So Called "Delta Variant" of Covid-19 Surges Across Africa

From [HERE] The more-transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus is surging across Africa, the continent with the least vaccines and weakest healthcare systems, feeding fears among epidemiologists and political leaders of a public-health disaster that could echo the tragedy that unfolded in India in the spring.

The speed of the takeover of the variant, which was first identified in India and is forcing governments around the globe to tighten restrictions on social and economic activities, has shocked health experts in Africa, a continent that—in part thanks to its younger population—has recorded fewer Covid-19 deaths than other regions. Some are warning that previous infection from another strain of the virus may not protect against Delta, leaving swaths of the population that were believed to be immune once again vulnerable.

In South Africa, families have been driving ailing relatives across state lines to try to secure one of the country’s few remaining intensive-care beds. On a recent June night, every one of the 30 Covid-19 patients in the intensive-care unit of Uganda’s largest hospital died as the oxygen supplies ran out. In Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, doctors say the mortuaries have run out of space.

“We are in the grip of a devastating wave that by all indications seems like it will be worse than those that preceded it,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Sunday in a televised address in which he imposed new lockdown measures. “The rapid spread is extremely serious,” he said.

Africa’s third wave of infection comes at a perilous moment for the continent: Just 1.1% of its 1.3 billion people are fully vaccinated, medical supplies have been depleted, doctors are physically and mentally exhausted and, in some cases, unpaid and hospitals are turning patients away for lack of beds and oxygen.

Governments, struggling to rebound from the region’s worst recession on record, had been reluctant to impose new lockdowns until they saw the speed of the Delta’s expansion.

The reason—and the cause of rising panic—is the spread of the Delta variant that ripped through India in April and May, killing nearly 400,000 people according to the government and more than 1 million according to some epidemiologists. The Delta strain, also known as B.1.617.2, will probably make up 50% of Covid-19 infections in the U.S. by early to mid-July, according to researchers. It has been cited by Anthony Fauci, President Biden’s chief medical adviser, as the greatest threat to U.S. efforts to defeat the virus.

Across Africa, at least 20 countries are experiencing sharp increases in infections that have already surpassed or are projected to top earlier peaks, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Over the past week, Covid-19 infections on the continent jumped by 31%, while the number of deaths rose by 19%, the agency said.