As of November 18, 2022, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa amounted to around 12.7 million, which represented around two percent of the infections around the world. By the same date, coronavirus cases globally were over 640 million, deaths were over six million, while approximately 620 million people recovered from the disease. On the African continent, South Africa was the most drastically affected country, with more than 3.6 million infections.

The African continent fighting the pandemic  

The African continent first came in contact with the coronavirus pandemic on February 14, 2020, in the northernmost part, particularly Egypt. Since then, the different governments took severe restrictive measures to try to curb the spread of the disease. Moreover, the official numbers of the African continent are significantly lower than those of Europe, North America, South America, and Asia. Nevertheless, the infectious disease still managed to have its effects on several countries. South Africa had the highest number of deaths. Morocco and Tunisia, the second and third most affected in Africa, recorded 16,002 and 27,824 deaths, respectively, while Egypt registered at 24,132 as of March 02, 2022.

The light at the end of the tunnel  

Although the African countries still have a long way to fully combat the virus, vaccination programs have been rolled out in the majority of Africa. Also, according to a survey, public opinion in several African countries shows a high willingness to be vaccinated, with Ethiopia having numbers as high as 94 percent. As of March 2022, Egypt was the country administering the highest number of vaccine doses, however, Seychelles had the highest per rate per 100 people .

As of November 18, 2022, the overall deaths due to coronavirus (COVID-19) in Africa reached 257,984. South Africa recorded the highest number of casualties. With over 100,000 deaths, the country accounted for roughly 40 percent of the total. Tunisia was the second most affected on the continent, as the virus made almost 30,000 victims in the nation, around 11 percent of the overall deaths in Africa. Egypt accounted for around 10 percent of the casualties on the continent, with 24,600 victims. By the same date, Africa had recorded more than 12 million cases of COVID-19.

Background: More than 1 year after the beginning of the international spread of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19), the reasons explaining its apparently lower reported burden in Africa are still to be fully elucidated. Few studies previously investigated the potential reasons explaining this epidemiological observation using data at the level of a few African countries. However, an updated analysis considering the various epidemiological waves and variables across an array of categories, with a focus on African countries might help to better understand the COVID-19 pandemic on the continent. Thus, we investigated the potential reasons for the persistently lower transmission and mortality rates of COVID-19 in Africa.Methods: Data were collected from publicly available and well-known online sources. The cumulative numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths per 1 million population reported by the African countries up to February 2021 were used to estimate the transmission and mortality rates of COVID-19, respectively. The covariates were collected across several data sources: clinical/diseases data, health system performance, demographic parameters, economic indicators, climatic, pollution, and radiation variables, and use of social media. The collinearities were corrected using variance inflation factor (VIF) and selected variables were fitted to a multiple regression model using the R statistical package.Results: Our model (adjusted R-squared: 0.7) found that the number of COVID-19 tests per 1 million population, GINI index, global health security (GHS) index, and mean body mass index (BMI) were significantly associated (P < 0.05) with COVID-19 cases per 1 million population. No association was found between the median life expectancy, the proportion of the rural population, and Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) coverage rate. On the other hand, diabetes prevalence, number of nurses, and GHS index were found to be significantly associated with COVID-19 deaths per 1 million population (adjusted R-squared of 0.5). Moreover, the median life expectancy and lower respiratory infections rate showed a trend towards significance. No association was found with the BCG coverage or communicable disease burden.Conclusions: Low health system capacity, together with some clinical and socio-economic factors were the predictors of the reported burden of COVID-19 in Africa. Our results emphasize the need for Africa to strengthen its overall health system capacity to efficiently detect and respond to public health crises.

Method

The dataset contains several confirmed COVID-19 cases, number of deaths, and death rate in six regions. The objective of the study is to compare the number of confirmed cases in Africa to other regions.

Death rate = Total number of deaths from COVID-19 divided by the Total Number of infected patients.

The study provides evidence for the country-level in six regions by the World Health Organisation's classification.

