Brazzaville: Covid-19 deaths in Africa have risen sharply in recent weeks, amid the fastest surge in cases the continent has seen so far in the pandemic, according to the regional office for the World Health Organization (WHO).
Fatalities are rising as hospital admissions increase rapidly as countries face shortages in oxygen and intensive care beds.
Covid-19 deaths rose by more than 40 per cent last week, reaching 6,273, or nearly 1,900 more than the previous week.
The number is just shy of the 6,294 peak, recorded in January.
"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," said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa in a press release on Thursday.
"Under-resourced health systems in countries are facing dire shortages of the health workers, supplies, equipment and infrastructure needed to provide care to severely ill COVID-19 patients," Dr Moeti stated.
Africa’s case fatality rate, which is the proportion of deaths among confirmed cases, stands at 2.6 percent compared to the global average of 2.2 percent.
Most of the recent deaths, or 83 percent, occurred in Namibia, South Africa, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia.
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