Two thirds of Africans may have had Covid – WHO study

Pandemic fears proved wrong 
Moeti said producing accurate data on the continent, which largely has inadequate and under-resourced health facilities, has been difficult because “67 percent” of people on the continent show no symptoms.

While the pandemic has had a catastrophic impact on some parts of the globe, Africa appeared to have escaped the worst and was not as badly hit as initially feared at the start of the pandemic.

With weak health facilities and services, many experts had feared the systems would be overwhelmed.

Several analyses have been made of the pattern of the pandemic in Africa, with some concluding that the continent’s youthful population acted as a buffer against severe illness.

In Ghana, the WHO study established that the most infected were young people, according to Dr Irene Owusu Donkor of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research.

Many African countries are accustomed to epidemics, but reported numbers do not always reflect the reality.

The WHO had last year already cautioned that six out of every seven Covid infections went undetected in Africa.

Most covid cases on the continent have been recorded in South Africa – with over 3.7 million infections — which conducted most tests and boasts of better-resourced health facilities compared to most sub-Saharan Africa countries.

Even so, its official covid fatality toll is believed to be much lower than the actual numbers of people killed by the virus.