Findings

Based on the descriptive data provided above, we conclude that the lack of tourism is one of the key reasons why COVID-19 reported cases are low in Africa compared to other regions. We also justified this claim by providing evidence from the economic freedom index, which indicates that the vast majority of African countries recorded a low index for a business environment. On the other hand, we conclude that the death rate is higher in the African region compared to other regions. This points to issues concerning health-care expenditure, low capacity for testing for COVID-19, and poor infrastructure in the region.

Apart from COVID-19, there are significant pre-existing diseases, namely; Malaria, Flu, HIV/AIDS, and Ebola in the continent. This study, therefore, invites the leaders to invest massively in the health-care system, infrastructure, and human capital in order to provide a sustainable environment for today and future generations. Lastly, policy uncertainty has been a major issue in determining a sustainable development goal on the continent. This uncertainty has differentiated Africa to other regions in terms of stepping up in the time of global crisis.

This dataset provides values for CORONAVIRUS DEATHS reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

Around 19.8 percent of Africa's population was fully vaccinated against the coronavirus (COVID-19) as of July 11, 2022. Over 540 million vaccine doses have been administered on the continent since the beginning of the vaccination campaign in 2021. In general, Africa's vaccination rate is far lower than the global average.

Covid-19 infected cases in Africa, per country, per day from the beginning of the pandemic. Source : national governments.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic impacted negatively the mental health of some 43 percent of respondents in six selected African countries. On the other hand, 31 percent mentioned a bit or much better mental health since the start of the COVID-19 crisis. Concerning physical health, up to three-quarters of the respondents reported a neutral to better condition, while only 26 percent cited a deterioration.

According to the source, levels of emotional distress differed regionally, as Kenya was reported to be the worst emotionally of the six countries. This was due to the regulations and restrictions that were being carried out, as Kenyan's had to experience curfew's and a rise of cases, compared to Ivory Coast which had a relatively lower case count and fewer restrictions.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has already claimed considerable lives. There are major concerns in Africa due to existing high prevalence rates for both infectious and non-infectious diseases and limited resources in terms of personnel, beds and equipment. Alongside this, concerns that lockdown and other measures will have on prevention and management of other infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). NCDs are an increasing issue with rising morbidity and mortality rates. The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that a lack of nets and treatment could result in up to 18 million additional cases of malaria and up to 30,000 additional deaths in sub-Saharan Africa.ObjectiveDocument current prevalence and mortality rates from COVID-19 alongside economic and other measures to reduce its spread and impact across Africa. In addition, suggested ways forward among all key stakeholder groups.Our ApproachContextualise the findings from a wide range of publications including internet-based publications coupled with input from senior-level personnel.Ongoing ActivitiesPrevalence and mortality rates are currently lower in Africa than among several Western countries and the USA. This could be due to a number of factors including early instigation of lockdown and border closures, the younger age of the population, lack of robust reporting systems and as yet unidentified genetic and other factors. Innovation is accelerating to address concerns with available equipment. There are ongoing steps to address the level of misinformation and its consequences including fines. There are also ongoing initiatives across Africa to start addressing the unintended consequences of COVID-19 activities including lockdown measures and their impact on NCDs including the likely rise in mental health disorders, exacerbated by increasing stigma associated with COVID-19. Strategies include extending prescription lengths, telemedicine and encouraging vaccination. However, these need to be accelerated to prevent increased morbidity and mortality.ConclusionThere are multiple activities across Africa to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and address misinformation, which can have catastrophic consequences, assisted by the WHO and others, which appear to be working in a number of countries. Research is ongoing to clarify the unintended consequences given ongoing concerns to guide future activities. Countries are learning from each other.

Digital shopping in Africa increased since the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. According to an online survey conducted in 2020 and 2021, 81 percent of consumers in Nigeria are shopping more online since the beginning of the pandemic. The health crisis led to increasing demand for e-commerce in Africa. Kenya and Ghana registered an increment of 79 percent in online purchases. In South Africa, online shopping grew by 68 percent. There, over half of consumers reported that they were buying more groceries and clothing items online.

