News Releases

Although COVID-19 vaccine supplies to Africa have risen significantly, the continent is struggling to expand rollout, with only 11% of the population fully vaccinated. The vaccination rate needs to increase six times if the continent is to meet the 70% target set for the middle of this year. The World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and partners are launching a new initiative aimed at resolving bottlenecks.

Weekly COVID-19 cases in Africa have dropped significantly and deaths dipped for the first time since the peak of the fourth pandemic wave propelled by the Omicron variant. The decline nudges the continent past its shortest upsurge yet that lasted 56 days.

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 in the continent where cumulative cases have now exceeded 10 million.

Africa’s largest-ever vaccination drive is well under way. All but one of Africa’s 54 nations are rolling out COVID-19 vaccines and around 250 million doses have been given on the continent.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has declared the meningitis outbreak that erupted in the north-eastern Tshopo Province over. A total of 2662 cases and 205 deaths were recorded.

Africa is ending another challenging year. The COVID-19 pandemic continued to spread, fuelled by new variants, while vaccine deliveries to the continent stuttered before picking up, causing delays in vaccination drives amid intensified calls for equity. The region also faced a range of other major health emergencies, including cholera, Ebola, Marburg and meningitis.

The Ebola outbreak that erupted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu Province in October – the second in 2021 – was today declared over, the national health authorities announced after no new cases were reported at the end of a 42-day countdown, or two incubation periods after the last confirmed case was discharged.

An 83% surge in new COVID-19 cases during the past week in Africa, driven by the Delta and the Omicron variants, is causing fewer deaths than previous surges—but more waves could be building as updated forecasts warn that the continent may not reach 70% vaccine coverage until August 2024, a new World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic assessment finds.  

The Omicron variant is reaching more countries in Africa and weekly COVID-19 cases in the continent surged by 93%. However, there are signs of hope as preliminary data indicates that hospitalizations across South Africa remain low.

The COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption to health services has seen an increase in tuberculosis deaths in Africa, the first such rise in more than a decade, while the decline in new cases slowed down, an analysis by World Health Organization (WHO) shows.