When COVID-19 cases were first detected in Africa last year, only two countries at the time were able to test the novel coronavirus. This left other countries vulnerable to the highly infectious and sometimes fatal virus.
According to the African Development Bank, the daily testing capacity of African countries rose from 13 200 at the beginning of the epidemic to 105 000 today. This means that African countries are no longer on the back foot and are recovering gradually.
The countries have also received donations such as Personal Protective Equipment, sanitisers and masks to help stop spread of the coronavirus. The bank, China and the US are among those who have opened their wallets to assist the content fight the pandemic.
“Early detection has been instrumental in limiting the spread of the virus and has helped countries trace, isolate and treat confirmed cases. However this was a challenge in Africa as many countries did not have the adequate testing facilities. This changed as the pandemic progressed as countries such as Côte d’Ivoire which had no laboratory for detecting the coronavirus but now has about 10,” says ” says the African Development Bank.
So far the continent has reported 178 million cases and 3.86 million fatalities.
Below is the full statement on the increase of labs to test for COVID-19 in Africa:
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