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Opinion & Views

Subiri Obwogo

Coronavirus

To Explain the “Low” Covid - 19 Death

Rates in Africa, Stop Counting the

Body Bags & Follow the Science

Instead

recently read a story published in Look, when the virus first erupted keeps lurching on, this is real: In
S
I cience, a non-profit publication, in Wuhan, China, the rest of the Tanzania, President John Magufuli
pondering the question of why the world was watching with a sense of declared sometime in August that his
Covid-19 pandemic seems to have schadenfreude. When it reached the country was virus-free after banning
spared Africa so far. West, Italy became the epicenter and testing and promoting an unproven
pariah state. President Trump was herbal tea from Madagascar as a cure.
Here’s the jigsaw puzzle: Africa quoted on March17, “You look at He’s discouraged social distancing and
recently reported its millionth official what’s going on with Italy. We don’t wearing of masks and invoked the
COVID-19 case with fewer than one want to be in a position like that.” He power of prayers.
confirmed case for every thousand continued to dismiss the “Chinese
people and just 23,000 deaths so far. virus” as a mild flu even as the first So, what could explain the apparent
Yet, if you look at the antibody surveys cases were reported in America. low death-to-infection ratio? A
done so far, more Africans have been straight answer is that I’ve no idea but
infected with the coronavirus, creating Fast forward to a few months, and the good news is that we now know
a huge disparity between antibody the United States with barely four per enough about how SARS-CoV-2 that
data and official case and death counts cent of the world’s population, at some causes Covid-19 is transmitted to
the report said. point, accounted for 25 per cent of the hazard some intelligent guesses.
coronavirus cases and had a fatality A good place to start is by comparing
I’ll delve into what I think is going on in rate five times higher than the global
a while but, oh boy, this is exhausting. average. test rates for active SARS-CoV-2 active
infections.
Cynics have seized on these findings
to argue that the emphasis currently If you’ve never had a nightmare where It’s a fact that testing in many African
put on preventing SARS-CoV-2 in you’re running away from a monster countries is too low to make the data
Africa is misplaced. and, no matter what you throw, it any meaningful. WHO recommends

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