ESWATINI COVID-19 INFECTIONS DOWN BY 16%

MBABANE – Eswatini has managed to reduce new cases of COVID-19 by 16 per cent in the past four weeks.

According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the country is among the five African countries that have achieved the highest percentage decrease of new infections.

Africa CDC Director Dr John Nkengasong announced on Thursday that Eswatini was tied in fourth position together with Namibia after Central African Republic-39 per cent, Gambia-36 per cent and Madagascar-31 per cent.

Dr Nkengasong said the southern African region had the lowest percentage of new cases per week, at one per cent.

He also announced what the CDC was doing in preparation for the potential second wave of COVID-19, which is likely to strike in the next two months.

“We are increasing testing and contact tracing. We have also distributed equipment such as ventilators to about 18 member states that we feel could have challenges in the event the second wave comes.”

He said phase III of the clinical trials of the COVID-19 vaccine were also running in South Africa.

“The PACT dashboard is live and people can easily access information and also make updates there.” Dr Nkengasong said it would be wise for countries to support people by providing  masks.

By Thursday figures were showing that the African continent had 1.6 million infections in the past 10 months, accounting for 4.1 per cent cases of COVID-19 globally.

Out of these, Africa recorded 1.3 million recoveries and 40 000 deaths, translating to a fatality rate of 2.5 per cent and 3.5 per cent globally.

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