Talking Points, Weekly Press Briefing on COVID-19 in Africa, 05 August 2021

Welcome Remarks

• Good morning from the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, and thank you to members of the press for joining today’s briefing.

• At this time, I will share updates on the COVID-19 situation on the continent, including our response efforts and updates on the vaccine situation.

 COVID-19 Epidemiology Update | OVERVIEW

• As of today, August 05^th, African Union Member States are reporting the following:

• Total cases: Over 6.8 million COVID-19 cases have been reported in Africa, (6,857,481). This accounts for 3.4% of total cases reported globally.

• Total recoveries: Over 6 million people have recovered, (6,004,328). This accounts for 88% of the total cases reported in Africa.

• Total deaths: Over 173,000 deaths have been reported (173,831). This results ina cumulative case fatality rate (CFR) of 2.5%,and accounts for 4.1% of deaths reported globally.

• The following five countries account for 63% of all cases reported in Africa.
  • South Africa: 36% of total cases (2,484,009)
  • Morocco : 10% of total cases (653,286)
  • Tunisia: 9% of total cases (599,594)
  • Egypt: 4% of total cases (284,472)
  • Ethiopia: 4% of total cases (281,811)

• Case Fatality Rate (CFR): 24 countries (44% of Member States), are reporting a CFR higher than the global average of 2.1%^[1] 

• 3 countries (Egypt, Somalia and Sudan) are now reporting a CFR higher than 5%.
• 58% of Member States(32 countries) experienced the 3^rd COVID-19 wave.

25* (78%) of the 32 MS are experiencing a more severe 3^rd wave.

• Since the last briefing, ONE additional Member States is experiencing a 3^rd wave (Nigeria).

Three countries (Algeria, Kenya na Tunisia) are experiencing a 4^th COVID-19 wave.

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^[1] Republic of Tanzania has reported 349 new cases and 8 deaths on 24 July 2021

COVID-19 Epidemiology Update | VARIANTS OF CONCERN (VOC)

• 39 countries are now reporting the Alpha (B.1.1.7) VOC.

Since the last briefing, ONE additional Member State (Mauritania) has reported this variant.

• 36 countries are now reporting the Beta (B.1.351) VOC.

     Since the last briefing, FOUR additional Member States (Central African Republic, Mauritania, Morocco na Senegal) have reported this variant.

• 24 countries are now reporting the Delta (B.1.617.2) VOC.

Since the last briefing, THREE additional Member States (Cape Verde, Central African Republic na Mauritania) have reported this variant.

• 1 Member State is now reporting the Gamma (GR/501Y.V3/P.1+P.1.1+P.1.2) VOC.

Since the last briefing, NO Member State had reported this variant. More details are provided in our dashboard (https://africacdc.org/institutes/africa-pathogen-genomics-initiative/)

COVID-19 Epidemiology Update | ONE-WEEK TREND ANALYSIS

• The following are trends for epidemiological week 30 (26 July – 1 August 2021), compared to the previous epidemiological week 29 (19 – 25 July 2021):

• New cases: A total of 273,129 new cases were reported in Africa. This is a 14% increase from the previous week.

• The highest proportion of new cases is from the Southern region (48%). The other regions are as follows:
• Northern region (38%)
• Eastern region (7%)
• Western region (6%)
• Central region (1%)

• The following 5 countries are reporting the highest number of new cases:
• South Africa (78,361)
• Morocco (50,445)
• Tunisia (21,773)
• Libya (19,367)
• Mozambique (13,253)

• The following 5 countries are reporting the highest daily incidence per million population, (average number of new cases per million population per day):
• Botswana (780)
• Seychelles (631)
• Libya (401)
• Eswatini (383)
• Tunisia (264)

New deaths: A total of 6,456 new deaths were reported in Africa compared to 6,710 from the previous week. This represents a 4% decrease in new deaths from the previous week.

COVID-19 Epidemiology Update | FOUR-WEEK TREND ANALYSIS

• The following are trends analysis over the past 4 epidemiological weeks, (5 July – 1 August 2021):

• New cases: There has been an overall 2% average increase in new cases reported in Africa each week.

• The following is a regional breakdown:
  • 37% increase in the Western region
  • 24% increase in the Northern region
  • 3% increase in the Central region
  • 3% increase in the Eastern region
  • 7% decrease in the Southern region

• The following is a breakdown by the most populous countries in Africa:
  • Nigeria: 71% average increase
  • Ethiopia: 50% average increase
  • Kenya: 19% average increase
  • Egypt: 34% average decrease
  • South Africa: 12% average decrease
  • DR Congo: 7% average decrease

• New deaths: There has been an overall 6% average increase in new deaths reported in Africa each week.

• The following is a breakdown by the most populous countries in Africa:
  • Nigeria: 89% average increase
  • DR Congo: 29% average increase
  • Ethiopia: 12% average increase
  • Kenya: 8% average increase
  • South Africa: 7% average increase
  • Egypt: 26% average decrease

COVID-19 TESTING & MEDICAL SUPPLIES

• To date, over 60 million COVID-19 tests (60,399,832) have been conducted in African Union Member States since the pandemic started.

