BY LISA FRENCH

According to data from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and the World Health Organization, the rate of coronavirus infection in Sub-Saharan Africa has gone up by an average of 6.1% weekly over the month leading to December 13. Reuters, based on a recent tally that the news organization published on Saturday, put the number at more than 2.5 million, saying that populous countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are reporting near-record level of infections.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control notes that the level of increase is not the same in all the countries in the area. In fact, the Centres say, some countries show virtually no increase.

The region, which was praised for its health leaders’ ability to respond better to the pandemic than other regions, and registered only 37,000 deaths at a time the United States had 210,000 deaths, is now the subject of renewed concerns, given its generally-weak health infrastructure and insufficient public health human resources.

There may have been some under-reporting of cases in Africa as there has been elsewhere, but the Africa Centres for Disease Control earned praises by promptly taking appropriate measures at the start of the pandemic. Those included lockdowns, the promotion of proper hygiene specific to the coronavirus, and air travel bans that quickly went into effect nearly all over the region, even in countries such as Zimbabwe, Benin, and others before they even had one case.

However, the adverse impact of these measures on the economy has led to the relaxation of social distancing and other measures.

According to Reuters, over the past thirty days alone, South Africa has reported about 454,000 new cases, which represents almost 18% of the total reported 2.5 million cases. The rainbow nation now accounts for more than 60% of daily new cases. It has so far reported 912,477 infections and 24,539 deaths. The situation, the South African government said on Friday, stems from the advent of a new variant of the coronavirus.

Faced with this new challenge, governments across the region have resorted to the proven measures—including lockdowns, the restriction of gatherings—which will translate to a not-so-Merry Christmas.

According to the World Health Organization, Africa still tests fewer of its citizens compared to other regions. The organization notes that 70% of the total tests are conducted in just ten countries: South Africa, Morocco, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Cameroon, Rwanda, Uganda and Ghana. Relative to its huge population, Nigeria, the region’s most-densely populated country, has not been doing enough testing.