Weekly Bulletin on Outbreaks
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WEEKLY BULLETIN ON OUTBREAKS AND OTHER EMERGENCIES Week 23: 31 May to 6 June 2021 Data as reported by: 17:00; 6 June 2021 REGIONAL OFFICE FOR Africa WHO Health Emergencies Programme 1 125 113 13 New event Ongoing events Outbreaks Humanitarian crises 64 0 130 958 3 518 Algeria ¤ 36 13 754 0 5 999 179 Mauritania 14 298 519 48 0 110 0 41 631 1 145 Niger 19 817 468 4 427 14 Mali 19 0 6 0 4 0 Cape Verde 2 079 4 4 939 174 Chad Eritrea Senegal 5 410 192 63 0 Gambia 27 0 3 0 31 097 267 1 367 8 Guinea-Bissau 847 17 Burkina Faso 236 49 272 914 4 209 0 166 767 2 117 Guinea 13 453 167 12 3 787 68 1 1 23 12 30 0 Benin Nigeria 924 4 6 0 Ethiopia 13 2 1 0 6 995 50 556 5 6 474 15 Sierra Leone Togo 530 0 78 929 1 275 Ghana 7 101 98 Côte d'Ivoire 10 688 115 14 484 479 68 0 South Sudan 40 0 Liberia 149 2 17 0 Central African Republic 1 307 2 0 25 0 50 14 0 97 17 Cameroon 23 255 284 3 0 47 490 306 94 228 787 34 135 194 7 0 56 0 1 056 20 3 1 597 1 172 491 3 287 2 0 168 0 125 2 0 4 201 79 13 539 1 1 8 626 118 Equatorial Guinea Uganda 356 0 822 9 Sao Tome and Principe 4 0 2 174 86 52 935 383 Kenya 8 082 102 Gabon Legend Congo 2 682 83 Rwanda Humanitarian crisis 2 353 37 27 245 360 Measles 24 591 154 Democratic Republic of the Congo 11 920 155 Burundi 4 925 8 Monkeypox Ebola virus disease Seychelles 33 202 804 576 0 536 32 United Republic of Tanzania Skin disease of unknown etiology 12 383 42 Lassa fever 196 0 Yellow fever 509 21 Cholera 63 1 6 257 229 Dengue fever 35 772 797 cVDPV2 100 278 1 308 Comoros Meningitis 304 3 Angola Malawi COVID-19 Leishmaniasis 34 390 1 157 726 0 3 886 146 Zambia 133 0 Hantavirus Mozambique Plague 2 952 40 813 3 41 690 861 Anthrax Diarrhoeal disease in children under five years Zimbabwe 71 114 837 Madagascar Suspected Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever Mauritius 39 189 1 606 10 227 66 768 181 0 Drancuculiasis 58 764 866 Rift Valley fever 1 458 18 Namibia 109 2 Malaria West Nile fever Botswana 6 0 Hepatitis E Countries reported in the document 58 707 912 Eswatini Acute Food Countries outside WHO African Region 1 0 Insecurity 18 653 673 WHO Member States with no reported events South Africa Cases Lesotho Deaths Not applicable 10 837 326 1 662 825 56 439 Graded events † “The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply the expression of any (2) opinion whatsoever on the part of the World Health Organization concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Dotted and dashed lines on maps represent approximate borderlines for which there may not yet be full agreement.” 0 410 820 Kilometers 50 26 2 Grade 3 events Grade 2 events Grade 1 events 40 22 30 31 Ungraded events ProtractedProtracted 3 3 events events Protracted 2 events ProtractedProtracted 1 1 events event Health Emergency Information and Risk Assessment Overview Contents This Weekly Bulletin focuses on public health emergencies occurring in the WHO African Region. The WHO Health Emergencies Programme is currently monitoring 126 events in the region. This week’s articles cover: 1 Overview COVID-19 across the WHO African region Ebola virus disease in Guinea 2 -6 Ongoing events Humanitarian crisis in Tigray, Ethiopia For each of these events, a brief description, followed by public health measures Summary of major 7 implemented and an interpretation of the situation is provided. issues, challenges and proposed actions A table is provided at the end of the bulletin with information on all new and ongoing public health events currently being monitored in the region, as well as recent events that 8 All events currently have been controlled and closed. being monitored Major issues and challenges include: The number of daily COVID-19 cases has increased in the African Region for the fourth consecutive week. Eritrea, Namibia, Uganda, South Africa and Zambia have seen a concerning increase in case numbers, and Mali and Burkina Faso have showed a high case fatality ratio in recent weeks. Botswana, Namibia, Cape Verde and Seychelles are all exhibiting uncontrolled community transmission and are of concern. Health worker infections continue to increase in several countries. Although major progress has been made with COVID-19 vaccinations, there remains a shocking imbalance in the global distribution of vaccines with Africa having vaccines sufficient for less than 1% of the population of the continent. The 42-day countdown to end of outbreak