MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th July, 2020) The rapid increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in South Africa could be testifying to a broader spread of the disease across the African continent, possibly downplayed due to deficient reporting, Graciano Masauso, the founder of the Africa Health Organization (AHO), told Sputnik.
"South Africa currently has the fifth-highest number of confirmed cases in the world and accounts for over half of Africa's confirmed cases. This could testify to a broader spread of the disease across the continent," Masauso said, going on to point to Kenya and Ethiopia, both of which have reported record high numbers of new cases over the past few days.
The reason why some African countries have significantly fewer confirmed cases than others can be due to either deliberate under-reporting or insufficient testing, the AHO head argued.
"While South Africa has the most cases, it is also doing the most tests. Earlier in July, South Africa was doing over 30 tests per 1,000 people, while Nigeria was doing 0.7 tests per 1,000 people, Ghana 10 and Kenya 3. Recent data shows that 80 percent of all testing in Africa is credited to 10 countries," Masauso clarified.
Several other countries, namely Tanzania and Guinea, have, in turn, "purposely held back data," according to Masauso. And while he did not specify by how much the genuine figure could differ from the officially reported one, he said the difference was most likely "significant."
As a case in point, Masauso cited how some countries experienced "a mysterious yet significant increase in 'natural deaths'" while reporting a rather low number of coronavirus cases.
"It took over three months for Africa to pass 100,000 cases, but less than three weeks for the number of cases to double. The vast majority of deaths � 70 percent � are confined to only five countries: South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria, Egypt, and Sudan. Infections are likely largely undetected," Masauso said.
Moreover, the NGO chief voiced a concern that COVID-19 was likely under-reported all across the world.
With regard to Africa, in particular, he said such shortcomings in official statistics of separate countries can hinder the continent's capacity to predict the peak of the outbreak and adequately prepare.
The latest WHO figures show that Africa is the second least affected region of the world to the Western Pacific, with a little more than 726,000 confirmed cases and 12,257 fatalities. However, looking at the monthly dynamics, the current figures are a result of almost a triple increase in just one month since late June.
The global coronavirus toll has meanwhile surpassed 16.3 million, while the death toll has reached 650,805, according to the World Health Organization.
