Corona in Africa – The expected disaster is yet to many African States have remained invested in the health sector, in order to get Covid-19 in the handle. Bernd Dörries from Kapstadt14 Kommentare14Viele African States have invested in the health sector: A South African in Johannesburg at the beginning of the week on Covid-19 test. Photo: Keystone
As in the slums of Johannesburg in 1904, the bubonic plague broke out, took the white government, the disease, in order to implement what you wanted to do anyway: they burned down the huts in the slums, and deported the black population to the outskirts of town – it was the birth of Soweto, the largest Township in South Africa. Than 14 years later, the Spanish flu raged, were still pushed more people to the margins. The black residents constituted a health risk, claimed that the white government.
more than a hundred years later, things are rather the reverse, Corona came on as a disease of the Rich, to South Africa, which brought it from skiing in Italy. But, above all, its the same product loyalty. “The legacy of Apartheid geography continues to have an effect until today,” said Max Price, former Vice-rector of the University of Cape town. The spatial separation between the Poor and the rich, and quickly led to the Lockdown were probably a reason why the Coronavirus in South Africa have spread so far so quickly, how many gloomy predictions of a month ago, had predicted on Friday, only 5647 people were infected, 103 patients died.
Bill Gates’ failure prognosis
It Figures that cautious optimism, as in other African countries. More than ten million Dead, Bill Gates predicted the continent, if not swiftly acted. Almost two months later, there are cases of just over 1600 deaths.
The low Numbers are partly due to the fact that in countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or Somalia, far too little is being tested. And the Virus here later arrived in Europe. Use the time but a lot of States. “African countries have taken radical steps, borders are closed and public life is limited”, says John Nkengasong, Director of the African centre for disease control in Addis Ababa. Still, it was too early to give the all-clear. Two studies from the USA and Spain health experts cautiously hope that people with HIV could not be more strongly affected by Corona. In South Africa alone, 2.5 million are HIV-Positive, not take any medication regularly life.
the Swiss expert “more confident”
Many countries have done in the past few weeks, a lot of it to improve their health systems. As the Virus arrived on the continent, only Senegal and South Africa will be able to test people, today, in virtually all of the 49 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa is possible. Senegal is planning to introduce a Test that brings in tens of minutes results in Kenya factories produce tens of thousands of masks of the day, Somalia has presented the first self-made ventilator, in South Africa, is soon to start a series production. He was “rather confident about the Covid-19-mortality in Africa”, says Christian Lengeler of the Swiss tropical Institute. “Mortality in Europe is extremely due to age. You can really say that under 60 years of age and not much happened.” While in Switzerland, 18.7% of the population is over 65 years of age, be it in the African average of just 2 percent. The do hope.
the Same time, Lengeler points out the enormous economic and social costs that have emerged in many African countries through the drastic measures. Million merchants, day-laborers, cooks, and drivers in the informal Economy have lost their jobs. In a suburb of Johannesburg, the needy, stood on Friday in a four-Kilometer-long queue for food parcels. “Hopefully, African governments will develop soon bring their own recommendations, and not take them from the North,” says Lengeler. In Rwanda, Ghana and South Africa, the part of strict restrictions will be loosened again.
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