Omicron variant spreads to 7 more African countries in a week

By Addis Getachew

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AA) - The omicron variant of the coronavirus has spread to seven more countries on the African continent, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Thursday.

During a weekly press briefing, Africa CDC director John Nkengasong said: “Seven more countries – Uganda, Zambia, Senegal, Tunisia, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe – have reported the new variant over the past one week.”

The omicron variant has now spread to 11 countries in Africa, he said, adding last week it was only confirmed in South Africa, Botswana, Ghana, and Nigeria.

According to Nkengasong, a Cameroonian virologist, Africa has so far recorded 8.7 million COVID-19 cases and 24,000 deaths.

“The case fatality rate is still around 2.5%, which is very stable,” he said, adding there were a few exceptions as countries like Somalia, Sudan, and Egypt reported a case fatality rate of 5%.

He said 12 countries, including South Africa, have seen a fourth wave of the COVID-19 virus, while Mauritius was experiencing the 5th wave.

Between Nov. 29 and Dec. 5, a whopping 98,000 new cases have been reported on the continent, accounting for an average increase of 88% from the previous week, Nkengasong said, and added that 79% of the new cases came from Southern Africa, 14% from North Africa, 3% from East Africa and 2% each from Central and West Africa.

The continent has so far procured 245.2 million doses of vaccines, of which 131.9 million (56.77%) have been administered.

According to the Africa CDC website, 10.95% of Africans were partially vaccinated, while 7.35% were fully vaccinated.