WHO adds Malawi into COVID-19 red list
The World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control have issued a warning against travelling to Malawi after labelling it a COVID-19 high risk country.
The southern African country, which was added to the red list last week is currently facing runaway COVID-19 infection rates in the wake of a third wave with an infection rate of 22 per cent.
Statistics from the Centre for Disease and Control show that cumulatively, Malawi has recorded 37,983 cases and 1,227 deaths.
The nation’s fatality rate being at 3.23 per cent. Of these cases, 2,479 are imported cases and 35,504 are locally transmitted. Cumulatively, 33,681 cases have so far recovered.
However, the CDC also said that with the current situation in Malawi, even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk of getting and spreading COVID-19 variants.
To curb the pandemic, the Malawi government has reintroduced strict curbs, including ban on political rallies, no fans at stadiums for football games, no gatherings of more than 50 people, and a 10 pm to 6am curfew.
Meanwhile, as of July 11 confirmed cases of Covid-19 from 55 African countries is nearing six million with over 151,000 deaths.
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Other most affected countries include Morocco with 541,405 cases, followed by Tunisia with 491,021, and Egypt at 282,985. Ethiopia and Libya have 276,984 and 201,236 cases respectively.
Kenya has so far registered 188,754 positive cases from a sample size of over two million tested. The country in the last 24 hours reported 241 positive cases from a sample size of 2,961 posting a positivity rate of 8.1 per cent.
The ministry of Health in a statement said one patient succumbed to the virus, being a late death reported after conducting facility record audits in July 2021. This now pushes the cumulative fatalities to 3,722.
