Coronavirus (COVID-19) Collection
SARS-CoV-2 prevalence and immunity: a hospital-based study from Malawi
Our study suggests that official data underestimate COVID-19 transmission. Using sVNTs to estimate immunity in Malawi is feasible and revealed considerable post-infection immunity in our cohort. Subclinical infection and transmission are probably a game-changer in surveillance, mitigation and vaccination strategies.The toll of COVID-19 on African children: A descriptive analysis on COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality among the pediatric population in Sub-Saharan Africa
Since its emergence in December 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has infected millions of people around the world and caused over 3.9 million officially registered deaths (WHO, 2021). From the onset of this pandemic, the pathogenic aspects in the pediatric population have remained less clear, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where specialists' initial projections estimated a high number of cases and deaths (Cabore et al., 2020).COVID-19 and Sudden Unexpected Community Deaths in Lusaka, Zambia, Africa - A Medico-Legal Whole-Body Autopsy Case Series
As of June 30th, 2021, the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has resulted in 180 million COVID-19 cases (with 3.9 million deaths) reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO). Of these, 5.4 million cases with 141,000 deaths have been reported from Africa (WHO Afro 2021). Currently, 150,000 COVID-19 cases have been recorded in Zambia, with 2,100 deaths (WHO COVID-19 dashboard – Zambia 2021).Post-mortem examination of Hospital Inpatient COVID-19 Deaths in Lusaka, Zambia - A Descriptive Whole-body Autopsy Series
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has caused 171,292,827 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 3,687,589 deaths globally as of June 4th, 2021. Of these 3,530,845 cases occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with 131,630 deaths (WHO Coronavirus dashboard, 2021; Africa CDC - Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), 2021). Zambia reported its first COVID-19 case in March 2020 and has since recorded 96, 563 cases with 1,284 deaths as of June 4th, 202 (World Health Organisation, 2021). Eighteen months after the first COVID-19 cases were reported from Wuhan, China, several major knowledge gaps on COVID-19 pathology and pathogenesis remain, particularly in SSA.Clinical features and risk factors associated with morbidity and mortality among patients with COVID-19 in northern Ethiopia
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a novel coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan, China in 2019, has resulted in an unprecedented global pandemic of respiratory illness, termed ‘coronavirus disease 2019’ (COVID-19) (Huang et al., 2020; Zhu et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2020). As of 3 February 2021, more than 104 million cases of COVID-19 and 2.26 million COVID-19-related deaths have been reported worldwide (World Health Organization, 2021). The first case of COVID-19 in Ethiopia was reported on 13 March 2020, and there had been 138,861 cases of COVID-19 and 2116 (1.5%) COVID-19-related deaths as of 3 February 2021.Multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) in an adolescent Nigerian girl with COVID-19: A call for vigilance in Africa
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was observed that infection was less prevalent in children, with a 2% prevalence for people aged ≤19 years among a Chinese cohort of 72314 cases. (Wu, MacGoogan, 2020) Children were also reported to have a lower risk for severe COVID-19 disease requiring critical care in North America. (Shekerdemian et al., 2020) As the pandemic progressed, reports from European and North American countries highlighted the occurrence of a hyper, multisystem inflammatory process in children that had features like Kawasaki disease (KD) (WHO, 2020).Institut Pasteur International Network’s efforts to guide control measures against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic among healthcare workers in Africa
Worldwide, healthcare workers (HCWs) are the most valuable resource during epidemics, but they are also tremendously vulnerable as they work at the front-line (Anonymous, 2020; Chou et al., 2020). While the general population has been advised to stay at home to adhere to social distancing rules, HCWs go to work in hospitals, placing themselves and their family contacts at high risk from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).Evolution and genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 in Africa using whole genome sequences
Towards the end of December 2018, Chinese authorities, through the World Health Organization office in China, made the world known of a new pathogen responsible for a series of pneumonia associated infections in Wuhan, Hubei province (WHO 2020a). The pathogen was later identified to be a novel coronavirus closely related to the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus (SARS), with a possible bat origin (Zhou et al., 2020). The World Health Organization named the disease COVID-19 (Chan et al., 2020), and later declared it a pandemic on 11th March 2020, prompting concerted efforts towards prevention and control worldwide (WHO 2020a).Africa’s low COVID-19 mortality rate: A paradox?