Daily Covid-19 cases in african countries : daily infections, recoveries and deaths and cumulative cases of infections, recoveries and deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

Visual map at kumu.io/access2perspectives/covid19-resources

Data set doi: 10.5281/zenodo.3732377 // available in different formats (pdf, xls, ods, csv,)

Correspondence: (JH) info@access2perspectives.com

Objectives

• Provide citizens with crucial and reliable information

• Encourage and facilitate South South collaboration

• Bridging language barriers

• Provide local governments and cities with lessons learned about COVID-19 crisis response

• Facilitate global cooperation and immediate response on all societal levels

• Enable LMICs to collaborate and innovate across distances and leverage locally available and context-relevant resources

Methodology

The data feeding the map at kumu.io was compiled from online resources and information shared in various community communication channels.

Kumu.io is a visualization platform for mapping complex systems and to provide a deeper understanding of their intrinsic relationships. It provides blended systems thinking, stakeholder mapping, and social network analysis.

Explore the map // https://kumu.io/access2perspectives/covid19-resources#global

Click on individual nodes and view the information by country

• info hotlines
• governmental informational websites, Twitter feeds & Facebook pages
• fact checking online resources
• language indicator
• DIY resources
• clinical staff capacity building
• etc.

With the navigation buttons to the right, you can zoom in and out, select and focus on specific elements.

If you have comments, questions or suggestions for improvements on this map email us at info@access2perspectives.com

Contribute

Please add data to the spreadsheet at https://tinyurl.com/COVID19-global-response

• you can add additional information on country, city or neighbourhood level (see e.g. the Cape Town entry)

Related documents

Google Doc: tinyurl.com/COVID19-Africa-Response

Abstract

The COVID-19 Vaccine Survey (CVACS) is a South African national panel study of individuals initially unvaccinated against COVID-19. CVACS is implemented by the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU) based at the University of Cape Town. The same respondents are interviewed twice, a few months apart, in 2021 and then 2022, to gather information about their attitudes, beliefs and intentions regarding COVID-19 vaccination. The purpose of CVACS is to collect high quality, timely, and relevant information on facilitators and barriers to COVID-19 vaccine uptake - including vaccine hesitancy and access constraints - to contribute to the development of data-driven campaigns and programmes to increase COVID-19 vaccination uptake in South Africa. In comparison to Survey 1, Survey 2 collected data on unvaccinated and vaccinated respondents. Final data files are: Unvaccinated (as was in S1) Vaccinated (New to S2) derived (As in S1) Link_File (New in S2 - this links the panel)

Geographic coverage

CVACS was not designed to be, and should not be used as a prevalence study. The data cannot be considered to be nationally representative of all unvaccinated individuals in South Africa.

Analysis unit

Households and individuals

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

CVACS Survey 1 was obtained from a stratified sample drawn from the GeoTerraImage (GTI) 2021 sampling frame (https://geoterraimage.com/), using individuals aged eighteen and older. The sample was primarily stratified across the following categories: province, population group, geographic area type (metro, non-metro urban, non-metro rural) and the neighbourhood lifestyle index (NLI), in groups of NLI 1-2, NLI 3-4, and NLI 5-10. Age categories defined according to the COVID-19 vaccination age groups (18-34, 35-49, 50-59, 60+), and gender were used as further explicit stratification variables. A credit bureau database was linked to this database at the enumeration area level, including individuals who had applied for credit, regardless of the outcome, and individuals who have had a credit check.

The CVACS Sample in Survey 2 included individuals from Survey 1 who were re-interviewed, who fell into two categories: vaccinated between Survey 1 and 2, or those remaining unvaccinated. In order to realise an unvaccinated sample of similar size to Survey 1, a top-up sample of unvaccinated individuals was interviewed. These individuals were drawn from the same sampling frame as Survey 1. Younger and female respondents were less likely to be re-interviewed in Survey 2. The full Survey 2 unvaccinated sample is more skewed to the younger age categories, due to higher vaccination rates among the elderly precluding many from inclusion into the study.

