Call for Papers for a Special Edition on the COVID‐19 in Africa

Journal of Public Health in Africa (JPHIA)

Call for Papers for a Special Edition on the COVID‐19 in Africa

Background

In early December 2020, one death and 41 hospitalizations with common symptoms but unknown etiology were  reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan, population 10 million.(1) By 7 January 2020 – only a month later – Chinese authorities had identified the cause as a novel coronavirus, later named  COVID‐19, and released its genetic sequence to the world for the development of  diagnostic kits.(2) On 21 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO)  released its first situation report on COVID‐19 with 282 cases, mostly in China, but  one each in Japan, Korea and Thailand.(2) Three weeks later, when the WHO  released its first COVID‐19 situation report, there were over 45 000 cases in China  and nearly 400 outside China.(3) As of mid‐April 2020, COVID‐19 had spread to 180  countries around the world with over 2 million cases and 140 000 deaths.(4) This  includes 52 African Union Member States with over 17 000 cases and over 900 deaths on the continent.