Why has the African region not seen many Covid-19 cases so far?
According to the World Health Organization's situation report for March 12th, the African region has only recorded 51 cases of the Covid-19 virus, and only one of these cases has been fatal. The disease has so far only been recorded in 9 of the 54 African countries, with only three of these countries reporting more than a couple of cases.
Given the wider spread of the disease in practically every other region, and that the African population is around 1.3 billion, this appears to be a clear anomaly.
What reasons are there for this apparent inconsistency with expectations?
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Health care in many sub-Saharan African countries is extremely sparse. As an example, Sierra Leone has less than 250 doctors for the entire country.
As a result, it is likely that cases in that and similar countries are grossly under-reported.
Additional reason(s): a part of Africa is in the southern hemisphere. The flu season starts there next month. South Africa has imposed heavy handed measures in the hope of preventing an outbreak, e.g.:
Of course, there have been mistakes, and worse. The police and army have, at times, acted with thuggish abandon in their attempts to enforce the three-week-long lockdown, humiliating, beating, and even shooting civilians on the streets of the commercial capital, Johannesburg, and elsewhere. [...]
But overall, as South Africans mark their first week under one of the strictest lockdowns introduced anywhere in the world - no jogging outside, no sales of alcohol or cigarettes, no dog-walking, no leaving home except for essential trips and prison or heavy fines for law-breaking - there is an argument to be made that a government so often attacked as corrupt and inefficient, and a private sector so often seen as aloof and greedy, are rising to meet what is widely anticipated to be the greatest challenge this young democracy has ever seen.
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