The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the African continent is likely to become the next epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
According to the Organization, this is due to the sharp rise in COVID-19 confirmed cases in the past week.
In a report by the BBC, WHO highlighted that the continent does not have enough ventilators to deal with a pandemic as grave and complicated as the novel virus.
The African director of the WHO, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, said the organization had witnessed the virus spreading from capital cities to “the hinterlands” in South Africa, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Ghana.
She said they were focusing on prevention rather than treating the virus because African countries don’t have the capacity to treat many coronavirus patients.
“We want to minimize the proportion of people who get to the point of needing critical care in an ICU, because we know that these types of facilities are not adequate by any means in the majority of African countries,” Dr Matshidiso Moeti said.
She added, she was most worried about the issue of ventilators since they are the biggest challenge that the countries are facing.
