With a high percentage of Black Americans contracting and succumbing to COVID-19, have you wondered how Africa is faring during this global crisis?
Well, if the numbers are any indication, it appears to be doing a lot better than the United States.
Considering that Africa‘s 54 countries are spread across 11.7 million square miles and houses an estimated 1.3 billion people, it would seem that COVID-19 cases would be exploding there. But they aren’t.
As of April 3, the entire continent only had 7,182 cases, with South Africa leading with 1,505 and Sierra Leone with the least at two cases.
By comparison, East Asia, where COVID-19 first emerged in China, had 96,665 cases as of April 3 according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine Coronavirus Resource Center.
Why does a continent as large as Africa have so few COVID-19 cases compared to the rest of the world? Perhaps the answer lies in its preparedness.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in February, when it was first indicated that this pathogen was a threat to global health, it lent its support to African governments by deploying thousands of COVID-19 testing kits to counties throughout the continent.