A medical staff member places a face mask on a mock patient at the Wilkins Infectious Diseases Hospital in Harare, Zimbabwe in March 2020, as they demonstrate their state of preparedness to treat Covid-19.
In Kenya, crowded neighbourhoods that prevented social distancing, poor or non-existent healthcare systems, and poor hygiene were said to be accelerators to the spread and expected high fatalities.
Data from the CDC show that the continent had its peak between July 8 and August 1, where the cases stood at 18, 000 daily and have since then recorded a drop in daily cases and also fatalities, to under 6,000 cases.
As Covid-19 was battering Europe and the Americas, leaving behind thousands dead and the healthcare system stretched to the limits, experts were giving a grim picture of the pandemic for Africa.
“African countries need to wake up to the increasing threat… The best advice for Africa is to prepare for the worst and prepare today,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) said then.
