WHO coronavirus team to help South Africa cope with massive health crisis

The World Health Organisation's health emergencies chief will head an expert team helping South Africa tackle the biggest coronavirus crisis on the continent.

South African Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Wednesday that the WHO's Mike Ryan and epidemiologist David Heymann would be among the 43 specialists from around the world taking part in the effort to contain the disease that has already infected more than 520,000 South Africans, including more than 24,000 health workers. South Africa's population is about 58 million.

"Dr Mike Ryan will lead the team from Geneva and will ... provide us with constant advice while analysing our strategies, including the decisions we have taken as the Department of Health in our Covid-19 response," Mkhize said.

He said the first 17 experts were expected to arrive in South Africa on Wednesday and would complete a period of quarantine before being deployed across various provinces.

"We see this as a great opportunity not only to improve our health strategies during this pandemic, but also to accelerate our path towards health care reform," Mkhize said.

South Africa is the most affected country in Africa, accounting for more than half of all cases so far recorded on the continent. Africa is nearing 1 million coronavirus cases, amid warnings that the number of patients will overwhelm hospitals in countries with fragile health systems.

The WHO has warned that a recent spike in infections in South Africa could signal an impending surge in cases elsewhere on the continent, where Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Algeria, Morocco, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Sudan have already recorded thousands of infections.

"I think what we're starting to see is a continued acceleration of transmission in a number of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa," Ryan said. "I think that has to be taken very, very seriously. South Africa may, unfortunately, be a precursor. It may be a warning for what will happen in the rest of Africa."

Mkhize echoed the warning, saying that a "real risk of experiencing the 'second wave' of the pandemic remains, so containment measures must never be abandoned".

South Africa has reported the highest number of infected health workers, with many reportedly dying due to a lack of personal protective equipment. As of Sunday, 24,104 health workers in the country had contracted Covid-19, including 181 fatalities.

Medical researchers in the country said there was a "huge discrepancy" between South Africa's confirmed Covid-19 deaths and the number of excess natural deaths, suggesting that more people were dying from the disease than the official toll. South Africa has recorded 8,884 deaths, including 345 on Tuesday.

On Monday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa agreed that the number of deaths could be higher than the official toll. "In our own country, 8,153 people are known to have lost their lives, and the actual number of deaths due to the virus is likely to exceed this figure," he said.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).

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