Africa COVID deaths surge 43 percent in a week: WHO

The agency says the rise is a warning sign that hospitals in affected countries are reaching a ‘breaking point’.

Coronavirus-linked deaths in Africa surged by 43 percent in the space of a week, driven by a lack of intensive-care beds and oxygen, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday, as the new Delta variant surged on the continent. Fatalities associated with COVID in the WHO’s Africa region, which includes North Africa, rose to 6,273 in the week of July 5-11, compared with 4,384 in the previous week. “Deaths have climbed steeply for the past five weeks. This is a clear warning sign that hospitals in the most impacted countries are reaching a breaking point,” Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa told a virtual news conference.