The pan-African health agency Africa CDC is putting the fight against the corona virus on a new basis. An initiative founded with industrial partners and state institutions, called „Partnership to Accelerate Covid-19 Testing“ (PACT), is to coordinate the African countries‘ national efforts and expand existing capacities.
„This is completely changing the momentum so far,“ said John Nkengasong, head of the African Union (AU) Africa CDC, today. 100,000 health workers are to be trained and one million social workers will be deployed.
Ten million tests planned
The institution draws on experiences from the fight against HIV / AIDS. So far, there are an average of 5,400 coronavirus evidence per day on the continent, according to Nkengasong. Ten million tests are planned in the coming months. „Our ability to test is accelerating very quickly.“
This should soon increase the number of cases. In Africa, with around 158,000 confirmed evidence and around 4,500 deaths related to Covid-19 in 54 countries, comparatively few infections are known. According to experts, the number of unreported cases is likely to be high.
