The discussions come as Dr.
“We are working hand in hand. ... We are in close discussions with
He said he hopes the treatment would help stressed health systems on the continent and would be part of an approach in 2022 that includes scaling up vaccines and expanding testing to help deal with the pandemic.
At least 39 countries have reported the new variant and the average increase of cases in
He noted that vaccination rates are still not high enough, saying governments are struggling because there are such high numbers of people only getting vaccinated when there is a peak, which leads to a lot of hospitalizations and pressure on the systems that can be avoided.
“My advice to the population on the continent is go get vaccinated,” he said. “If the population is not ready to go get the vaccines the governments have worked so hard to bring to the continent, I see why countries would not have an option other than to impose vaccine mandates.”
The continent has received more than 660 million doses of vaccines, with only about 340 million doses administered.
The strategy on countering COVID-19 in
WHO added that “after a six-week surge, Africa’s fourth pandemic wave driven primarily by the omicron variant is flattening, marking the shortest-lived surge to date.” Deaths are lower than in the previous waves and hospitalizations remain low, WHO noted.
AP writer
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission., source