WHO: Almost 86 per cent of Covid-19 infections in Africa go unnoticed

Cape Town, Oct 14 (BNA) The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday that nearly 86 percent of all coronavirus cases in Africa go unnoticed.

The number of infections on the continent reached 59 million, the World Health Organization said, more than seven times more than the 8 million cases reported.

The World Health Organization said the large number of unreported cases could be explained by the fact that health facilities have so far focused on testing people who show symptoms of the disease, which has led to a significant underreporting.

“With limited testing, we are still flying blind in many communities in Africa…what we’re seeing may just be the tip of the iceberg,” said Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

So far, only 70 million Covid-19 tests have been reported on the continent of 1.3 billion people, the World Health Organization said.

By comparison, the United States, which has about a third of the population, has conducted more than 550 million tests, while Britain, which has less than 10 percent of Africa’s population, has conducted more than 280 million tests.

In total, more than 8.4 million cases of coronavirus have been recorded in Africa, including 214,000 deaths.

Less than half of African countries that have received vaccines have vaccinated an average of about 2% of their entire population, according to World Health Organization data.

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