The latest meta-analysis conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) reveals that 65% of people living in Africa may have been infected with Covid-19.
The WHO has reported 11.5 million infections in Africa, however officials say that the latest study suggests that the official numbers are ‘likely only scratching the surface of the real extent of coronavirus infections in Africa’.
The global average in the number of true infections is believed to be 16 times higher than confirmed cases. However WHO’s Africa boss, Matshidiso Moeti, said the study reveals that in Africa ‘infections could be as much as 97 times higher than the number of confirmed reported cases’, adding that in ‘real terms’ rather than the reported 8.2 million infections recorded by September 2021, ‘there were 800 million’.
‘This suggests that more than two thirds of all Africans have been exposed to the Covid-19 virus.’
It is thought that limited access to testing facilities meant a majority of infections in Africa went undetected, which goes some way to explain the large numerical discrepancy between confirmed and real infections.
Another reason, according to Moeti, is that ‘the focus was very much on testing people who were symptomatic’.
The WHO found that 67% of people in Africa infected with the virus were asymptomatic.
Early in the pandemic, WHO director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the virus would devastate Africa, yet the continent has fared well compared to the rest of the world.
According to the U.N health agency, the reason for this might be Africa’s youthful population, or as other studies have suggested, previous infections from diseases such as malaria may have provided some protection.
Despite Africa’s declining infection rate and high exposure to the virus, Moeti signaled caution saying, ‘We cannot declare victory yet’, and citing the risk of more lethal variants emerging, combined with the low vaccination rate (15%).