Next Africa: Entering the coronavirus battle

[Deeq A.]

Sub-Saharan Africa’s luck regarding the coronavirus has run out.

The months without any recorded sign of the pathogen ended recently with cases confirmed in Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa.

The men who tested positive had all flown in from Europe and the battle is now on to prevent a spread to the wider population. Air traffic volumes, one way of tracking the effects of the disease, show Kenya, Mauritius, Ivory Coast, Tanzania and Ethiopia are all vulnerable, according to Teneo, an advisory firm.

The sub-Saharan region is feared by experts to be the most vulnerable in the world because of the poor state of many countries’ health systems  —  not to mention the lack of resources needed to counter deadly diseases ranging from Ebola to malaria and measles.

A Nigerian army health official performs a temperature check on a visitor to the entrance of the Nigerian Army Hospital in the Yaba area of Lagos.
Photographer: George Osodi/Bloomberg

Still, parts of the continent have experience in dealing with epidemics. When Ebola spread to Nigeria in 2014, dire predictions were made about the fate of Africa’s most-populous nation. In the end, there were eight deaths. And a week after an Italian citizen tested positive for the coronavirus in Lagos, no other cases have been announced.

Health concerns aside, the region’s bigger worry is economic. A slowdown in China, the epicenter of the outbreak, and a resultant 5% fall in the price of crude oil could slash sub-Saharan African exports by $4 billion, or 0.3% of gross domestic product, according to the Overseas Development Institute.

Oil exporters including Angola and Gabon are likely to be the most impacted, according to Teneo. Zambia, which relies on copper for its foreign income, will also suffer.

Source: Bloomberg 

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