• Over 1.6 million new tests, (1,698,395), were reported for epidemiological week 30 (26 July – 1 August 2021).

• This is a 29% increase from the previous week when 1,318,499 tests were reported.

• The cumulative positivity rate is 11.4% and the test-per-case ratio is 8.8 compared to a positivity rate of 11.3% and test-per-case ratio is 8.9 in the previous week.

29% of Member States(16 countries) are reporting test positivity rates higher than 12%.

CAPACITY-BUILDING FOR MEMBER STATES

• Last week, the Africa CDC conducted on Wednesday 21^st July 2021 an IPC session on “Building Back Better: Post pandemic resilience and addressing vaccine hesitancy among health workers” in English with 546 participants and on Thursday 22^nd July 2021in French with 131 participants.
• Africa CDC Conducted a joint training with WHO AFRO on COVID-19 infection prevention and control; addressing resurgence in Uganda and Rwanda, Zambia and Mozambique, in collaboration with UNICEF/US CDC, VSO, Action against hunger, 28-30^thJuly, over 700 participants were trained.
• Africa CDC conducteda regional IPC needs assessment meeting with Eastern Africa IPC focal points to identify the urgent needs of countries using a multimodal approach on Monday 26 July 2021 at 2pm EAT.
• Yesterday, the Africa CDC conducted its 3^rd session on “Strengthening IPC Programmes to prevent disease outbreaks” in English. The French session is planned for today, Thursday 05 August 2021 11:00 am GMT (Dakar Time), 12:00 noon GMT+1 (Lagos Time), 13:00 pm GMT+2 (Cairo and Johannesburg Time), 14:00 pm GMT+3 (Nairobi Time).

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MNYevcLSR8yRetgIvkIeFQ

• This afternoon, Africa CDC will organize the PUBLIC HEALTH GRAND ROUNDS themed: “A New Public Health Order in the 21st Century”. It will address what we’ve learned so far with the Pandemic.

PUBLIC HEALTH GRAND ROUNDS: A New Public Health Order in the 21st Century

COVID-19 VACCINE UPDATE

• With regards to the current progress of vaccinations across the continent – as of August 2^nd, African Union Member States are reporting the following:

• Total vaccine doses supplied: 103 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been procured by 53 Member States.

• Total vaccine doses administered: 70.6 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered, which corresponds to 68.2% of the total supply available in Africa.

• Coverage: 1.58% of the population has been fully vaccinated on the continent.

• The following five countries have administered the most vaccine doses in Africa.

Nchi	Doses administered	% of the supply	% of Population fully vaccinated
Morocco	24.7 million	91.3%	28.29%
South Africa	7.6 million	52.52%	0.57%
Egypt	5.6 million	76.23%	1.76%
Nigeria	3.9 million	46.61%	0.68%
Tunisia	2.7 million	74.48%	8.17%

More details are provided on our dashboard (https://africacdc.org/covid-19-vaccination/)

• Eritrea, na Burundi are the 2 remaining AU Member States yet to start COVID-19 vaccine roll out.

• Great news… Africa announces the rollout of 400m vaccine doses to the African Union Member States and the Caribbean.

His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa, President of the Republic of South Africa and African Union COVID-19 Champion, is pleased to announce the start of monthly shipments of vaccines acquired by the AU / African Vaccine Acquisition Trust (AVAT) to the AU Member States today. An initiative by the AU Member States to pool their purchasing power, the AVAT, on 28 March 2021, had signed the historic agreement for the purchase of 220 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson single-shot COVID-19 vaccine, with the potential to order an additional 180 million doses. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine was selected for this first pooled procurement for three reasons: first of all, as a single-shot vaccine, it is easier and cheaper to administer; second, the vaccine has a long shelf-life and favourable storage conditions. Last but not least, the vaccine is partly manufactured on the African continent, with fill-finish activities taking place in South Africa. Read more: https://africacdc.org/news-item/africa-announces-the-rollout-of-400m-vaccine-doses-to-the-african-union-member-states-and-the-caribbean/

• The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) have partnered for a new clinical research programme to boost access to Covid-19 vaccines in Africa. CEPI will offer up to $12.7m in funding to the Expanding Access and Delivery of COVID-19 Vaccines in Africa (ECOVA) consortium.

Led by IVI, the consortium will conduct clinical trials of the BBIBP-CorV vaccine developed by Sinopharm. The aim is to expand the vaccine’s use on the continent. The partners will focus on trials of Sinopharm’s Covid-19 vaccine in African populations and against local variants

• China had granted emergency approval of the Sinopharm vaccine for people under 18 in July. Sinopharm has been approved for children as young as three by the United Arab Emirates. China has also approved the emergency use of the Sinovac vaccine for children over 3 years of age.

China to use BioNTech vaccine as booster shot for Sinopharm and Sinovac. The BioNTech vaccine with 95% effectiveness at preventing the virus is currently awaiting government approval in China. In July, an advisory panel cleared the vaccine for use and now it is awaiting final approval from the drugs regulator.