The Delta Covid-19 variant, first identified in India, has been detected in 16 African countries.
The World Health Organization says that new and faster-spreading variants are fuelling the continent’s surging third wave, infections reaching an all-time peak compared to past waves.
The Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, says that the speed and scale of the third wave is like nothing they have seen before, pushing the threat to Africa up to a whole new level.
Cases have increased in Africa for six weeks running.
According to the latest data, the Delta variant has been detected in 97%of samples in Uganda and 79% in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The head of DR Congo coronavirus response Jean-Jacques Muyembe says that the rate at which the Delta variant is spreading is worrying.
He says that hospitals are already overwhelmed and the morgues are full to capacity.
With rising case numbers and hospitalizations across the continent, the WHO estimates that oxygen demand in Africa is now 50% greater than for the first wave peak one year ago.
Only 15 million Africans – just 1.2% of the continent's population – are fully vaccinated.
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