To curb transmission, it announced a community-based initiative to increase coronavirus testing in eight countries: Burundi, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Senegal and Zambia. The initiative includes widespread use of antigen detection, a relatively inexpensive type of test that gives results in about 15 minutes, and “ring-based” voluntary testing for anyone living within 100 meters of a positive case. strategy. .
Moeti said coronavirus cases were “down or plateau” in most African countries, although some were still rising, including Angola, Gabon and Cameroon. In Rwanda, which implemented one of the continents strictest lockdown, bars Normal operations resumed in late September after being closed for 18 months.
Many African countries are also battling outbreaks of other infectious diseases, including the deadly Ebola virus. Ivory Coast confirmed its first Ebola case in nearly 30 years in August, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reported two fatal cases of Ebola since then, Dr Moeti said. guinea there was an outbreak at the beginning of the year.