Ethiopian Informer
ADDIS ABABA, May 27 (EI) — The Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), specialized agency of the African Union (AU), on Wednesday urged African countries to intensify COVID-19 surveillance measures in order to contend the rapid spread of the virus.
Noting the rapid increase of new COVID-19 infections across the continent, the Africa CDC in its latest continental situation update report issued on Wednesday stressed that “all African Union (AU) member states should enhance their surveillance to include COVID-19 and for Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI).”
The Africa CDC in particular called on African governments to add questions about travel, contact history, and testing for coronavirus to existing influenza surveillance systems in their surveillance measures.
African countries have been also urged to notify healthcare facilities “to immediately inform local public health officials about persons who meet the case definition for COVID-19, SARI and/or have recent travel to a country with local transmission or history of contact with a case.”
“AU member states should continue to enhance surveillance at the borders to screen incoming travelers for severe respiratory illness and a history of recent travel to affected countries or territories reporting local or community transmission,” the Africa CDC warned.
The Africa CDC also advised countries to perform contact tracing of confirmed cases based on transmission type and country capacity, as well as to provide guidance to the general public about seeking immediate medical care and informing healthcare providers about recent travel or contact history in anyone who develops symptoms of severe respiratory illness
As of Wednesday afternoon, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases across the African continent surpassed 119,391 as the death toll from the ongoing pandemic surged to 3,589, according to the Africa CDC.
Latest figures from the Africa CDC also showed that some 48,618 people who have been infected with the COVID-19 have recovered across the continent as of Wednesday afternoon.
Amid the rapid spread of the virus across the continent, the highly COVID-19 affected African countries include South Africa with 24,264 confirmed cases, Egypt with 18,756 confirmed cases, Algeria with 8,697 confirmed cases, Nigeria with 8,344 confirmed cases, and Morocco with 7,577 confirmed cases, it was noted.