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (World Health Organization, 2020a). The outbreak started in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 (Huang et al., 2020a; Huang et al., 2020b). It was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the World Health Organization (WHO) on January 30, 2020 and a pandemic on March 11, 2020 (World Health Organization, 2020b; World Health Organization, 2020c).Addressing Africa’s pandemic puzzle: Perspectives on COVID-19 transmission and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa
The first cases of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) were reported in late December 2019 in the city of Wuhan, Hubei province in the People’s Republic of China (Morawska and Milton, 2020). Phylogenetic analysis of whole genome sequence data also showed that 2019-nCoV falls within the genus Betacoronavirus, which includes the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and several bat-derived SARS-like coronaviruses (Chen et al., 2020, Coronaviridae Study Group of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses, 2020, Udugama et al., 2020, Xu et al., 2020).Safeguarding gains in the sexual and reproductive health and AIDS response amidst COVID-19: The role of African civil society
The emergence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Africa has presented the most severe public health challenge for the continent in recent history, placing 1.2 billion people at risk (El-Sadr and Justman, 2020). Health systems in Africa are already strained (Medinilla et al., 2020) as a result of other infectious diseases, such as HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis (TB) (Mhango et al., 2020). Currently, South Africa – one of the countries with the highest number of people living with HIV and with one of the largest TB burdens in the world (Hansoti et al., 2019; WHO, 2019) – has the highest number COVID-19 infections on the continent (Isilow, 2020) (Figure 1).Translation of genomic epidemiology of infectious pathogens: Enhancing African genomics hubs for outbreaks
The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a viral outbreak caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), first arose in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and it was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on January 30, 2020 (WHO, 2020b). Seven months into the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of cumulative cases continues to steadily increase. As of August 3, 2020, 17,660,523 cases had been detected, with 680,894 total deaths globally. Africa has borne 4.5% of global morbidity and 2.0% of fatalities (WHO, 2020a).The role of testing in the fight against COVID-19: Current happenings in Africa and the way forward
The dramatic increase in suspected COVID-19 cases in Africa has placed an enormous burden on public and private clinical facilities. To date, the most commonly used method for identifying and confirming the virus is the laboratory-based reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test. Unfortunately, testing capacities have been limited in many parts of Africa because of inadequate test kits, which have restricted scaling up beyond the few public health laboratories at designated locations.COVID-19 and routine childhood immunization in Africa: Leveraging systems thinking and implementation science to improve immunization system performance
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory disease caused by a novel virus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (Gorbalenya et al., 2020). The outbreak of this disease was first reported in December 2019 in Wuhan, China (Lu et al., 2020). The virus can spread from human to human through droplets or contaminated surfaces (Lai et al., 2020). It has an incubation period of 2–14 days and viral shedding has been reported in pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic carriers (He et al., 2020; Lai et al., 2020).What works and what does not work in response to COVID-19 prevention and control in Africa
Since its emergence in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, there have been nearly 6,663,304 confirmed cases and 392,802 deaths related to coronavirus disease, as reported from 215 countries and territories (WHO Situation Report-138, 2020). On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, pointing to over 118,000 cases of the coronavirus illnesses in over 110 countries and territories around the world and the sustained risk of further global spread. The rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic places a heavy burden on healthcare systems.Social consequences of COVID-19 in a low resource setting in Sierra Leone, West Africa
Since its first description in Wuhan, China (Zhu et al. 2020), SARS-CoV-2 spread all over the world, being declared by the World Health Organization as a pandemic. SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused millions of infections and thousands of deaths, causing significant challenges to every health systems, including in high-income countries, where shortages of human resources and devices have been documented (Bressan et al. 2020). Several authorities raised fears of potential consequences of SARS-CoV-2 spread in sub-Saharan Africa.COVID-19 and Nigeria: putting the realities in context
The year 2020 was welcomed by a deadly viral outbreak called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), previously known as 2019-novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). COVID-19 was reported from Wuhan, the capital and major business city of Hubei province, China (Wuhan city, 2020). In a very short time, the disease spread across China and cases were reported with an exponential increase in morbidity and mortality rates. The disease has evolved and continues to be a very serious emergency across the globe. On March 11 2020 the WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic, having met the epidemiological criteria of having infected > 100,000 people in at least 100 countries (Callaway, 2020).
