Africa Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention Deputy Director Ahmed Ouma has cautioned Zambian’s to be weary of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic that has hit certain African countries.
Dr Ouma, notes that although Zambia is not one of the listed countries for the second wave of the pandemic, the citizens should not be complacent as the country, also has hotspots.
He however says that the second wave of the COVID pandemic is not uniform across Africa but that it is being driven by certain countries, among them South Africa, Kenya, Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt, due to different socio -economic and particularly environmental factors that exist on the continent.
He announced that the African Continent started experiencing a second wave of the COVID -19 pandemic in mid -October particularly in the East and Northern regions.
“Zambia is not one of the listed countries for the second wave but that is not to say you be complacent because within Zambia there are hotspots as well which the government of Zambia is tackling quiet effectively,” Dr. Ouma said.
“We are seeing a second wave since the mid of October, the second wave is not uniform across Africa, it is being driven by certain countries because of different socio economic and particularly environmental factors that exist on the continent,” he said.
Speaking at a media briefing in Lusaka this morning, the African CDC Deputy Director indicated that despite having observed a second wave on the African Continent, the curve is not as steep as the first wave and that it is expected that the curve will be much lower than in the first wave.
“If you look at Zambia, have been relatively stable and low after the first peak in mid-July but continentally from mid of October we have seen a rise in the second wave, though I must add that the curve is not as steep as the first wave and we expect that when it picks, it will pick at a much lower level than we saw in the first wave,” he observed.
And Dr. Ouma stated that the centre is supporting Zambia with rapid responders who are professionals, to help in combating the further spread of the coronavirus, adding that consideration is being made to include more people on board.
“For Zambia, what we have done is that we are supporting the country with rapid responders. We have professionals and there are about 10 and we have been asked for more which we will consider and we also have community health workers and those are currently 2, 000 and we will also consider increasing those numbers depending on how the pandemic is evolving in the country,’ Dr. Ouma said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Ouma indicated that as of this morning, nearly over 2.3 million COVID- 19 cases have been documented on the African continent, which he said is way below what was predicted at the beginning of the pandemic.
Thanks for the caution but I think it is misplaced. You should be trying to help western countries and our f00lish upnd diasporans who moved there in low skilled jobs. Because there abroad they have failed to fight covid. It is sad
It is sad that the lands with most of esau’s descendants are suffering the most. South Africans should have chosen education over European bribe money when Mandela was elected president. This whole mess would have been even way less as pronounced in Africa.
So u wat donations again