Kampala – As COVID-19 cases in Uganda continue to climb faster than all earlier peaks, new and faster spreading variants are fueling the surge that continues to strain the healthcare system.
Cases have increased in Africa for six weeks running and rose by 25% week-on-week to almost 202 000 in the week ending on June 27, reaching nine-tenths of the continent’s previous record of 224 000 new cases.
Deaths rose by 15% across 38 African countries to nearly 3000 in the same period.
According to the latest country reports, the Delta variant was detected in 97% of samples sequenced in Uganda and 79% of samples sequenced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Dr Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, has revealed that the third wave of COVID-19 on the continent has been fueled by the daunting delta variant.
“The speed and scale of Africa’s third wave are like nothing we’ve seen before. The rampant spread of more contagious variants pushes the threat to Africa up to a whole new level. More transmission means more serious illness and more deaths, so everyone must act now and boost prevention measures to stop an emergency from becoming a tragedy,” said Dr Moeti.
Dr. Moeti divulged that statistics indicated that the new Delta variant has predominantly hit people under 45 years; a rather different segment that hasn’t been ravaged by the first and second waves for Uganda.
“In Uganda, 66% of severe illness in people younger than 45 years is attributed to the Delta variant. With rising case numbers and hospitalizations across the continent, WHO estimates that oxygen demand in Africa is now 50% greater than for the first wave peak one year ago,” said Dr Moeti.
Dr Moeti made the revelations during a virtual press conference on Thursday, July 1 facilitated by APO Group. She was joined by Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, Director-General, National Institute for Biomedical Research, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Technical Secretary of the Multisectoral Committee for the Response to COVID-19 in DRC and Professor Pontiano Kaleebu, Director MRC/Virus Research Institute (UVRI) and LSHTM Uganda Research Unit.
Vaccines progress in Africa
Although eight vaccines are safe and effective and have received WHO emergency use listing, shipments to Africa have dried up. Only 15 million people – just 1.2% of the African population – are fully vaccinated.
WHO has set up the African COVID-19 Vaccine Effectiveness Network to document the effectiveness of the available vaccines when used in the African context. These studies assess the effectiveness of each vaccine against the variants circulating in the region.
“While supply challenges grind on, dose sharing can help plug the gap. We are grateful for the pledges made by our international partners, but we need urgent action on allocations. Africa must not be left languishing in the throes of its worst wave yet,” said Dr Moeti.
WHO communications team asserted that African Immunization experts met to tackle a range of pressing issues, including COVID-19 vaccines, the status of the malaria vaccine implementation programme, polio eradication and routine immunization progress, at the biannual Regional Immunization Technical Advisory Group (RITAG) that was held virtually from 30 June to 1 July.
Participants also addressed the implementation of the regional framework for Immunization Agenda 2030, a roadmap to achieve crucial immunization goals. RITAG members offered recommendations to African governments to address key challenges and strengthen immunization systems.
STATUS: COVID cases in Uganda
Uganda’s Ministry of Health released results of COVID-19 tests done on June 29 which registered 1,057 new cases; raising the cumulative confirmed cases to 81,034 since March 2020.
A total of 1,081 cases remain admitted at various health facilities with 38 new deaths registered on June 29 floating the number of total deaths to 1,061.
To date, up to 1,333,486 tests have been conducted as the nation continues to wage a war against the pandemic with a total of 861,645 persons receiving COVID-19 vaccination jabs.
A ray of hope continues to beam through the tunnel with over 53,551 people recovering from the novel coronavirus.