Mode of data collection

Computer Assisted Telephone Interview

Research instrument

Data was collected for Survey 2 with two questionnaires, one for vaccinated and one for unvaccinated respondents. CVACS used computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI). The CVACS questionnaires were translated into all South African languages and interviews were conducted in the preferred language of the respondent. Most of the survey questions collected individual-level data, with some household level data also collected through the individual questionnaire.

BackgroundMedical and socio-economic uncertainties surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have had a substantial impact on mental health. This study aimed to systematically review the existing literature reporting the prevalence of anxiety and depression among the general populace in Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic and examine associated risk factors.MethodsA systematic search of the following databases African Journal Online, CINAHL, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science was conducted from database inception until 30th September 2021. Studies reporting the prevalence of anxiety and/or depression among the general populace in African settings were considered for inclusion. The methodological quality of included studies was assessed using the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Meta-analyses on prevalence rates were conducted using Comprehensive Meta-analysis software.ResultsSeventy-eight primary studies (62,380 participants) were identified from 2,325 studies via electronic and manual searches. Pooled prevalence rates for anxiety (47%, 95% CI: 40–54%, I2 = 99.19%) and depression (48%, 95% CI: 39–57%, I2 = 99.45%) were reported across Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sex (female) and history of existing medical/chronic conditions were identified as major risk factors for anxiety and depression.ConclusionsThe evidence put forth in this synthesis demonstrates the substantial impact of the pandemic on the pervasiveness of these psychological symptoms among the general population. Governments and stakeholders across continental Africa should therefore prioritize the allocation of available resources to institute educational programs and other intervention strategies for preventing and ameliorating universal distress and promoting psychological wellbeing.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42021228023, PROSPERO CRD42021228023.

Context

There's a story behind every dataset and here's your opportunity to share yours.

As the spread of the novel covid-19 continues to run into countries it is important for us to keep records of every Information on it. Therefore, this dataset is built basically to cover the update from Africa.

Content

What's inside is more than just rows and columns. Make it easy for others to get started by describing how you acquired the data and what time period it represents, too. It contains Information on the dates the cases were recorded across Africa. Detailing the death, confirmed and recovery cases in each country.

Acknowledgements

We wouldn't be here without the help of others. If you owe any attributions or thanks, include them here along with any citations of past research.

Ethical AI Club John Hopkins University Runmila Institute WHO CDC Ghana Health Service

Inspiration

Your data will be in front of the world's largest data science community. What questions do you want to see answered? We should be able to see contributors answering questions about how Africa should prepare and put in the right measures to contain the spread. A better understanding from the Data scientists.

COVID 19 Data for South Africa created, maintained and hosted by DSFSI research group at the University of Pretoria

Disclaimer: We have worked to keep the data as accurate as possible. We collate the COVID 19 reporting data from NICD and South Africa DoH. We only update that data once there is an official report or statement. For the other data, we work to keep the data as accurate as possible. If you find errors let us know.

See original GitHub repo for detailed information https://github.com/dsfsi/covid19za

