Addis Ababa, November 11, 2021: In a bid to detect COVID-19 infections and variants in the early stages, the Africa CDC has advised communities across the continent to intensify testing and also make use of the available new technologies such as the antigen diagnostic tests.

Simple to perform, the antigen diagnostic tests are considered to be very useful as they can inform healthcare workers and the individuals of their infection status at the point of testing. As a result of early detection of the highly infectious virus, health workers are able to trace and lock-down the affected areas, if necessary. This helps to reduce the level of transmission and the spread of the virus from one individual to another. 

“We have to make use of the new technologies and start testing massively. By using the antigen diagnostic tests, we will be able to detect the different hotspots and carry out micro look downs in different sections of the community where variants have been reported.”

“We also have to intensify the community engagement so that they can continue to take public health and social measures, rather than waiting for the situation to get out of hand and then implement a general nationwide lockdown that affects the economy,” said the director of the Africa CDC, Dr. John Nkengasong.             

He added that; “We also need to encourage vaccination of big numbers. More vaccine doses are being delivered to different countries and we should increase the uptake of the COVID-19 vaccines to protect ourselves. Vaccination is the tool to get us through this pandemic”

COVID-19 UPDATE

As of November 11^th, a total of 8.5 million infections have been reported across all 55 member states. A total 220,000 people have lost their lives, accounting for 4.4 percent of the COVID-19 cases reported globally.

84% of the member states (46 countries) are experiencing the third wave. Burkina Faso, Mali Algeria, Benin, Egypt, Kenya, Mauritius, Somalia and Tunisia are currently experiencing a severe fourth wave.             

Over 79 million COVID-19 tests have been conducted since the pandemic started. Over 1 million new tests (1,022,560) were reported for epidemiological week 44 (1 - 7 November 2021) representing a 57% decrease from the previous week when 816,284 tests were reported.

END

About the Africa CDC

The Africa CDC is a specialized technical institution of the African Union that strengthens the capacity and capability of Africa’s public health institutions as well as partnerships to detect and respond quickly and effectively to disease threats and outbreaks, based on data-driven interventions and programmes. Learn more at: www.africacdc.org

For further information, please contact:

Mrs Wynne Musabayana | Head of Communication | Information and Communication Directorate | African Union Commission | E-mail: MusabayanaW@africa-union,org | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Edward Kalema | Information and Communication Directorate | African Union Commission | Email: KalemaE@africa-union.org | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Information and Communication Directorate, African Union Commission I E-mail: DIC@africa-union.org
Web: au.int | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | Follow Us: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube