage (BF.7 or BA.5.2.1.7).

Fifty-four (98%) MS are currently providing COVID-19 vaccination to the general population. Cumulatively, 898 million doses have been administered on the continent. Of these doses administered, 440.7 million people have been partially vaccinated, 412.2 million have been fully vaccinated, and 45.1 million have received a booster dose. Eritrea is the only AU MS yet to start COVID-19 vaccination rollout.

For Epi week 4 (23 – 29 January 2023), 6,510 new COVID-19 cases were reported, which is a 20% increase in the number of new cases reported compared to the previous week (3). The Southern region accounted for 66% of the new COVID-19 cases reported this week, followed by the Central (17%), Eastern (12%), Northern (4%) and Western (1%) regions. Burundi (11) had the highest number of new daily COVID-19 cases per million population among all MS.
Last week, 45 new COVID-19 deaths were reported in Africa, which is 45% increase in new deaths reported compared to the previous week. The Southern region accounted for 58% of the new COVID-19 deaths this week. The remaining deaths were reported from the Northern (38%), Eastern (2%), Western (2%), while no new deaths were reported from the Central region in the past week.

More than 100 thousand tests were conducted during the past week, reflecting a 63% increase in the number of tests compared to the previous week. The weekly % test positivity has increased from 5% to 13% compared to the previous week. Since February 2020, over 125.5 million COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Africa.