Africa’s coronavirus cases have surpassed 100,000, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday, as the youthful continent with many fragile health systems has not seen the high numbers devastating other parts of the world.
The pandemic “appears to be taking a different pathway in Africa,” the World Health Organization said. It is not yet clear why.
More than 3,100 people have died from COVID-19 across the continent of 1.3 billion people. By comparison, when Europe reached 100,000 cases it had more than 4,000 deaths, the WHO said.
But one worrying development is the number of infected health workers — more than 3,400 — in a part of the world where staffing is largely threadbare.