Africa : COVID-19 – Africa's looming humanitarian and security crisis

Abstract

Africa remains by far the most vulnerable continent in terms of viral and bacterial infections. Covid-19 is likely to prove the worst of these. Numbers shift constantly, but by 24 March 2020, more than 1,788 Covid-19 cases and 58 deaths had been reported in 43 African countries. Most confirmed cases so far have originated from outside the continent and the relatively limited international mobility of her people may have temporarily spared Africa the worst effects of the virus. But domestic community transmission will be almost impossible to stop.