started in Guinea on 8 May 2021 and now stands at 13 days. Alerts continue to be reported and validated. However, investigation remains below 100% in Nzerekore. As the countdown continues, authorities need to remain at the highest level of vigilance to ensure that any remaining chains of transmission are rapidly identified and managed in this countdown period. The humanitarian situation in Tigray, Ethiopia remains of grave concern, with humanitarian responses compromised by the volatile security situation, poor communication networks and limited capacity of the functional health facilities, who are suffering from inadequate supplies of essential medical equipment and medication. Food insecurity, leading to high levels of severe acute malnutrition, and the threat of outbreaks of epidemic prone diseases further complicate the situation. WHO and partners need urgently to support high-level advocacy with government for improved access and security for response activities. 1 Health Emergency Information and Risk Assessment Health Emergency Information and Risk Assessment Ongoing events 157 3 527 876 88 022 2.5% Coronavirus disease 2019 African region Cases Deaths CFR The African Region recorded 63 057 new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, 48.1%), Ethiopia (272 914 cases, 7.7%), Kenya (172 491 infections in the past seven days (31 May- 6 June 2021), a 19.0% cases, 4.9%), Nigeria (166 767 cases, 4.7%) and Algeria (130 958 increase compared to the previous week when 52 999 new cases, 3.7%), accounting for (2 439 694, 69.2%) of all cases. cases were reported. A total of 24 (52.2%) countries reported At the same time, South Africa has the highest number of deaths a decrease in new cases. Twenty-one countries (45.7%) saw an in the region (56 974 deaths, 64.7%), Ethiopia (4 209, 4.8%), increase in weekly cases in the past seven days. Algeria, Chad, Algeria (3 518, 4.0%), Kenya (3 287,3.7%) and Nigeria (2 117, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, 2.4%) account for (70 105, 79.6 %) of all deaths. Eswatini, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, The following countries recorded significantly higher case fatality Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia ratios (CFR), than other countries in the WHO African Region: had an increase equal to or above 20.0%. Burkina Faso showed no Mali (8.5%), Madagascar (4.9%), Kenya (3.9%), Zimbabwe significant change in case numbers during this reporting period. (3.7%), Ethiopia (3.2%), and Cameroon (3.1%). Most of the region’s reported cases are concentrated in a few When compared with the rest of the world, there are relatively countries, with more than half (53.5%; 33 739) of the new few infections in the Africa continent, which accounts for 2.8% of COVID-19 infections reported from South Africa. This was followed global cases and 3.6% of global deaths, while the WHO African by Zambia reporting 5 228 cases (8.3%), Uganda reporting 5 174 Region, which includes sub-Saharan Africa and Algeria, accounts (8.2%), Namibia (3 158; 5.0%) and Algeria (2 233; 4.0%). All for 2.1% of global cases and 2.5% of global deaths, making it one these five countries experienced a significant increase in daily new of the least affected regions in the world. case counts. During this reporting period, 342 new health worker infections There was no significant change in the number of new deaths were reported from Namibia (168), Cameroon (112), Kenya (48) reported in the past week compared to the previous week. A and Seychelles (15). In addition, 661 health worker infections total of 1 105 new deaths were recorded from 30 countries in were retrospectively reported from Zambia (307), and Guinea- this period. More than half of the deaths were reported from Bissau (354). South Africa (535, 48.4%), followed by Kenya with 130 (12.0%), Namibia 82 (7.4%), Ethiopia 54 (4.9%), and Algeria 53 (4.8%). Cumulatively, there have been 113 115 COVID-19 infections (3.3% Other countries reporting deaths in this period include; Nigeria of all cases) among health workers, with South Africa accounting (46), Angola (33), Zambia (30), Democratic Republic of the Congo for about 50.0% of these cases. Algeria (11 936, 10.6%), Kenya (22), Madagascar (22), Uganda (21), Botswana (17), Zimbabwe (5 214, 4.6%), Ghana (4 763, 4.2%) and Zimbabwe (4 391, 3.9%) (12), Rwanda (8), Senegal (7), Côte d’Ivoire (5), Mauritania (5), have also recorded a high number of health worker infections.