Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa,
disclosed this at WHO first online press briefing for 2021 on Thursday from its
regional office for Africa, based in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.
The director said WHO Regional Office for Africa through
COVAX facility would deliver 600 million doses, while Africa CDC would secure
270 million doses of the vaccines.
COVAX is co-led by Gavi, the Coalition for Epidemic
Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and WHO. It aims at accelerating the
development and manufacture of COVID-19 vaccines, and to guarantee fair and
equitable access for every country in the world.
The regional director said: “the COVAX facility, which is
coordinated by GAVI, WHO and CEPI, aims to provide around 600 million doses for
Africa in 2021.
“We expect the first doses to arrive by the end of March
with large roll out by June.
“However, COVAX facility can only cover 20 per cent of
Africa population so it is really wonderful to see the Africa Union efforts to
secure provisional 270 million doses by the end of 2021 are achieving success.
“Together we will deliver 900 million doses this year and we
know still more is needed,” Moeti said.
He said top priority for the Africa was to ensure access to
COVID-19 vaccine, saying “it is unfortunate that so far, vaccine distribution
has been inequitable but this a massive undertaking that will take time.”
According to her, as COVID-19 cumulative cases in Africa top
three million and daily case numbers exceed the first wave peak, the continent
is now confronted with emerging variants of the virus.
She said revamped public health measures were ever more
critical to avert a runaway surge in infections that could stretch health facilities
to the breaking point.
“An average of 25, 223 cases were reported each day between
28 December 2020 and 10 January 2021 in Africa, which is nearly 39 per cent
higher than the July 2020 two-week peak of 18, 104 daily average cases.
“Yet numbers may rise further in the coming days in the wake
of travelling, gathering and festivities over Christmas and New Year holidays.
“Overall cases in the region have risen steadily since
mid-September 2020, with a steeper rise from late November.”
In addition, the regional director said a new variant of the
virus called `501Y.V2’ was circulating widely in South Africa, accounting for
most of the new infections during the second wave.
According to her, mutations of the virus are unsurprising as
the more the pandemic spreads the higher the likelihood of changes.
“However, preliminary analysis finds the 501Y.V2 variation
to be more transmissible. Genomic sequencing has found the variant present in
Botswana, the Gambia and Zambia.
“Deeper investigations are underway to fully understand the
epidemiological implications, but at present there are no indications the new
variant increases the severity of the disease.
“Even if the new variant is not more virulent, a virus that
can spread more easily will put further strain on hospitals and health workers,
who are in many cases already overstretched,” continued Moeti.
She, however, said the development was a stark reminder that
the virus was relentless, that it still presented a manifest threat, and that
the war was far from won.
In addition, she said Nigeria was also carrying out more
investigations on a variant identified in samples collected between August and
October.
She added: “while for now there are no reports of the
COVID-19 variant circulating in the United Kingdom cropping up in the African
region, further investigation is needed.
“With WHO support, African countries are reinforcing genome
sequencing efforts, which are key to finding and understanding new variants as
they emerge and to help blunt their impact.
“WHO and the Africa network of genome sequencing
laboratories in Africa is supporting governments with training and data
analysis on genome sequencing, bioinformatics and technical expertise.”
The regional director said WHO had also developed guidance
on containing new variants and was assisting countries to manage and safely
transport samples for sequencing and analysis.
Moeti said while much progress was being made in building
genome sequencing capacity, the more than 5,000 sequences which had been
conducted so far in the region accounted for just two per cent of global
sequencing data.
“We call on all countries to increase testing and sequencing
of the virus to swiftly spot, track and tackle new COVID-19 variants as soon as
they appear.
“To defeat an agile, adaptive and relentless enemy, we must
know and understand its every move, and double down on what we know works best
against all variants of the virus.
“We must not become complacent. We must persist with the
proven public health measures that helped stop the spread of the virus during
the first wave – that’s physical distancing, constant handwashing and wearing
masks in public spaces,” she said. (NAN)