'Brutal' third wave hits Africa as vaccination slows

A man is vaccinated as another looks on while waiting to receive a dose of a coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine in Meyerton, south of Johannesburg, South Africa

Africa is facing a vicious coronavirus resurgence, with unprecedented hospital admissions and fatalities pushing health facilities to the brink as the continent falls far behind in the global vaccination drive. With just under 5.3 million reported cases and around 139,000 deaths among its nearly 1.3 billion people, Africa is still the world's least-affected continent after Oceania, according to an AFP tally. So far African nations have been spared disasters comparable to Brazil or India. But the pandemic is resurging at an alarming rate in at least 12 countries, with continental cases expected to hit a record peak in around three weeks.