ABSTRACT Background : The Covid-19 pandemic associated with the SARS-CoV-2 has caused very high death tolls in many countries, while it has had less prevalence in other countries of Africa and Asia. Climate and geographic conditions, as well as other epidemiologic and demographic conditions, were a matter of debate on whether or not they could have an effect on the prevalence of Covid-19. Objective : In the present work, we sought a possible relevance of the geographic location of a given country on its Covid-19 prevalence. On the other hand, we sought a possible relation between the history of epidemiologic and demographic conditions of the populations and the prevalence of Covid-19 across four continents (America, Europe, Africa, and Asia). We also searched for a possible impact of pre-pandemic alcohol consumption in each country on the two year death tolls across the four continents. Methods : We have sought the death toll caused by Covid-19 in 39 countries and obtained the registered deaths from specialized web pages. For every country in the study, we have analysed the correlation of the Covid-19 death numbers with its geographic latitude, and its associated climate conditions, such as the mean annual temperature, the average annual sunshine hours, and the average annual UV index. We also analyzed the correlation of the Covid-19 death numbers with epidemiologic conditions such as cancer score and Alzheimer score, and with demographic parameters such as birth rate, mortality rate, fertility rate, and the percentage of people aged 65 and above. In regard to consumption habits, we searched for a possible relation between alcohol intake levels per capita and the Covid-19 death numbers in each country. Correlation factors and determination factors, as well as analyses by simple linear regression and polynomial regression, were calculated or obtained by Microsoft Exell software (2016). Results : In the present study, higher numbers of deaths related to Covid-19 pandemic were registered in many countries in Europe and America compared to other countries in Africa and Asia. The analysis by polynomial regression generated an inverted bell-shaped curve and a significant correlation between the Covid-19 death numbers and the geographic latitude of each country in our study. Higher death numbers were registered in the higher geographic latitudes of both hemispheres, while lower scores of deaths were registered in countries located around the equator line. In a bell shaped curve, the latitude levels were negatively correlated to the average annual levels (last 10 years) of temperatures, sunshine hours, and UV index of each country, with the highest scores of each climate parameter being registered around the equator line, while lower levels of temperature, sunshine hours, and UV index were registered in higher latitude countries. In addition, the linear regression analysis showed that the Covid-19 death numbers registered in the 39 countries of our study were negatively correlated with the three climate factors of our study, with the temperature as the main negatively correlated factor with Covid-19 deaths. On the other hand, cancer and Alzheimer's disease scores, as well as advanced age and alcohol intake, were positively correlated to Covid-19 deaths, and inverted bell-shaped curves were obtained when expressing the above parameters against a country’s latitude. Instead, the (birth rate/mortality rate) ratio and fertility rate were negatively correlated to Covid-19 deaths, and their values gave bell-shaped curves when expressed against a country’s latitude. Conclusion : The results of the present study prove that the climate parameters and history of epidemiologic and demographic conditions as well as nutrition habits are very correlated with Covid-19 prevalence. The results of the present study prove that low levels of temperature, sunshine hours, and UV index, as well as negative epidemiologic and demographic conditions and high scores of alcohol intake may worsen Covid-19 prevalence in many countries of the northern hemisphere, and this phenomenon could explain their high Covid-19 death tolls. Keywords : Covid-19, Coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, climate, temperature, sunshine hours, UV index, cancer, Alzheimer disease, alcohol.

ObjectiveSocial isolation and loneliness (SI/L) are considered critical public health issues. The primary objective of this scoping review is to document the experience of SI/L among older adults in Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic, given research gaps in this area. We identified the reasons for SI/L, the effects of SI/L, SI/L coping strategies, and research and policy gaps in SI/L experiences among older adults in Africa during COVID-19.MethodsSix databases (PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, APA PsycINFO, Web of Science, and Ageline) were used to identify studies reporting the experiences of SI/L among older adults in Africa during the COVID-19 lockdown. We adopted the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR).ResultsSocial isolation and loneliness due to COVID-19 in Africa affected older adults' mental, communal, spiritual, financial, and physical health. The use of technology was vital, as was the role of social networks within the family, community, religious groups, and government. Methodological challenges include the risk of selective survival bias, sampling biases, and limited inductive value due to context. Also, lack of large-scale mixed methods longitudinal studies to capture the experiences of older adults during COVID-19. There were essential policy gaps for African mental health support services, media programs, and community care service integration targeting older adults in the era of the COVID-19 lockdown.DiscussionLike in other countries, COVID-19 lockdown policies and the lockdown restrictions primarily caused the experience of SI/L among older adults in Africa. In African countries, they resulted in a severance of older adults from the cultural structure of care for older adults and their familial support systems. Weak government intervention, personal situations, challenges regarding technology, and detachment from daily activities, disproportionately affected older adults in Africa.

In past 24 hours, South Africa, Africa had N/A new cases, N/A deaths and N/A recoveries.

This dataset consists of data from various organisations and datasets that were used in creating the Africa Covid-19 vulnerability index